work or no work?

[jot]

my PI was lured away by UCSD and will be gone in the fall. its kind of a shame, because i've been quite productive with him, and was looking forward to a few more pubs with him (and honors thesis). whatever, hes gone now.

he is the only person in the department that does anything in his particular field of research. so, would you start fresh in a completely new lab (new subject, new people, new repore to build) for that year, though i know i'm going to be quite busy (though if i do something i won't half-ass it), or would it be detrimental to just take the year off research-wise?

thanks
-jot

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[Spudster]

The same thing happened to me - my junior year I found out that my PI was leaving for industry. My original plan was to graduate a year early so that I could work in his lab at Genentech for a year while applying to school. In the end, we decided that it would be better for me to stay in academia, but since I had already made the arrangements to graduate early, I followed through with the plan. So, now I am work full-time in research in a new lab on the same project. Honestly, it is the best thing that I could have done because it allowed me to indulge my biophysical curiosities, looking at the same problem from a completely different perspective. As a result, I am joining the biophysics program as opposed to a more cell bio - type program.

You probably wouldn't be able to just graduate a little early (especially since it is already June), but I would suggest that you continue to research. Think of it as an additional rotation and an opportunity to confirm your interests for your thesis research.

 

[none]

UCSD does have the habit of luring people away...

 

[jot]

hah, hopefully they'll lure me there as well ... wouldn't mind working at scripps or salk.
-jot