This section has been collected from  communication & discussion between Matt, Jane and our students since 2006. It is related college, graduate school, profession, and life in general.

 

Q1: How to transition from high school to college?

A1: For incoming undergraduate students, here are six secrets  to transition well from high school to university and make the most of their college education. (1) Show up for every class; (2) Undistracted means turn off the phone; (3) You need to work even harder outside the classroom; (4) Go talk to the professor during office hours; (5) Meeting other students is important; (6) Say goodbye to the high school safety net.

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​Some more helpful rules:

#Sit on the front row or as close to the front as possible;

#Pay focused attention during class, take good notes and don't depend on the notes of peers, ask meaningful questions during and after class, and avoid getting behind in class assignments because it quickly compounds; High school hotshots may not realize that most college courses require at least twice as much work to complete;

#Many of them waltz in expecting a slam dunk and get a rude awakening;

#When I figured it out, my time management became brutally rigid: every Sunday evening thru Saturday afternoon it was classes, studying, eating, and sleeping. The remaining 36 hrs were spent on relaxation: pleasure reading, a hike, gathering with friends;

#The major piece of advice or study technique that few people know is the extraordinary effect of studying in groups;

#"The secret to success in college is simple: Go to class. Do the work."

#Learn to write, speak and listen well so you can express yourself.

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Q2: How to get accepted to a research laboratory?

A2: You could write to an individual faculty member whose research projects interest you. You would let him/her get to know you and your qualifications. If s/he would agree to have you, provided that you would be qualified and accepted into graduate program, you could apply the program with the intention of having him/her as your prospect advisor. You should start preparing for it at least one year before your targeted admission. It is a lengthy procedure that you cannot wait until the deadline. You will read carefully what the program demands for its applicants. Generally, GRE (graduate record examination) score, TOFEL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score, academic transcripts, personal statement, cover letter and 3-4 reference letters.

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Financial support (e.g., scholarship, fellowship and assistantship) is based on your GRE, TOFEL, GPAs in academic transcripts, and references. You should exhaust all possible sources to acquire financial support in (1) international scholarships such as Fulbright program; (2) your government and foundation support such as NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) and Ford Foundation Fellowship Prgram respectively; (3) your prospect institute's scholarships and/or fellowships such as Graduate Dean's Fellowship at SIU Carbondale, before you will seek institutional support such as teaching assistantship (if one could speak perfect English to teach at a US institute) or research assistantship (if one's prospect advisor has a grant to support an incoming student, which is very slim in reality). One should spend at least 1-2 months to search for possible financial sources in (1) - (3) and prepare for applications before seeking hard-to-get assistantships.

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Q3: Advice in preparation for graduate studies?

A3: To choose a good advisor is super-important for any prospect graduate student, say K. It is due that K’s advisor will be his advocate: encouragements when he is doing great, a helping hand when he is failing, and his life-long support.

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It is necessary for K to know who is compatible with him before he decides to work with. Perhaps K should do thorough pre-acceptance communication and realize any expectation demanded on him. However, remember “benefit of doubt” has its own limitation. Once K goes beyond that, he may run into a brick wall.

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Learn to write clearly without heavy weight of your words to confuse readers. Less jargon as possible.

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Q4: How to adjust to a foreign culture?

A4: First, an international student (called him K) would experience culture shock at a US institute. American culture definitely differs from any culture, even Canadian and western countries’. American teaching style could be relaxed, in comparison. The boundary between teachers/professors and students could be blurred and their relationship could casual. But the teaching could be structured, depending on individual professors. The relaxed and casual relationship could mislead K that his professor is his best and close friend (but the professor is not!). Actually K’s professor’s attitude could be friendly while his teaching would be professional.

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K will be advised to ask questions, tons of. If he does not understand something, ask to clarify. However, if there is no improvement, K’s professor would think K simply wants personal attention, instead of improving the understanding of his subject.

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K is advised to have a hobby or two to keep him mentally fit in a foreign culture. K is also advised to do regular exercise to keep him physical fit for a long haul at graduate school. K should have his social network(s) for his emotional support. However, kin effect is a human nature to seek someone similar to his appearance, talking the same languages, coming from the same country (or region, even town). K should encourage himself to walk out of his comfort zone to know more about American students, finding their strengths to follow/imitate and their weakness to avoid.

