The question was originally posted in Quora and I could not resist writing a response (seen below). I believe the perspective of a professor’s job being relaxed comes from the fact that most people only interact with their professors during lectures, i.e. at most 3 hours per week. So, it would seem like the professor just has to show up to class for the lecture, talk about something (which they repeat every year since they are teaching the same course again), and then do noth

I write this article as I wait for my flight back to Indianapolis departing from Phoenix. I have been visiting Arizona and California for the past few days to understand the process of farming fresh produce and how food safety plus plays a role in this process. I am interested because I think we can build biosensors that might help prevent food-borne illnesses. This trip was beneficial to drive appropriate research in the lab and design technologies that can have an impact. A

The short answer: yes, I think we do. Being surrounded by academics and delving into research questions about the deepest truths of the universe can often alienate us from the “real-world” challenges. Academics can seem to be living in their Ivory Towers without a perspective of what happens on the ground. To have an impact on the people around us, we need to reconnect with the people outside of academia and keep their issues in mind when working on our research. Market resea

Guest Article by Professor Abby Engelberth As far as I know, humans are the only species on planet Earth that have developed a written system of communication, and somehow we can still fail to get our point across. We can be too lazy to put in the effort to write well (or proofread), or the chosen words may not reflect what we really mean. I realize that as I write this post that I will likely also have some difficulty saying what I mean; some statement or comment will likely

When people hear about a professor, they often imagine someone who is very knowledgeable and has most (if not all) of the answers. Yet, professors are human beings; they cannot know everything and they need a support system around them too. The support system includes a mentoring network that helps a professor continue to grow and learn. We hear about mentorship and often have varying views on it because of our own past experiences with it—good and bad. As I learned in the fa

Time is our most precious resource. Just like everyone else, professors have limited time to do the work they want to do. What is different about a professor's job though is that their time is completely their own, that is, professors get to decide how to spend their time; often, their personal and professional lives are intertwined. For a junior faculty, like me, a key five-year goal is to obtain tenure (I will explain the tenure process in more detail in a separate post), w

So, how much do you earn? This question is more taboo in the American/Canadian culture than it is in the Indian culture. Thus, although I do not encounter it often, listening to NPR's Hidden Brain podcast “Why no one feels rich” made me think about it. I started wondering about how the salaries of professors compared to other professionals. Given that we just survived the tax season (both in America and Canada) in the month of April, I figured income was a timely topic for th

Guest Article By Professor Kevin Solomon Science drives economic growth and serves society by providing technical solutions to national challenges. But what areas should be prioritized? How should they be fostered? Are there any social, economic, or technical risks to the development of these technologies? How should the risks be managed? As an expert in your field you may be called upon to educate congress and provide testimony that helps shapes government policy. Here I pro

When I mention this blog to my friends or colleagues, a common question I get is: “What made you start a blog?” After pausing for a few seconds, my response is for the following three reasons: 1) to educate the general public about the job of professor, 2) to keep track of my experiences, and 3) if successful and useful, to eventually compile the content of the blog into a book. Educating the public A common perception of a professor is that of a teacher because most people i

I have written about my experience of teaching for the first time—the joys and the perils of the journey. Today, I want to discuss the technologies that I have incorporated within my class to keep it engaging while avoiding having to learn too many new systems. I use Blackboard Learn for managing all the course content and also for conducting quizzes and exams. Blackboard provides a central dashboard which can be integrated with other tools such as Gradescope—useful for submi

An admission committee member’s perspective The New Year typically brings new adventures. Many of you have just finished applying to graduate school in the hopes of getting into your dream program. Here, I provide a perspective of what happens with your application after you hit “submit.” When I was applying for graduate school (end of 2011), I had very little guidance. I was in the final year of my undergraduate studies in Canada and I already had an informal offer to contin

They told me it was going to be difficult, it was going to be time-consuming, it was going to be a lot of work. Despite all the cautionary tales, nothing prepares you for it. In my training so far, the closest I have been to teaching a college-level course is being a teaching assistant during my PhD and I thought that was challenging. Wait until you become an instructor. I am teaching a junior-level class on the “applications of physical chemistry to biological processes.” Th

The season of job applications is in full swing. Many postdoctoral fellows—gone are the days when you could get a faculty position straight after finishing your PhD—have worked hard on their application package over the summer, most importantly on their research statement; contacted their referees (maybe even drafted letters for them), shortlisted the jobs that they find interesting, and are now in the process of sending in their applications. About two years ago, I was in th