So I finally interviewed my PI... sort of...
Yes, we all know that Dr. Steven B. Haase is slightly wary of interviews. As in, he dodges them at any cost. So if you want to learn more about him, you just have to be... subtle about it. As a disclaimer, I would like to say that I did NOT walk into Steve's office with the intention of tricking him into telling me about himself. I actually just wanted to talk to him about how the summer had gone/applying to colleges/plans for senior year. About halfway through the conversation, I decided that life lessons from Steve involved a lot of backstory. How convenient!
STEVE'S STORY (mostly): Originally wanted to be a marine biologist (aka the new Jacques Cousteau. Hey, if you're going to do something, do it big.) Went to the Colorado State for undergrad, with the intention of transferring to the University of Washington. Took a molecular biology class sophomore year and was like... "whoa. this is cool." Went to Stanford for grad school. Worked in the genetics center, also in the med school. Wrote the all-important 1999 Nature paper. Interviewed at a lot of different schools (UT-Austin, Yale, etc.) before coming to Duke in 2003. Started working with yeast. Continued to be cool.
So, the majority of that you could have found out by doing a little research. But, Steve's experiences have also helped him formulate a series of philosophies on life, liberty, and not burning out.
STEVE'S GUIDE TO A GOOD LIFE (paraphrased):
1. Do something deeply instead of spreading yourself too thin.
Quote: "Any advisee who comes in wanting to do a double major, I ask them if they have a good reason. If they don't, and most of them don't, I laugh. And tell them not to." If you try to do everything - overbook yourself with clubs, overload on classes, do a triple major and an MD/PhD and research at the same time, you'll end up learning very little about a lot of things. Truly diving into a subject allows you to learn the skills necessary to doing a job, any job, and those are always translatable. There is literally no way to do everything, and you'll be a lot happier if you actually learn about something in depth.
2. It's okay to change your mind.
Quote: "I could decide that I want to become a physicist. Right now. So, I would take some classes, do some reading, because I already know how to think about science. I know how to ask questions. That's the important skill." Many different paths can lead to the same goal, and you don't have to be afraid of changing what you want or dead set on one thing. As long as you work hard to develop yourself into someone who can think, and learn, you can be successful even if you start completely over in something new. That doesn't mean change your mind all the time - it means be confident in the fact that your skills are useful.
3. Science is not about experiments; it's about questions.
Quote: "Sometimes I feel like undergrads come in the lab and they just flounder... it becomes about learning the experiments and not about asking questions, about understanding the science. Then it's no fun anymore." Never cease to see research, and science in general, as the opportunity to ask questions. There is no excuse to not learn something if you just ask. You can have a pile of data, but if you don't know what it means, it doesn't matter. So keep in mind that science is about asking good questions and looking for the answers.
4. "Don't be a spaz."
Enough said.