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In the early months after K’s arrival in the US, K may experience difficulties in understanding American English, which differs from British English. K could watch TV/Netflix with captions and listen to radio to make that transition. If K does not understand something, it is K’s own responsibility to ask and clarify.

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If K would find difficulties in courses, he should try his best to catch up as soon as possible. To find a compatible advisor is important, who does not consider K as one extra pair of warm hands. Instead, the advisor will consider K his future collaborator and partner. The relationship between advisor and advisee is unlike that between employer and employee. It is the best interest for K to have research projects to demonstrate his learning and ability under his advisor’s mentorship.

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Q5: How has it been like as a researcher in the U.S?

A5: It has been hard to be a researcher at a research-intensive institute in the US. Most of my time is spent in writing reference letters (for students), manuscripts, and grant proposals. But it has been fun, too, to enjoy the freedom to pursue any research topic I am interested in. I could move from Plant Biology to Environmental Engineering to green solution to back to Plant Biology. But there would be different expectations to work in the US as a researcher in industry, government laboratory etc – these are beyond me.

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I have also learned a bit how to manage a laboratory, lead lab members by examples and delegate the members. Sometimes, laboratory management is more difficult than doing research. I am still learning.

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​Q6: Have you faced any challenge in your field? How did you overcome it?

​A6: Plant Biology has been evolving, same as my research. Technological advances (e.g., from expressed sequence tags [EST] to microarrays to RNA-sequencing to now MINIon in 15 years!) and across discipline training cannot be avoided. Doing research is a very long haul for a person. Sometimes I would have self doubt (lack of confidence), would like to stop doing what I should do (procrastination), evaluate how much time I have in order to complete a project or achieve a goal (prioritization). A researcher needs to be mentally strong, physically persistent and constantly reading and catching up with scientific literature. “Publish or perish”. A researcher must move forward; if he stays put, he is already behind.

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Prioritization may be critical when one reaches his middle age. Greed (to achieve) could mask a person’s underlying problems. My colleagues’ and my cancer all resulted from this greed. Fortunately I had a layback husband who pulled me out of my death bed. From time to time, I remind myself to slow down my pace.

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Learn to say NO and make your YES powerful and sincere. To help you focus, avoid unnecessary interruptions from modern gadgets.

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Q7: What would I have wished that I had known earlier?

A7: Everyone makes his own life. One could provide advice to a student, say K, but it is K who decides what to do exactly. There is no perfect advice, perfect solution, perfect anything. K needs to carefully tweak his environment and events around him to make his own decision. There is always a tradeoff (or balance) between K’s personal life and academic life; how to give both certain proportions (time commitment) is K’s decision. For example, K fell in love with his lab mate P and got married. When would they have a baby to start a family? Graduate school, postdoctoral training, and permanent position in academics/industry/NGO/government? How about tenure review in the academic route and high pressure fast pace in profit-oriented industry?

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A nice, understanding and helping spouse is important for K, knowing that two persons will work better than one, hopefully reaching the level of 1+1 > 2.

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I don’t wish I had known anything earlier. But it boils it down that if something is essential in K’s academic life, then he’d better to acquire, instead of solely relying on collaboration. Especially if K’s still young and energetic, he would learn as much as he could (not simply "know"). The skills he acquires in school (say graduate school) may guarantee he would have a job which requires his skills. But they may be out of date in 2-3 years. How could he survive in the evolution of technical advances? A life-long self improvement program is required. As Albert Einstein said "Life is like riding a bicycle. In order to keep your balance you must keep moving", the same as life-long learning.

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When seeking anything new/advanced, one shall also invest to maintain what s/he has.

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Q8: When starting a project/position, think about how to end it.

A8: Never marry to your position nor let your job/position define you. It is due that once you lose the job or retire from it, you become nothing and feel empty. Avoid burnout before you are already burned out. When leading a project/position, plan to end it well and have your successor take over it smoothly.

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Q9: How important is it for one to keep his integrity?

A9: It will take a person many years (or a life time) to build a reputation; but that reputation will immediately erode at his/her first blunder or/and breaking first promise.

 

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