Students do 3 rotations before selecting a research lab. Each rotation must be registered in T3 (https://t3.medschool.duke.edu). Rotation dates will be added to T3 in early summer.
Faculty Research Series:
To aid students in finding rotation labs and DGSs in advising students on identifying rotation mentors, OBGE has created a central repository faculty research descriptions that provide a
brief introduction or biography of listed faculty, describe their research, and state their mentorship philosophy. Faculty will also indicate rotation availability (Rotations 1-5). Students
will be able to access the repository using their Net IDs and search for faculty by name, program, or research area likely in late July. It is advisable to discuss with the DGS rotation
selections to obtain important feedback. Also, not all faculty may be included in the OBGE repository, particularly newly arrived faculty.
Here are some things that a rotating student might want to consider during the rotation process:
The Mentor
- What is the PI’s mentoring style?
- How much freedom does the PI allow a student in designing his or her own thesis project and experiments?
- How accessible is the PI?
- Are the PI’s expectations for the required number or hours in the lab (including weekends) reasonable? What vacations are acceptable?
- Does the PI condone participation in activities outside bench work in which a student may be interested? For example, taking non-required courses or teaching assistantships.
- The student should ultimately examine his or her own personality and decide the extent to which he or she prefers the PI to provide direction or independence.
The Lab
The atmosphere of your work environment is very important to consider, since this is the place where you will be spending the majority of your time for the next few years. Make sure it is a
place where you can be happy and productive.
- Are you interested in the area of research?
- How big is the lab?
- Do you get along well with the people in the lab?
- Is there a positive “lab spirit?”
- Is there a lot of collaboration with people in other labs?
Remember, talking to the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) and to other graduate students in the various labs is often the best way to get a feel for the lab.
Good luck!
