MY STORY
In point-form
With a few life-lessons and a focus on early-career stages (BSc & MSc)

  • Grew up in Windsor, ON Canada
  • Always had a love of science and science programs – Wonderstruck, Quirks & Quarks, Frontiers, Nova, Mr. Wizard, Bob MacDonald, Bill Nye, David Attenborough, Carl Sagan.
  • Began undergraduate degree at University of Windsor
  • Grades were mediocre
  • Found courses boring, not challenging, didn’t see relevance (In hindsight, I’ve found that some of the most exciting discoveries come from distant or abstract ideas applied in a completely new context)
  • Grades too low for medicine – am I wasting my money?
  • Mental health wasn’t discussed (wish it was)
  • Unmotivated, no direction, overwhelmed
  • Slept through a final exam in 3rd year, failed the course
  • Quit after 3rd year – too expensive, no clear direction
  • Life went on; learned to deal with failure

Lesson #1: Fail

Learn how to Fail early, fail often, fail quickly, fail better

  • Worked for 1 year as physical laborer for Colautti construction in Ottawa
  • Realized the opportunities available with a university education
  • Returned to University of Windsor to finish final year
  • Different cohort, fewer friends, fewer distractions
  • Sat at front of class, read & researched beyond assignment requirements
  • Asked good questions, got noticed despite poor grades
  • Got a job as summer research assistant with Dr. Hugh MacIsaac
  • Learned that research was a viable career path!
  • Did an Honours thesis, then MSc
  • Read often, read widely and worked hard to try to read journal articles in more detail. Instead of watching videos or playing video games, relaxed by reading popular science books (Darwin, Dawkins, Gould, Wilson) and biographies about scientists (Feynman, Darwin)
  • Rode bike to/from school in summer (~3km) and got into offroad biking with fellow grad students
  • Turned background research into a meta-analysis/review chapter (then published paper) – a great way to get into the literature in great depth, learn to synthesize ideas, and end up with a well-cited paper
  • Won NSERC scholarship
  • Started PhD with Spencer Barrett at the University of Toronto
  • Published 13 papers Between undergrad, MSc and graduating PhD

Lesson #2: You can publish

Anyone can publish!

  • Just read and synthesize as much as possible and emulate the writing style of good writers.
  • E.g. solo-authored paper in CJFAS – Nothing more complicated than basic linear model, bar graphs and bivariate plot.
  • Hindsight: Wish I had senior coauthor – would have improved quality and visibility (citations). Avoid embarrassing errors (e.g. Weak statistics; Table A1 caption)

Lesson #3: Publish along the way

Constantly push to learn more but publish along the way!

  • Publish while you develop your research abilities (reading, analysis, writing, presenting)
  • Received NSERC PDF to work with Tom Mitchell-Olds at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina
  • Received NSERC PDF to work with Loren Rieseberg at the University of British Columbia
  • Applied for > 100 faculty positions; interviewed for ~10
  • 1st job application takes weeks of dedicated work to put together. 100th still takes about a full day or two. Must research department, faculty research, resources, courses, etc. to identify gap(s) you would fill.
  • Job interviews last ~2 days including a research seminar (+ sometimes a teaching seminar) and a barrage of meetings with faculty (one-on-one) and one or two committees.
  • One interview: Great department, beautiful landscape, good fit – lost by 1 vote department-wide

Recall Lesson #1

Learn how to Fail early, fail often, fail quickly, fail better

  • After ~10 rejections, got 2 job offers at the same time. Made negotiating a lot easier!
  • Delayed start date by 1 year to work with Oliver Bossdorf at the University in Tuebingen in Germany.
  • Started at Queen’s in 2015
  • Rough transition during first 2 years. Made lots of mistakes

Recall Lesson #1

Learn how to Fail early, fail often, fail quickly, fail better

Other experiences

  • Got married
  • Had kids
  • Realized how much time at was spent not focused on working.

Lesson #4: Work-life balance

Work efficiently, separate work from life.

  • Learned to plan for the future but embrace the present. It never gets ‘easier’, so make sure you take the time to enjoy yourself

Lesson #5: Pace yourself

You are running a marathon, not a 100-metre dash.

  • Plan for the future but don’t get distracted from the present.
    • e.g. The 10 interviews I didn’t get jobs were great for building my professional network
  • Enjoy the scenery.
  • Finishing the race is better than sprinting from the start line and burning out early.

Lesson #6: Humblebrag

Celebrate your accomplishments, but stay humble.

  • You should never feel like an ‘expert’ – if you do, you are not challenging yourself.
  • Take some time to celebrate major accomplishments – thesis defence, paper acceptance, etc.
  • Don’t let it go to your head. There are lots of people who are much more accomplished than you.
  • Find the balance that gives you enough self-confidence to be an effective colleague and enough insecurity to maintain a drive for improvement.

A fun fact about me

After submitting my PhD I took some time off but I was still in ‘work mode’ so invented the Dragon Phylogeny. In 2012 I submitted it for a t-shirt design and it was a popular t-shirt for a short time. It made some headlines (e.g. CBC Gizmodo i09). I always thought it would be fun to push it further, but haven’t had the time.