This week I had the pleasure to sit down with my PI, Dr. Alexander Hartemink, to talk about his experience as a scientist. He was out of town for the past two weeks, but was extremely nice to spare his time, as soon as he got back, and generously share with me some of the stories of his life.
Dr. Hartemink is a professor of Computer Science, Statistical Science and Biology. He received his B.S. in Math and Physics and B.A. in economics from Duke University; M.S. in Economics from Oxford University; and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.
The interview is summarized by the topics we talked about:
- Curious about the paths he took that led him to where he is today, I started by asking about his interest before he was an undergrad and how it has developed and changed since then.
‘… Right now my research is at the intersection of computer science, biology and statistics, which are my faculty appointments… but as an undergrad, I took zero courses in biology, zero courses in computer science, and zero courses in statistics… I guess, what it means is that, you can keep making changes and adapt, until you find something that really works for you…’
His paths certainly had a lot of ‘twists and turns’. As a high schooler, he loved math and problem solving because of its clarity—‘you always know what’s right and wrong’. He loved applying math to sciences and social sciences, so he majored in physics and in economics.
When he was leaving undergrad however, although he enjoyed math and physics, he thought the problems people would work on in Ph.D. research is too abstract; hence Econ was the direction that ‘showed the most promise in doing something practical’. Also over the course of his undergrad, he realized ‘a lot of life’s big problems and challenges are not so binary of right and wrong—there’re lots of gray areas, lots of uncertainty and judgments…’—so he went into grad school in economics—to understand ‘challenging human problems’.
He finished his master’s degree, but was ‘turned off’ from continuing to Ph.D., as it wasn’t as ‘practical’ as he thought it would be—‘they were interested in again treating people like particles to optimize this and that… like particles moving in a potential field, and not really tackling the humanness of humans, which is what I was interested in at that time.’
Thinking maybe he hasn’t found the right area yet, he applied to grad school in computer science since he had done some programming on his own and had always enjoyed it. He joined the group of his favorite professor and became interested in DNA computing (which is using biological materials to build computational devices). Halfway through his PhD, he thought that ‘there’s not going be a DNA computer any time soon in the next hundred years, but maybe I can take the same ideas and juggle them in a different way…’ At the time computational biology is just starting, and with all the data coming out from sequencing and microarray technologies… to reason and build models from them… computational biology is like a ‘natural marriage’…
‘It’s always been the case that I’ve been unsure about what the next step is… but I just kept making whatever I thought was the right choice at the time. ‘
- Why Science?
‘…it’s the light-bulb thing–I really enjoyed the process of moving from the state of confusion to the state of clarity… and to do it in a way that can also help others understand things better…’
‘…Through middle school, high school and college courses, I have successfully moved from confusion to understanding… but the world hadn’t—everything we’ve been taught is what someone already understood… so you sort of want to turn on the light bulb that no one has turned on before…sometimes it’s frustrating in science that you put all the work into proving or discovering something only to find that some one has already done the same… but it gives you confidence, that you did the right thing… and just keep doing it, eventually you would get to the point and discover some breakthroughs that no one knows…’
- Experience as a researcher, and how has it changed or how is it different from expectation.
‘Science is more of a team and a collaborative process than I thought it would be… It’s an enterprise of communication, connectivity and collaboration than it is a solitary genius…’
He made two observations: first, he talked about the sociology of science: ‘You sort of imagine people spending lonely hours in labs and taking long walks in the forest while dreaming up new ideas… but I found that, between collaborating with undergrad, graduates, and other colleagues, just talking about science and reading about other people’s results… some might consider it a competition, but for me it’s really more of a collaborative process…’
Secondly, he pointed out that the involvement in science becomes more indirect and high-level. ‘As a PhD student, you know the details of your work down to the very last line of your code… as a faculty, it changes… my work is more of brain-storming and trouble-shooting with my students, and I trust them to do their parts well… our discussions are more high-level—what’s the big picture, how to interpret the results and where does that lead us…’ … ‘I’m trying to develop independence in my student, and the only way for them to become more scientist is for me to step back and give them more space…’
‘…there’s more grant-writing than I expected… but this (indirect science) is also important as it forces you to think it through and concisely describe why something is important to do, and why you can convince others your project is likely to work…’
- Best research experience:
‘…it’s not about specific individual successes, but (the moments) that remind you of the goodness of the process, and the worth of what you’re doing…’
‘…I can pick out 50 highlights, but not one particular (event)… It’s the process of working with students, knowing nothing about the area but eager to learn, and having them over the course of five years, go through the ups and downs of research, having successes and failures, and coming out the other end being a mature scientist ready for a career… And then you get a letter six years later saying thank you so much for all you did… it’s those kinds of moments’…
- Experience teaching
‘…Sometimes you explain something, 80 percent of your class is nodding, the other twenty percent scratching their heads, and you have to figure out another way to explain so that they can understand… I just like this process…’
Dr. Hartemink started teaching in 2001, and he considers teaching a highlight of his career.‘…Learning is not always easy, and going through the process of being confused, and working it through, to finally understand (myself), I really hope to help others do the same. Once I have figured out a concept that made sense to myself, I want to try explaining the concept in a way that makes sense to others.
‘And I liked being a college student and a grad student… so I emphasize and resonate and connect with students…’
- Current research interest—the big question to answer
‘Cell is a mystery and a miracle… In these microscopic ecosystems, everything happens in a coordinated way… and it’s robust enough to tolerate bumps from time to time… To me, it’s just amazing that it works at all.’
Dr. Hartemink’s group focuses on how transcription is regulated, as it’s the first step to making all the different RNA’s and proteins that are required by the cell. More recently, his group focuses in particular on how is transcription regulation enacted by various proteins interacting with the genome; Nucleosomes, packaging, histone modifications, looping… ‘How does everything happen when the cell is busy copying themselves?…’(For more information, check out Dr. Hartemink’s website at cs.duke.edu/~amink)
- Advice for undergrads who are considering getting into science
‘…Get your hands dirty and do it, because it’s hard to evaluate if you don’t know about it.’
‘Be persistent and stick with it—don’t let your first poor experience put you off… and after a while, you will know if it’s something that you can’t live without.’… ‘But do realize that science is not for everyone…and there’re challenges, but it’s also exhilarating…and I think it’s really rewarding.’ ‘So don’t get into it light-heartedly—you don’t just magically go from ‘I’m gonna start swimming’ to ‘going to Olympics in Beijing… there’re lots of blood sweat and tears in between; but for the right person, people with the gift or passion, they would never want to do without it…’
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The talk with Dr. Hartemink taught me a lot. And spending two weeks in his group, (though he was away) I’m glad to have my incredibly nice mentor Kevin, and to have the opportunity to know other grad students from the group who are just as passionate and patient to share with me and explain to me their projects.
I’m grateful to be part of the group and to have the opportunity to learn things of my own interest in such a supportive environment.
