Today was a day full of new happenings for me.
First of all, I began work on my new “mini-project” with a post doctoral fellow in my lab. This project is completely different from the main and side projects I have worked on previously, but it is always exciting to learn something new and to work with new people. When I interviewed for the Howard Hughes program, I was asked about other fields of science that I was interested in, and I thought of so many off the top of my head. I love that science is a dynamic field that changes everyday, and that it will never be possible to have a complete understanding of everything that goes into it– that to me is what makes scientific research exhilarating.
I won’t go into too much detail about my new project here since there is the possibility of a publication sometime in the future, but it is related to autophagy, which is something I had never given much thought to before. However, after reading a couple papers to prepare for this new project, I have discovered that autophagy is actually quite a nifty cellular activity and quite smart in some ways too. I have broad research interests– I can make it work. In any case, I guess this new research project will be a way for me to transition into other work as I prepare for the imminent departure of my graduate student mentor.
However, this brings me to my next point.
I attended my first thesis defense today! It’s kind of shameful for me to admit that prior to today, I had not ventured off and attended other defenses, but a small part of me feels that a thesis defense is an intimate affair between the “defender”, his committee, his labmates and friends, and his family. This much was made clear to me during today’s defense, and I am not sure how meaningful it would have been for me going to the thesis defense of a complete stranger. I know that the scientist in me would be ashamed of this attitude and question my thirst for new knowledge, but I am actually quite glad that the first defense I ever attended was that of someone who I knew decently well– a labmate, a mentor, and a friend.