Danielle Blog

This is the way to do research

This week it really hit me, this is the way to do research.  I love having my research be about teaching people – in this case, really bright undergrads – how do do research.

I think that the biggest part of it is the teaching and training side of it.  I’ve always loved teaching others how to do a particular technique in the lab.  But this time, I’m also teaching them the theory behind it  And I’m explaining how to decide which parts to change when optimizing an experiment.  And we are discussing experimental design.  And they are learning even simple things like how to keep a notebook that is actually useful to yourself and to others.

All in all, it is a LOT of fun.

I also think that some of it too, is not having the pressure to produce a certain amount of results in a certain amount of time.  Sure, we have a goal to get a certain amount of answers by the end of their 10 weeks.  But hey, if we don’t make it, there will be more time to keep working on it.

I wonder how much of it too is that I came up with the research path/topic of research myself.  Maybe I’m kidding myself, but I think that our work will have a bigger impact on science than some of the other projects I’ve done.  Or maybe it is that I had such high hopes for those other projects, and now, I realize that they didn’t turn out the way I’d hoped.

Anyway, life is good right now.  Still crazy busy.  But in a good way.