New Ideas
Dec 15, 2009
A fresh perspective on a project can be helpful, however, as a graduate student be careful with your new ideas. You can have the most brilliant idea, but you are in a world of limited resources.
Instead, focus on getting stuff done.
Join a lab and start reducing the workload of your colleagues. We don’t need new ideas for other people to work on.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Albert Einstein
Getting results is more important than both.
Artem
December 20th, 2009 at 9:47 AM #
I disagree.
As a student, graduate or otherwise your primary objective is to learn. This includes learning facts, techniques, etc. but also learning how to be creative and perhaps most important – how to generate ideas and how to judge their quality. The latter process can take decades but it is never too early to start.
Therefore, as a student your primary duty is to study – not to wash the proverbial beakers or to run endless gels (that’s a paid full-time technician’s job!). If you get an idea that looks good – check it against the vast body of available published knowledge (what used to be called ‘go to the library’) because it is 99% likely that someone else has already tried it. If you are convinced (and even better, if you can convince others) that your idea is indeed new and interesting – go for it. Write a grant, work at night – do whatever it takes. Otherwise you will be kicking yourself when someone else patents or publishes your idea ten years later.
Sean
December 20th, 2009 at 4:00 PM #
My rub is with students (or senior researchers) that generate ideas for others to work on without being careful. Judging the quality of an idea as you point out is a lifelong process and I would add difficult, is this novel idea going to work? The skill of judging an idea, I feel needs more respect and many students have yet to develop a suitable background to be able to evaluate it (walk before you can run, type of situation).
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‘Write a grant, work at night – do whatever it takes’
Exactly. Get results.
Artem
December 20th, 2009 at 5:15 PM #
No
Run before you walk. If you stumble and fall – that’s a valuable lesson.
Early in the game (at least through PhD studies) the judgement is partially in the hands of the supervisor. Ultimately (at least in biology so far) there is no way to test an idea without experimental work. If you’re a student – then it’s going to be your work (no one else to do it for you). Hence working at night (since during the day you’ll be busy studying and doing the work your supervisor has given you). Grant writing, if successful, can free you from the obligation of doing lots of drudgework for others. Or find a rich uncle, I guess.