Leave the lab or continue with an independent project?

[Contr0lz]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi everyone! I hope you all are having a great day. Today, I've been struck with some bad news: my graduate student mentor decided to quit her PhD in BME and pursue an MS instead, which she will graduate with by the end of this semester. Unfortunately, this will leave me without a mentor.

Here are some details of the current situation:

1. I'm currently a freshman chemical engineering major.
2. My grad student and I are the only ones working on the project; however, we do occasionally consult other senior grad students for help.
3. The project focuses on stem cells, microfluidic devices, and lasers
4. It is a very large fund (> $1 million).
5. I'm currently in the process of making a poster presentation that involves automation of the project
6. My grad student has offered to fully train me by showing me how to run cell experiments independently, how to make microfluidic devices, and how to passage stem cells.
7. She will even let me have all of the protocols and experimental details that she has used since she started working on the project 1.5 years ago.
8. This project has massive potential
9. I know the ultimate goals of the project and know a cloudy way to approach the project.

Here will be my near future responsibilities:

1. Optimizing the microfluidic device for maximum efficiency (minimizing cell death while maximizing throughput)
2. Getting trained and using femtosecond lasers for the optoporation of cells and test different signaling factors
3. Read lots & lots of journal articles and start literary reviews and citations

My grad student and PI says if I stick with the lab and continue with the independent project (~ 25-30 hrs/week), there is a good possibility of a first author publication (or start writing the manuscript), and conference presentations by the end of the summer semester and more in future years. However, I'm incredibly afraid of two things: 1) not possessing the math prowess needed to optimize microfluidic devices (flow rates, flow types, designs); I remember my graduate student using Navier Stokes equation, and PDEs... 2) afraid that other graduate students will not help me or just push me aside if I ask for help once my grad student has left

I'm a very motivated individual and think my project is very cool and interesting, and I really want to pursue it even further. However, the thought of being independent at an early stage of my UG career (not completely true) scares me. I don't want to join another lab and start completely new with other people because I really like this lab, my project, the exciting technology, and the grad students (except for 1 guy). I also don't want to lose a recommendation letter from the PI. But can someone please advise me? Should I leave the lab and start anew or grow a pair and do it?

There is a possibility that there will be a new ms or phd student that will join the stem cell project at the beginning of the summer semester. However, I will have to train him/her with stem cell culture and experimental stuff and work on the project as collaborators (instead of graduate -undergraduate student mentorship)

Btw, thanks for taking your time to read the long post. I really appreciate it.

 

[SN12357]

If your PI is supportive it sounds like an awesome opportunity (I mean supportive in practice, not just in theory...a lot of academics talk a good game and then kind of don't do the mentoring thing well on the nitty-gritty level). But I would give it a really good try before deciding to leave; opportunities for that much independence don't come around all that often at an undergrad level.

One other major factor to consider will be your grades, though. 25-30 hrs is a major time commitment (unpaid?) to a lab. You want to be sure you can keep your grades up.

 

[Lya]

Why would you leave the lab when you are the only one in charge of that project after she leaves? This is a huge learning opportunity for you, and if you take charge and succeed, your PI will love you--the project would have been paused indefinitely until someone else continues that project. If you are very motivated and the project really is cool and interesting, then prove it by sticking into it, act like a graduate student and don't let that label of "freshman" limit your performance or ambition.

If you need help with math, ask your PI that this is the area you need help with. Maybe you could grab a collaborator you can work with. If other grad students will not help you, then go to your PI and seek help. If your PI doesn't help you, find a course and take it. Or find another professor in that specific area of math and ask how to go about learning PDE or NS equation.


What you need to do at this moment is this. Absorb everything your grad student teaches you and every word she tells you. Ask her if she could meet with you for an hour or two to talk about PDE and NS equation that she uses often.


Many pre-meds wish they were in the same spot as yours.

 

[Contr0lz]

If your PI is supportive it sounds like an awesome opportunity (I mean supportive in practice, not just in theory...a lot of academics talk a good game and then kind of don't do the mentoring thing well on the nitty-gritty level). But I would give it a really good try before deciding to leave; opportunities for that much independence don't come around all that often at an undergrad level.

One other major factor to consider will be your grades, though. 25-30 hrs is a major time commitment (unpaid?) to a lab. You want to be sure you can keep your grades up.

It will be paid. Grades are my #1 priority btw. There is definitely a lot of down time during cell experiments, which I usually use and will continue to responsibly use to study for my classes. I currently have a 4.0 in my classes, so it's definitely a big motivator for me to continue to keep it as long as possible.

 

[SN12357]

It will be paid. Grades are my #1 priority btw. There is definitely a lot of down time during cell experiments, which I usually use and will continue to responsibly use to study for my classes. I currently have a 4.0 in my classes, so it's definitely a big motivator for me to continue to keep it.

Paid! Awesome. Definitely try to stick with it--sounds like you've lucked in to a really unusual opportunity for a freshman.

 

[Lya]

In one of the leadership conferences I went to in my college, there was a guest speaker said: Don't let your academics hinder your education. I wouldn't let the fear of breaking 4.0 hinder your education. Anywhere above 3.7-3.8 is perfectly fine, and in the end, you will forget about your GPA after you graduate.

If classes might be too time consuming, I think it is perfectly acceptable to take fewer classes than usual to balance your time. What I did was to make an Excel file and write down all the required classes I need to take each semester. I asked upperclassmen how hard these classes were, arranged and spread them out so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed by multiple difficult courses during each semester, and see if summer classes are needed at all to catch up.

 

[Contr0lz]

Why would you leave the lab when you are the only one in charge of that project after she leaves? This is a huge learning opportunity for you, and if you take charge and succeed, your PI will love you--the project would have been paused indefinitely until someone else continues that project. If you are very motivated and the project really is cool and interesting, then prove it by sticking into it, act like a graduate student and don't let that label of "freshman" limit your performance or ambition.

If you need help with math, ask your PI that this is the area you need help with. Maybe you could grab a collaborator you can work with. If other grad students will not help you, then go to your PI and seek help. If your PI doesn't help you, find a course and take it. Or find another professor in that specific area of math and ask how to go about learning PDE or NS equation.


What you need to do at this moment is this. Absorb everything your grad student teaches you and every word she tells you. Ask her if she could meet with you for an hour or two to talk about PDE and NS equation that she uses often.


Many pre-meds wish they were in the same spot as yours.

Thanks! Lya

In one of the leadership conferences I went to in my college, there was a guest speaker said: Don't let your academics hinder your education.

If classes might be too time consuming, I think it is perfectly acceptable to take fewer classes than usual to balance your time. What I did was to make an Excel file and write down all the required classes I need to take each semester. I asked upperclassmen how hard these classes were, arranged and spread them out so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed by multiple difficult courses during each semester, and see if summer classes are needed at all to catch up.

That's excellent advice and I actually do it too! Fortunately, I'm really lucky to have good upperclassman contacts and also easy professors next semester.