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Overview | Student Perspectives | Student Profiles
Excellent question and one I was asking myself when I accepted the offer from the PIBS program at Michigan despite vowing as a Michigan undergraduate never to return to the cold. Upon making this big decision I had a great feeling about the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology from the recruiting weekend. Not only were the faculty extremely helpful and doing interesting work, but the graduate students within the department were excited about the program, their research, and their active role in the department itself. The students made me feel welcome, and the faculty went out of their way to ensure all of my questions were answered. This department had set a big standard for itself, and I hoped that it wasn't all a good tactic for recruiting new students. During this first year I did 2 rotations one in Dr. Metzger's lab and the other with Dr. Samuelson. Both rotations provided a wonderful opportunity to learn new techniques and in the process I made some great friends and found a happy home in the Metzger lab to finish out my graduate work. Aside from the invaluable research rotation experience I took a full course load both semesters. The courses like molecular genetics and systems physiology were challenging but disseminated information that was useful in both my research and in adding to my general scientific knowledge. The integrative genomics class, however, was the most helpful and practical course I have taken as a graduate student. The primary focus of the course is learning to develop an NIH style grant that is focused on the paradigm gene, organism, and environment interactions. The integrative genomics course is taught with very little lecture and mostly active learning exercises. Since taking the class I've used something that I learned from it almost every day that I'm in the lab, and because of all the small group discussions you not only learn the material extremely well but you foster new friendships with graduate students from a variety of departments. Every biomedical science program should have a course like integrative genomics (I guess we're just the lucky ones). Now that my
first year is over I can definitively say that this was the best
decision I could have made despite losing a toe or two to frost
bite and having to surf behind speed boats (an activity I've taken
up merely as a futile attempt at getting any kind of wave to ride
in the local lakes). The faculty and my fellow colleges have far
exceeded my expectations. The physiology graduate students are a
wonderful group who are great resources for research discussions,
help on presentations, and social outings like tailgate parties,
BBQs, or playing on the softball team. The Department of Molecular
and Integrative Physiology is supportive and clearly cares about
their graduate students, which creates an excellent environment
for scientific training. I look forward to the upcoming years ahead
of me.
Preparing
for Prelim Exams The graduate program here at Michigan is structured such that the first year-and-a-half is divided between lab and classes, which culminate in the Preliminary Exam, or Prelim, in the spring semester of one's second year. The Prelim Exam requires us to compose a ten-page grant proposal, which is submitted to a five-member faculty committee which evaluates the proposal as well as our general knowledge of physiology during an oral defense. Also on the day of the defense, one gives a talk to the department describing our specific aims for the proposal. In view of the fact that passing the Prelim is a requirement for Ph.D. candidacy, most students give it more than half their attention for a two- (or three-) month period. One of the significant advantages of taking the Prelim in the Physiology Department is complete freedom to choose a topic for the grant proposal. This is in contrast to most departments, which require proposals to be written on topics that are completely unrelated to one's own research. My personal feeling is that choosing a Diabetes-related topic helped significantly to focus my research as well as plan some future experiments. Moreover, the Prelim was a creative outlet. That is, I designed some experiments that I don't have time to perform given realities such as the time required to produce several transgenic animals. In my experience,
preparation for the Prelim principally involved an extensive literature
search. I credit the ease of the whole experience mostly to Rick,
my advisor, who discusses papers with me daily. In addition, the
classes at Michigan provided an introduction to several of the molecular
techniques I now use frequently. Although I didn't choose the Physiology
Department because of the structure or utility of the Prelim, completing
the exam certainly helped my research.
I feel that I made the right choice to come to this department, which I will benefit from in my future career. Compared to some other departments in the medical school at the University of Michigan, our department is relatively small. This actually creates a unique feature of our department: a research atmosphere with wide collaboration and openness. Within the department the faculty are very student friendly, offering advice and support. Furthermore, students are treated as peers and recognized as important members of the department. The department chair and graduate chair has a regular meeting with the graduate students every semester to update us on the new initiatives in the department and consult us for important issues. This department provides very good resources for students. We have a new common computer room, unlimited color printing and more recently poster printing. Moreover, when the department has outside speakers, students have lunches with those scientists. In addition to good free food, this provides us the opportunities to know what's going on in other institutes and shop for possible postdoctoral positions. Another feature of this department is the integrative flavor of function-oriented research. Many state-of-the-art techniques are used including quantitative PCR, microarray, proteomics, FRET and transgenic and knockout animals to study the function of proteins at the molecular, cellular and whole animal level. Students have a good chance to learn most of these techniques, if not in one lab, by doing rotations in 2-3 labs. I conducted my thesis research in Dr. Williams' lab studying the function of a small GTPase, Rab3D, in pancreatic acinar secretion. Dr. Williams serves as an archetype of the faculty in this department. He guided me through the course of my thesis research with continuous patience, encouragement and support. Although he is busy as the chair of the department, he is always available for help on a daily basis. His vast knowledge and enthusiasm for science, hard work and logical thinking have served as a model in my professional and personal life. To further pursue
the research related to my Ph.D. thesis, I will do a short postdoc
with Dr. Williams and Dr. Andrews in the Department of Biochemistry,
conducting a proteomics study in the exocrine pancreas. As the same
time, I will keep looking for a good place to do full-term postdoc
in another institute. In my future career, I want to find a position
where I can combine my good experimental training with my strong
quantitative skills.
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1st
Year
Finishing
Upupdated
9/22/03