Thread by @iaincheeseman

With the new academic year starting, and many people beginning fresh as graduate students, post-docs, or junior faculty, I have been thinking a lot about the core philosophies that govern my own perspectives on science. So I thought I would share.
Welcome to The Tao of Cheese

“Science is a marathon, not a sprint” – Words of wisdom from Angelika Amon when I started my own lab. Persistence is key. Don’t dwell on short term defeats or burn yourself out. Think beyond today’s experiment. Keep going for the long haul!

Do awesome science – Strive to identify new questions and ways of answering them. Build on established approaches, reagents, and data, but be creative and don’t be afraid to incorporate new ideas/approaches. Be ambitious, but pragmatic, balancing risk with tractable projects.

Do science that makes you happy – Follow your passions and excitement, instead of trying to be overly savvy and doing what you think others find cool. What is “hot” today almost certainly won’t be tomorrow. Do good work on what you find genuinely cool, and others will follow.

Figure out how things really work – Don’t work to get a specific answer or prove someone’s favored model, but to figure out how things work. Be quick to fall in love with a hypothesis, but even quicker to dispense with it. If you are wrong, the real answer is even more exciting.

Follow best practices to do high quality science – There are many ways to accidentally (and unfortunately intentionally) go astray. Learn best practices to prevent data/image manipulation or duplication. High quality, rigorous, and reproducible science are our top priorities.

Not every “failed” experiment is your fault – Follow the “three times rule”. Mistakes happen, but the third time something doesn't work, reconsider your assumptions and reagents. Many excellent experiments are ruined by incorrect ideas or something as simple as bad MilliQ water.

Publish your work – Aspire to publish everything you discover, regardless of how flashy or surprising. Each paper should be rigorous, high quality science. Find good venues to communicate each discovery you make, big or small. Use pre-prints to accelerate science + get feedback.

Use lab meeting to share your ideas, models, background, and future directions, not just recent data. For technical problems, don’t wait until lab meeting - ask someone today. Use lab meeting as a chance to think to big picture instead of staying up late for one last experiment.

We are all on the same team – One person’s success benefits everyone in a lab. Engage with and support others. Be their cheerleaders. Celebrate each other’s victories. Even beyond a lab, science should not be a zero sum game. We all win by enabling exciting new discoveries.

Science cannot occur in a vacuum – Drive forward your own work, but don’t feel that you need to work in isolation. Appreciate and respect the contributions from others, including the amazing support staff that we are all lucky to work with.

You are the master of your own destiny – You are in control of your progress, your experiments, and your discoveries. This also means that it is up to you to act on ideas and plans and chart the best path forward. You are part of a team, but you are in control of your own work.

You are not trapped in your project - If things aren’t working, take a step back. For technical challenges, find other ways to address your question. For bigger issues or if an alternative question is even more exciting, don’t hesitate to reconsider your project and ideas.

Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good – You will rarely be able to foresee all the potential caveats and issues. Strive to do the best possible experiment, but it is much better to do a “good” experiment today than to wait a month to do the “perfect” one. Just do it.

Everyone is different – and needs different things. And this changes over time. What you need your first week in lab vs. your last week will be entirely different. Work to navigate your own unique situation and circumstances, and tell others what they need to know to support you.

There are many fantastic jobs and careers - And many ways to do cool science – in academia, industry, education, publishing, policy, intellectual property, etc. Indeed, you will likely have multiple jobs over your career and find diverse ways to contribute.

Your time in our lab is a training experience - to set you up for what comes next. Regardless of your career stage, take advantage of whatever you can inside and outside of your lab to give you the strongest training such that you can thrive in diverse potential careers.

If you are eligible, apply – Put yourself forward for the opportunities that are open to you (jobs, fellowships, awards, etc). Every opportunity has a random element (I get rejected for >80% of grants), so to put yourself forward whenever there are good opportunities.

You deserve your success – If you get a job, award, grant, or opportunity, know that you deserved it. You earned this. Seriously. Celebrate your success. If you don’t get this version, know that there is a random element, and try again.

Anyone can have a great idea – A beautiful part of science is that your career stage, degrees, title, background, qualifications, and identity don’t matter for who is right. Be sure to listen to others and engage with their ideas with respect, regardless of who they are.

Let others know you appreciate them – Feedback in science is rare. If you read a paper you love, tell the authors (you don’t need to know them). Same for a teacher, mentor, co-worker, etc. who made a difference in your life/career, even if it’s years later. Make someone’s day.

How you treat people matters - Short term, being a jerk might help you. Long term, this will catch up to you and hold you back. Be kind and giving. Send reagents quickly and without constraints. Be constructive and supportive. Reputation matters, and science is a small place.

Aspire to make a positive difference - Be sure to do this with your actions, not just your words. You can do this in many ways – with your research, teaching, mentoring, outreach, service, and by just working to make the communities that you are part of better places to be.

But be selfish too – As they announce on airplanes, put your own mask on before assisting others. To be able to make a difference for others, you sometimes have to think about and take care yourself first. Learn to say no (and when you figure out how to do this, please tell me).

Have fun – Find joy in science big + small. Enjoy the process of doing science. Celebrate the simple victories (your cloning working, etc), or when you are the first person in the world to know something new, even if small. It’s a privilege to do science. Enjoy the ride.

Find balance – Be passionate about science, but also make sure to live your life. It might be your family/kids, finding time to exercise every day, going out with friends, traveling, etc. These are important priorities, and will help keep you sane to do your best work.

These philosophies represent my own perspectives and beliefs. I definitely don’t expect you to agree with each (or even any) of these. So what did I miss? Add your own philosophies for how to navigate science and your career.

These philosophies have also been shaped by great discussions and conversations with many others (including cases where I have “borrowed” these). Special thanks to @BeAScientist @karalmckinley @ChristieTowers @jessicapolka