Final Stage: Administrators, Donors, and Colleagues listen to son Evan Swarth at Endowed Chair Ceremony, 2017 |
Kathryn Uhrich, Dean of the College of Natural and
Agricultural Sciences at UC Riverside, likes to talk about teaching and
research training in terms of “buckets”. Her mantra is “fill up all of the
buckets, maybe not every year, but over your review period.” For teaching,
there are the classroom (now online) “buckets”: lower division classes, upper
division, graduate, and general education (GE) courses—four different buckets.
At UC Merced, I didn’t teach any lower division classes, but had 6 upper
division classes, 3 graduate ones, and 1 GE class. At UC Riverside, I’ve taught
6 lower division classes, no upper ones, 3 grad classes, and 3 GE courses.
Together my teaching “buckets” for my time at UC in 7.5 years includes 6 lower
division classes, 6 upper division classes, 6 graduate classes, and 4 GE
classes—a fairly even distribution of traditional teaching efforts for a
university professor.
Teaching also includes graduate, postdoctoral, and undergrad
training and research guidance. When a professor or senior scientist accepts a
person into her laboratory, that person becomes a Member of her lab Group, a
position of pride for the professor and student. As a professional scientist,
I’ve encountered just about every type of research study, had my work funded by
an array of agencies, and have published my work widely. I’ve set up a stable
isotope laboratory 6 times during my career. I can “do” research and train
folks to get started in this endeavor. In the 40+ years post-PhD, I have
mentored and trained osver 30 grad students, 30 postdocs, and a bunch of
undergrads and high school students.
Last week, I discussed how big of a lab is too big. This
week, I’m focusing on what is Just Right for someone building a new group or
the more advanced scientist, wondering how to maximize mid-career work. One
instructive way to consider this is the “Bucket” approach—fill the buckets with
thought and strategically.
At a University, there is a decided emphasis on graduate
student training. That makes simple sense, after all the mission of the University
of California, for example, is teaching and research. Grad students fulfill
that mission. Where do grad students come from and how do they join a lab
group? When you are starting out, you are not well known (usually). Students like
to go to labs with more famous professors. At Carnegie, when I was starting my
lab, students were attracted to Tom Hoering, my more experienced colleague.
When they arrived, I often worked with them, building my skills in research
mentorship. These are skills that aren’t necessarily taught in grad school.
Research mentorship requires patience, attention to details,
and learning to carry your self with some authority. There needs to be a degree
of separation from your mentees. How much or how little is something I have
seen folks struggle with. It takes time to figure this out, meanwhile, a
starting researcher needs to accept one or two promising grad students into her
lab fairly soon. Within a couple of years, that number should go up slightly to
3 or 4 grad students keeping a balance between those just starting and those
already advanced. The goal from this early, pre-tenure period is to mentor and
graduate one or two real “winners”—students who have great projects, are
helpful in the lab, create a good atmosphere, publish a few papers, and go on
to a good postdoc or job.
Why that number? One student isn’t enough for forming a lab
Group. Two students are at the low end, and might work for someone with more
complex startup issues. Adding the additional couple brings the risk, and it’s
real, of choosing students who might not be up to your personal “snuff”. At UC
Merced, a new university with a quiet reputation 7 years ago, it wasn’t easy to
bring in excellent students. Those with offers from one of the more established
UC campuses, often accepted those other offers. I found my four UC Merced grad
students by different ways. Two came from relationships I had with them as
undergrads, one was referred by a colleague, and a fourth, from a random
application.
These four students all came with different strengths and
needs. One was a very good student, knew how to read and write with skill and
competency, but needed guidance on confidence and intellectual depth. Another
mastered skills easily and understood complex issues but required help with
effective writing and focusing on research goals. The third is an outstanding
field scientist, but required help with understanding the Big Picture, reading,
and writing. The fourth student was a complete surprise and mastered research,
reading and writing, mostly needing mentorship on data details and
interpretation. Taken together, these four students were all good lab members
and promoted a positive environment. It was an ideal situation.
Undergraduate research “buckets” are easier to fill. At
Carnegie, we had a summer intern program. On campuses, there are many
undergrads who are anxious to get some practical experience. At the Carnegie, I
choose the best and brightest. At UC, my tactic changed. I looked for students
who needed the experience most—first generation, students of color, or students
with a “C” average who needed a boost. The bucket was filled with two or three
at a time, who took on glassware washing, weighing, and sample preparation work
usually without pay. Experience has shown that having an undergrad in a lab
setting is a powerful propellant to get her to increase grades and interest in
science. If a student asked for research credit, we went to the next step. If
she asked for a paying assistantship, I arranged it.
Most professors starting out can only afford a single
postdoc. Choosing one who has independent thoughts and can bring expertise you
need into your group is a good way of thinking about who to recruit.
Minimal lab size
based on this would be four (2 grads; 2 undergrads). The maximum size would be eight (4 grads, 3
undergrads, 1 postdoc)—that’s getting on the large size. At that point, you’d
need to consider hiring technical support. Having a good person to order,
organize, and analyze in your lab is important, possibly even essential. For a
complex laboratory like a stable isotope mass spectrometer lab, technical help
can make or break an early career. Swapping out a technician for one of the
grad students keeps the size stable.
Swinging into mid-career, post-tenure life, your lab
management and people mentorship styles will be established. Sometimes there is
a “sigh of relief” in getting to this career place, and it makes sense if
things worked before, don’t make big changes.
Marilyn, Doug Rumble, Penny Morrill, Shuhei Ono, Jen Eigenbrode (postdocs) after lab tie-dying party, 2005 |
When you start to plan where you’d like to be at 50 or 55 or
60, it’s time to strategize. I didn’t do this effectively at Carnegie. I
expanded my research program during my mid-career, traveled all over the world,
raised a family, but put off thinking about more ambitious plans. When the
Directorship of the Geophysical Laboratory came up in 2009, I had only taken
steps in the preceding 2 years or so to prepare for the leadership position.
After being bypassed for that position, I took a job at the National Science
Foundation (NSF) as a Program Director in Geobiology and Low Temperature
Geochemistry. Working at NSF put me on the national stage and gave me a chance
to show I could lead a field, be a director, and command some international
recognition beyond my research portfolio.
When I returned to the Geophysical Lab in 2011, I started
looking in earnest for positions with leadership potential. My kids were in
college, and my husband was restless to get back to California. I worked my
tail off then, eventually landing at the University of California Merced becoming
department chair and building core competency at this new school. My world has
expanded in ways that I did not imagine. On a daily basis, I’ve worked not only
with my lab group, but my whole department’s faculty, many other grad students,
hundreds of undergrads, staff, and administrators up to and including the
Chancellor. At UC Riverside, my lab group is now part of an Institute, and I
have worked to broaden my influence to other faculty and students throughout
campus. I wanted and sought after a larger role—an expanded, different type of
“group”.
Whether you develop a lab group with a strong presence or
with a more hands-off approach, you’ll be responsible for the group’s financial
wellbeing. The trade off is that a larger group gives you more accomplishments,
and hopefully more funding. This gets right back to thinking about how big (of
a lab group) is too big? Thinking about where you’d like to be in 5, 10 or 20
years and figuring out how your lab’s size and structure might help you get
there, is the right approach when you start to fill those “buckets” with people.