Lack of commitment/motivation from my PI?

[trigeminalnerve]

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So here I am trying to do some meaningful clinical research in the field that I want to go into, and I don't have many choices in terms of who to do research with since that department at my school is so small. The last PI I had (different field) was extremely unresponsive to my requests, and never really talked about progress on the project unless I explicitly emailed her. Now, I'm trying to do clinical research with this new professor, and she too is seemingly acting the same way. I've met with her before, and we had a good conversation to discuss our research interests, and she said she should have a project up and running in a couple months. Couple of months later, I email her, and she says that she doesn't have anything ready to go yet and will have something in another couple months. Again, I wait a couple months and email her, and again, I get the same response. I'm frustrated because I'm motivated to start doing research, but it seems that whoever I'm working with isn't as committed. Is there anything I can do to get her to pay more attention to my needs?

 

[Charles_Carmichael]

Have you tried nearby schools? I attend school in an area where there are several med schools nearby and I'm doing research at one of these schools, not the one I'm attending.

And do you have to do research in this particular department/field? Maybe there's someone from a different department conducting research on a topic that could be applicable to your field of interest as well? (ex: research on resuscitation could be applied to critical care, EM, etc.)

 

[trigeminalnerve]

Well, the other schools are at least 3+ hours away, and their departments (derm in this case) isn't close to as good as the one at my school. My goal is to pursue research in derm, so I would rather do a project in this field rather than do a project in another department that overlaps with my interests.

I guess my main concern is if I'm being too passive just "waiting" for my PI to create a project, or if there is anything I can do to help, even if I'm not directly being asked to contribute at this point. Also, how can I best express my enthusiasm in working with her? I chose to work with her in part because of her research interests (and partly because no one else in the department had an open research position), so I just want her to know that I'm ready to dedicate my time to research and am not just doing this so I can put it on my residency app.

 

[CatFactorial]

Well, the other schools are at least 3+ hours away, and their departments (derm in this case) isn't close to as good as the one at my school. My goal is to pursue research in derm, so I would rather do a project in this field rather than do a project in another department that overlaps with my interests.

I guess my main concern is if I'm being too passive just "waiting" for my PI to create a project, or if there is anything I can do to help, even if I'm not directly being asked to contribute at this point. Also, how can I best express my enthusiasm in working with her? I chose to work with her in part because of her research interests (and partly because no one else in the department had an open research position), so I just want her to know that I'm ready to dedicate my time to research and am not just doing this so I can put it on my residency app.

Your "needs" are insignificant. Yes, it'd be nice to do research and get a fancy pants derm residency, but that is in no way your PI's responsibility. Perhaps there is no funding or the project is junk, or she got scooped by someone else. The reason research looks good is that it's hard.

If you can't find a research gig where you are, contact faculty (in other schools also) in your area of interest, do a research year, something. The opportunities are out there, but you have to be much more proactive.

 

[plauto]

Contact the residents...they can always use help with ongoing projects and can direct you to attendings who currently have research activities