I met with Jim Kubat to discuss my current career interests and how I could possibly further my career exploration through my current research position. We discussed how this semester, I am finally starting to narrow down my career interest to be in research and teaching, specifically in cognitive development and learning. Although we did talk about my interest in headache research, this is something that I have decided to keep as a part of my advocacy work as I have realized that it is impossible (and probably not very healthy) for me to find and pursue a career that combines every single one of my interests.
Going into the meeting, I had two main questions:
1) Having spent nearly one semester as a research assistant, I have already learned a great deal (especially after going to the Psychonomics conference) about my interest in research, specifically in development. However, I want to make sure that I am getting the most out of my time as an RA. I understand that part of that is forming a relationship with my PI, but I’m not 100% sure the best way to do that. Also, how do I take my specific growing interests and determine a way to pursue them in a way that is fulfilling for me and showcases to graduate schools what I am capable of?
2) As I am looking for summer opportunities, I’m not sure what to do. I am aware of some great summer opportunities at Wesleyan, some even within the lab I’m currently working in. I also am aware that there are so many off-campus opportunities for summer research. The problem I am having is which should take priority: using the summer to build a stronger connection with my PI and work on establishing myself in the lab or using the summer to further explore my interests outside of my current lab.
His advice for me was simple: talk to people. Ask the seniors in my lab to have a casual conversation about how to approach building a good working relationship with our PI, how to learn about opportunities, how they developed their own research interests (and decided on them), and what their plans are after Wesleyan. Reach out to departments since I wasn’t able to attend open houses since I was working then to see if there are faculty or students willing to talk to me about their path. Go to office hours not just for course help but to ask my professors about their careers. Even reach out to WesWIS to see if there are any upperclassmen willing to grab a meal with me to talk about their process.
Although this is good advice, I’m still a bit nervous to reach out to people, even for casual conversations. I think the easiest first step for me will be just starting a conversation up when another lab member is in the lab with me. I’ll then build to going to office hours to talk to my professors who can give me advice on my research questions. I have reached out to my PI expressing my interests after the conference and see that turning into a conversation that will hopefully kickstart our working relationship, but I know that I do need to start focusing more energy on forming relationships with my professors and advisors, especially with major declarations around the corner.
My meeting with Jim Kubat was definitely reassuring as he told me that I’m on the right path, and his advice on reaching out to others who are just a few years or a whole career ahead in their journey was definitely helpful.
