Three weeks into my postdoc

I’ve just completed the third week of my postdoc and I have some thoughts to share. First, the pace of the work is much different than what I experienced during my PhD. A lot less busy work for starters. Also, my postdoctoral advisor is much more established in the neuroimaging field and far more senior than my PhD advisor. There are pros and cons to this, I’m learning. The pro is that the projects that are being assigned to me have a lot more weight to them and have better shots at being published than what was given me as a PhD student in a startup lab. I wasn’t aware of this dynamic when I was just starting graduate school, but there is an inherent political climate and a game that needs to be played if one is to be successful in a particular field of study. The con is that you don’t get to interact with your advisor as much.

Second, I’m loving the USC campus. Not so much the specific region in Los Angeles where I am located as there’s not much to do here, but the USC health sciences campus is amazingly beautiful in its design and architecture. The labs are all pristine in terms of how they are maintained. I literally feel like I’m on a movie set. This was not the case at any other institution I’ve worked at–including WashU, which is a nationally renowned medical center. I think up until now, I’ve underestimated the importance of the training environment one is in and the ability of it to foster productive research. I’m going to take this factor a bit more into consideration looking forward and factor it more heavily when applying for the next stage, which will hopefully set me up for a permanent position at a major medical center.

Third, I’m starting to appreciate the importance of being part of the co-worker community. As an older PhD student, I felt a bit distanced from many of my peers because of life experiences and age, and, in many ways, I still sort of feel that way in my postdoctoral position. However, I feel that, as a postdoc, there is supposed to be this isolation and distance from everyone else. Sure being part of the clique is important in academia just like it is important in any other fields, but I’ve always found that part of work or school to be somewhat difficult. I just have a naturally more difficult time fitting in.

To conclude, I’m very pleased with this current set up for my postdoctoral position. I think if I were to stay here for a couple years–maybe three or four–that this experience could set me up for something very favorable down the road.