P.C. Shannon

I’ve been on a major slump lately, as far as my research goes. Everyone traditionally has a post prelim period where they don’t get much done, but this has lasted for months. I just am not very excited about my current project, but it hasn’t been clear to me exactly why I’m not excited.

I guess part of it is that the research doesn’t seem to present any particular challenge, because it seems clear to me that it will work. I also don’t really see where it’s going, what the larger implications are. So we’ll be able to predict X, Y, and Z. That’s useful, but what can I do with it at that point? Not much.

I did experience a brief swell of enthusiasm when it was time to start moving from the computational phase to the experimental portion, simply because I’ve hardly done any bench work in grad school. But that faded, too, especially as even ordering the chemicals I need has become a headache.

But I found myself quite elated yesterday when I had an idea for an experiment to make a synthetic goober, which is how Andy likes to refer to my aptamer designs. What I realized is that last year, when I had my own research, I was really excited about the implications and possibilities of it, even if we were in the very earliest stages. I could see that it had a future, and it was a tantalizing vision that I wanted to be a part of. Thus far, I haven’t had that sort of feeling about my current project. Now I kinda of do, so today, I’m a little more motivated and a little more excited.

Nonetheless, I need to find a second project to work on, if only to avoid putting all my eggs in one basket.