Q: What were your first three years like, and how is your fourth year different from everything that has come before?

A: I guess looking back on my first year, we all were a little bit excited/nervous about coming here, but we really bonded as a class through MCB 200, which is this core course that we took, and getting to know the faculty through rotations and the retreat.   So I would say the first year is really a lot of fun.   You're trying to figure out which lab you're going to join, fulfilling your class requirement, and basically just getting to know everybody in the department.   The second year was exciting as well because you picked a lab and then started some thesis work.   Also, in our second year we got a chance to teach, which for many of us was our first time doing so. I actually taught before coming here so I was looking forward to getting back into the classroom atmosphere and teaching.   I find it very gratifying.   The second year you're also a little nervous looking ahead to the qualifying exam, but it really ended up being a very helpful and pleasant experience.   The faculty on my committee were not intimidating at all.   The exam gives you a chance to explain what you want to do for your thesis work, and the committee offers many helpful suggestions.   Then, once you're over that hurdle, the third year you're basically getting into the crux of your research and getting a chance to teach.   Fourth year you're still trying to wrap up parts of your story.   I also was lucky enough to get the chance to teach again my fourth year.

Q: Is that unusual?

A: I would say close to half of my classmates taught again.   Some teach again just because they want to teach a subject that they're interested in and didn't get the chance to study in depth before.   Others do it because the department compensates you quite well to teach over and above your requirement.   And there are a couple of us, including myself, who just enjoy teaching and interacting with the undergrads, so it's a pleasure to get the chance to teach again.

Q: What is it that you like about teaching?

A: Teaching really forces you to know the material quite well since you have to explain it to someone else.   It's very rewarding to see that the students are really excited about certain aspects of biology that maybe some of us take for granted because we have studied it for so long.   It's gratifying to see students who really find an interest in the subject that they are learning about.   You know, they're quite a bright bunch over here, so it's really nice.   They certainly challenge the teaching fellows and the professors quite a bit in the classes here.   It keeps you on your toes.   I am lucky to actually have one of my former undergraduates (Osamu Kaneko) working with me now in the lab.

A: I've had a committee meeting.   I kept the same faculty (Andy McMahon, Catherine Dulac, and John Dowling) on my thesis committee that were on my qualifying exam committee.   They're very useful.   You basically will sit down and talk with them, give a recap of what you've done since the last time you met, and they're extremely helpful in trying to get you to make sure you are not spinning your wheels off in a wrong direction, especially now that the department has made quite an effort to have the average graduation time be around 5 years.   So they are really making sure that people are staying focused, which I personally like because I think it helps keep you from pursuing things that might be dead ends.   My committee has been particularly good in that respect.   I would say there are a few things that I proposed in my qualifying exam that I ended up dropping, but for the most part it's basically the same theme.

Q: What is the Melton lab like as a social universe?

A: I'd have to say that it's very much a family atmosphere.   We're lucky to have genuinely friendly people in the lab.   I was a bit biased when I came here because I already had an idea that I wanted to work for Doug.   He's brilliant - a fascinating guy with whom to talk science.   He's also a very nice guy and very committed to his work.   I hope I can be half as good as he is someday.   As far as my fellow lab mates, Doug can be pretty busy at times off here and there, so the post-docs in the lab are extremely good to go to for advice or with problems.   They have been a tremendous resource for me.   I would say it's a very collegial, warm atmosphere.   It makes it fun going to work every day with that type of environment.

Q: What sense of community do you have with the other G4's?

A: Overall our class is a pretty close-knit group.   Our first two years we did things almost on a weekly basis.   Now with people's schedules it's a bit hard to get everyone together that often, although I personally live with two of them.   We frequently eat lunch with a bunch of our classmates, so we still interact on quite a regular basis.

A: Yeah, I certainly think so.   The current G6's (whoever is left) had a journal club that they kept up until last year where they would meet on a weekly basis.   They're probably the poster-children for class identity. [laughs]   A couple of us also have a journal club that we run weekly.   I think for some of us, our schedules are a bit busier than others so we don't get a chance to bring the entire class together.   The current G3's do, the current G2's do, so I would say for the most part there is a distinct class identity.

Q: What about the general social environment of the department as a whole?   How would you characterize it to someone outside the department?

A: It's one of things that really drew me to Harvard because the department size is relatively small compared to other universities.   So, instead of going into an incoming class where you have around 50 to 75 fellow students, you really get a chance to know your fellow classmates, and since it's so small I would say that at this point I know every one of the graduate students and most of the post-docs.   So the sense of community is really strong.   I think most people, when they can, show up to TGIF, so once a week you get a chance to interact with a bunch of people from other labs.   And I think the volleyball games in the summer bring people together as well.   The department retreat especially is a lot of fun each year.   We all look forward to that.   For the most part people here will go do things, go to a bar or go into the city for dinners together outside of the lab atmosphere, so I think it's not as if the program here is sort of a job.   It intermixes with your entire stay here socially and academically.

Q: On a typical day, what happens from the time you get here until you leave?

A: I try to get here between 7:30 and 9:00 in the morning each day.   I start my day planning what sorts of experiments I want to do, then get started and set up some experiments.   Usually around noon or 1:00 either there will be a department seminar or we have a joint group meetings once a week with the McMahon lab, or we will have our regular lab group meeting, or sometimes a couple of my classmates and I will go grab lunch.   Then in the afternoon I will do experiments until maybe around 7:00 or 8:00 on most days.   Some days I'll stick around some more until eleven or later, other days earlier, maybe five or six depending on how things go.

Q: So it can be a very long day.

A: Well, sometimes, but as long as the atmosphere is fun you don't mind it.   And, you know, Doug doesn't shock us if we leave early.   He's not standing by the door with a Taser. [laughs]   He's very good in that respect, especially when people leave for holidays to go home to see family or anything like that.   We definitely don't have to punch a clock.   People are pretty self-motivated.

Q: What are you looking forward to in your next and, presumably, final year?

Q: What would you tell someone who is a prospective MCB graduate student?

A: I think first and foremost all of the faculty and the research here is extremely good, so I don't think you could pick a bad lab to join as far as the type of work they do or the reputation of the PI.   But I think more importantly on a day-to-day basis socially, the community here at MCB is an extremely nurturing one.   People are very supportive of one another.   It's fun to come to work and talk to people.   If I'm having problems in an experiment that involves biochemistry I can walk down our hallway and talk to people in Tom Maniatis' lab, and if they have problems with cell culture or mouse husbandry they can come talk to us.   I think the sense of community here is very good.   You're not on an island off by yourself.   At MCB you really are part of a greater community. I think I made a very good choice by coming here.

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Life at MCB