1. Graduate advisor
- “How to pick a graduate advisor”, Ben A. Barres, Neuron, 2013
- Pick an advisor who is a good scientist
- Asks important questions and makes mechanistic or conceptual steps forward in answering them.
- Publishes research papers in good to top journals.
- Number of papers is also important.
- Therefore, try to get access information on H-index, CV, NIH grant basis, advice from senior faculty.
- Pick an advisor who is a good mentor
- Help students to formulate a good and tractable question.
- Guide a student to formulate good experiments to address this question while encouraging student to be increasingly independent over time.
- Therefore, try to talk with current/previous trainees, determine the percentage of postdocs vs. graduate vs. undergraduate students, ask if the students are generally happy.
- With a good mentor, going to lab everyday should feel almost like being in summer camp!
- Pick an advisor who is a good scientist
2. University resources (UT Austin links below, but any institution should have similar systems)