Thanks for the insight PP. Your experience sounds ...

2008-07-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the insight PP. Your experience sounds memorable and in those cases, I agree - it is well worth it. I am lucky that my PI supports PD of all sorts. In this case I kind of felt like when you come back from vacation to masses of work piled up - only I don't have the tan or rested feeling. And no tacky souvenirs to put on my desk as a reminder of my relaxation.

I have taken three multi-week field-specific cours...

2008-07-07T07:05:00.000-07:00

I have taken three multi-week field-specific courses during my career. Two as a grad student, and one as a post-doc. These were the kind where you go away to a laboratory and stay there with all the faculty and students of the course for as few as three weeks and as many as eight weeks, depending on the course.

These have been incredibly influential in my career. For one thing, they exposed me to a wide array of new methodological and conceptual approaches that have greatly influenced my science.

Much more importantly, however, have been the professional networking connections I have made. For example, some of the people who I will be asking to write promotion/tenure letters for me I first met years ago at these courses. Some of my best "science friends" are people I met at these courses.

Student and faculty alumni of these courses form subnetworks within particular fields that have a huge influence on career development. I urge all trainees to take advantage of these courses when available. It is an absolutely outstanding use of your time, from a cost-benefit perspective.

Any PI who tells a trainee that these courses are a "waste of time" and that the trainee's time is better spent "at the bench" in the PI's lab is not putting the trainee's best interests first.

Comments on R.E.S.E.A.R.C.H.E.R.S.: Death by Disequilibrium.

Thanks for the insight PP. Your experience sounds ...

I have taken three multi-week field-specific cours...