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I'm working on a secondary right now that asked me to explain the particulars of my research experience. The research got off to a fine start, and I was involved with it at the ground level. However, a few months into the research when we were just starting to push through to some interesting data, the guy I was working with found out he didn't get tenure, started drinking, and essentially stopped showing up. In italics below is what I got when I started free writing and, having read it, i'm pretty sure its not the route to take. However, that leaves me fairly in the dark about how to approach the situation. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear it.
I began working with Dr. H from the very beginning of his research in Computation Chemistry at XYZ College. Our initial efforts were spent in search of a question, rather than in pursuit of an answer to a preformed hypothesis. We started by using a computer program called Gaussian to compute the conformations of starting materials, transition states, intermediaries, and products for simple acid-base reactions, taking note of any interesting behavior that deviated from our expectations. Gaussian performed this through an iterative process, making small changes to the input conformations until local minima and maxima could be found, identifying points of interest in the reaction mechanism.
As we started to see interesting behavior concerning delocalized hydrogen atoms adjacent to carbonyls, Dr. H was informed that he would not be receiving tenure, which drastically changed the research dynamic. When I realized that regardless of how much extra effort I put in to try to compensate for the resulting decline in productivity, progress would eventually plateau, I confronted Dr. H and resigned. The decision to resign was particularly difficult for me because I felt committed to seeing the research through to some sort of tangible conclusion before I turned over my responsibilities to another student. However, when Dr. H began to miss roughly half of our meetings and left after an hour on the days where he was able to keep his appointments, the cost of missing a day's pay at work and three hours of commuting became too much to ignore.
EDIT: I posted this because this is NOT the route I want to take and I'd like ideas about a different way to approach it. What I've written here was also posted to give further insight into the situation.
I began working with Dr. H from the very beginning of his research in Computation Chemistry at XYZ College. Our initial efforts were spent in search of a question, rather than in pursuit of an answer to a preformed hypothesis. We started by using a computer program called Gaussian to compute the conformations of starting materials, transition states, intermediaries, and products for simple acid-base reactions, taking note of any interesting behavior that deviated from our expectations. Gaussian performed this through an iterative process, making small changes to the input conformations until local minima and maxima could be found, identifying points of interest in the reaction mechanism.
As we started to see interesting behavior concerning delocalized hydrogen atoms adjacent to carbonyls, Dr. H was informed that he would not be receiving tenure, which drastically changed the research dynamic. When I realized that regardless of how much extra effort I put in to try to compensate for the resulting decline in productivity, progress would eventually plateau, I confronted Dr. H and resigned. The decision to resign was particularly difficult for me because I felt committed to seeing the research through to some sort of tangible conclusion before I turned over my responsibilities to another student. However, when Dr. H began to miss roughly half of our meetings and left after an hour on the days where he was able to keep his appointments, the cost of missing a day's pay at work and three hours of commuting became too much to ignore.
EDIT: I posted this because this is NOT the route I want to take and I'd like ideas about a different way to approach it. What I've written here was also posted to give further insight into the situation.
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