The end of a chapter

Last Wednesday, my postdoctoral PI officially notified me that he will not be renewing my funding for the next funding period starting in September, thereby marking the end of a six-year experience in the field of MRI. I sensed a long time ago that MRI—an electrical engineering, physics and computer science heavy discipline—was perhaps not the most suitable field for someone with my educational background. At the same time, I don’t regret my time in this ultra challenging field as someone with a more biology heavy background; I felt a mixture of a sense of relief and a bit of disappointment that’s inevitably associated with rejection when the news was delivered. 

Yet, the postdoc experience was not all that bad either. Committing to the postdoc at USC brought me to sunny Los Angeles and expanded my community in the LA area. I wouldn’t have had the friend group I’ve gained in the past year had I not moved to a major metropolitan city, so I’m glad it happened. This postdoc also marks my first professional job that’s related to my education, so I’m glad I got that experience under my belt. Overall, the mentorship experience was not the best I’ve ever experienced, but at least it wasn’t abusive. What I initially thought was a lot of freedom given to me to be creative was poor mentoring and a bit of a lack of accountability. I basically did not meet with my mentors on a regular basis and there were effectively very little direction and guidance provided associated with the project. I was basically expected to figure things out on my own and if I couldn’t: tough luck.

Nevertheless, that is all past me and, as I’ve mentioned before, I feel a mixture of happiness and sadness associated with my departure. I don’t really know what to think. On Friday, I will find out if I will be able to matriculate at SCI-Arc and if the institution will give me the full-tuition scholarship that will make my attendance feasible. If I don’t receive it, I will likely work as a medical writer in a hopefully remote or hybrid position that will allow me to work from home most of the time. That would be a very sweet setup. All in all, I’m excited for the future—a little nervous—but excited nonetheless.