Becoming engaged in research

Early success in research depends on engagement Your research topic (intellectual construct) Your equipment (physical means to do the work) Your group (professional/social interaction)

Your research topic Read everything you can about your topic and related ideas; textbooks, popular articles, journals, theses. Find out what journals are important and scan them every week. Read one article at least. Resolve to learn at least one (or more) significant thing each few weeks Think, think, think, think. All the time. About your results, about the physics, about where to go next.

Your equipment Equipment – lasers, vacuum pumps, microscopes and computer codes are the means to learn about your chosen topic. There is a cardinal rule that you must not forget: GIGO: garbage in, garbage out. Know your equipment better than you know the person closest to you! Understand the physical principles of the measurement system, what knobs to turn and why they have the effect they do. Understand the nuances of any computer code you use. Your results depend on it.

Your group People are important. They know things and they can teach you. Talk to your group about your work and your results. They will help you pick up errors and give you feedback. Learn what they are doing. It will be useful to you sometime. Go to group meetings well prepared with reports, results both positive and negative, in written form if possible. Learn what others are doing and make suggestions when they give their results.

Tips Spend as much time as you can on your research. Be super-organized. Have a lab book, write down as you go along. Date EVERYTHING (don’t forget the year). Label every sample/experiment/computer run, and never lose anything (in the lab or on the computer). Organize results so that they are easy to find. Be super-curious. Question everything, both to find out the physics and also to find out if you could have made a mistake. Your success depends on your reputation for being honest, reliable and mistake-free (your reputation is all you have in physics).

Tips Know how to find things and information. Understand the library, databases and web resources. Poke around your lab to see what stuff is in there. You’ll be surprised. Learn about who does what in the department and in the university. It will be useful. Try some things on your own. You must make the transition from being told exactly what to do and how to do it, to suggesting new experiments and directions and teaching your advisor some things he/she doesn’t know. You have 5 years …. Get going, and have fun!