SHPE - Fall 2007 - (Page 63) How to Research Potential Advisors Getting Started • Have three or four potential advisors in mind by your last undergraduate semester. • Become a research assistant in a laboratory where you can consult with the faculty and postdoctoral staff. • Discuss potential advisors with your undergraduate advisor and faculty who teach courses in the areas that most interest you. • Talk to other faculty members in the potential advisor’s department. Reach Out to Potential Advisors • Check out the Web and CV to become more familiar with the prospective advisors. • Correspond with potential advisors. Describe your background, training, GPA, research experience and interest in their work. • Request copies of their articles. Ask about what led them to the field. Talk with Their Current Graduate Students • Most advisors list their graduate students on their websites. If not, ask for their names and contact information to learn more about the laboratory and the graduate program. • Call the students at home to discuss what it is like working with their advisor. Consider asking: • What proportion of this professor’s advisees earns a Ph.D.? • How much time is typically required to earn the Ph.D. in this laboratory? • Do individuals continue working in the area upon graduation? • If the potential advisors are assistant professors, what are their chances of gaining tenure? (It is unwise to select an advisor who may not be re-hired and leave you stranded.) Interact with Prospective Advisors • Enroll in their classes or attend their lectures. • Observe how they interact with graduate students and colleagues. • Interview them and their students at professional conferences. • Work on a summer project in their laboratories. discussed above, you are bound to increase your chances at success. I Editor’s note: advisor with similar interests is unavailable, consider an advisor with compatible interests. Basically, your advisor should be an expert at conceiving, conducting and documenting programmatic research. This type of research often addresses a problem through a series of interlocking experiments, each of which replicates and extends earlier work conducted in your advisor’s laboratory. Indeed, replicating and extending research is the productive strategy that such an advisor would likely recommend for your research. Changing an Advisor Much like entering marriage, you should carefully consider whether there is a match between your personality and that of your advisor, as well as between your expected work rates. Even with the best intentions, the relationship may sour, and you may want to change advisors. This is a delicate matter, particularly if your advisor has invested much time in your education. Also, once you have started a research project, another professor may feel unqualified to supervise your work. www.SHPE.org R Fall 2007 There may be serious reasons for changing your advisor. For example, if you believe your advisor engaged in scientific misconduct or sexual harassment you should immediately and carefully document your findings and seek out a new advisor. More common reasons for changing an advisor include changing interests, inaccessibility of the advisor or incompatible communication styles. Whatever the case, it is generally best to first have an honest conversation with your current advisor to discuss your concerns and explore the possibility of changing the nature of the relationship. Of course, you don’t need your advisor’s permission to switch advisors. Most advisors will graciously accept the change, particularly if it enhances your progress through graduate school. If you decide to switch, give your current advisor enough notice; at least a month or two should be adequate if research is in progress. Be careful to follow the “golden rule,” for you might want to work with your original advisor again in the future. There is, of course, no magic formula that guarantees personal satisfaction, professional success or quality research. However, by considering important factors like those A version of this article along with sources appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education, 1993, 70, 303306. The article can be located at www.jce.divched.org as well on Internet sites devoted to helping graduate students in various disciplines such as botany, computer science, the health sciences, biochemistry, physics, engineering and psychology. Marshall Dermer is a behavior analyst. He specializes at developing software geared toward making writing more graceful and helping native English speakers learn aspects of second languages such as declining articles in German and conjugating Spanish verbs. Engines g 63 http://www.jce.divched.org http://www.cummins.com http://www.cummins.com http://www.SHPE.org
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