Top 5 Reasons I Like Being a Scientist

I have often been asked, and perhaps asked myself even more often, why did I become a scientist? What drove me to get a Ph.D. in biomedical research? What keeps me motivated to continue pushing onward when experiments and other aspects of the work seem to actively be working against me? Despite the difficulties I face in research, and my arena is academic research for those who do not know, there is really no other job I would rather do...plain and simple. But to really break this down into key reasons why I love what I do, I put together this Top 5 list (and because lists are awesome). I hope this is helpful for those who are thinking about pursuing a similar path, and is enjoyable for those interested or who just like to read lists.



Reason #1: My particular area of research, neurological injury and disease, needs advancements in the understanding of pathology and in therapeutic development and experimentation and my work could one day improve people's lives.
There are still so many things to learn about how injury and disease progresses in the nervous system, and understanding these aspects is critical to developing appropriate and effective treatments. People live with neural injuries and degeneration every day, and even small steps forward are big steps for those holding out hope.


Reason #2: Being a scientist keeps my brain active and helps quench my never-ending thirst for knowledge.
Working as a researcher means I have to stay very current with the relevant scientific publications and advancements in my field, and even related fields. This pushes me to identify what are the next critical questions to be answered or how a certain type of research could be expanded. Designing experiments to address these problems and considerations is a highly creative and pivotal step in the research process. Mastering the art of interpreting what others have done, and what you need to do next is one of the most important parts of my job, and this must occur regularly and often long before any experiments actually get started.


Reason #3: Writing and publishing my research is incredibly exciting and rewarding to me.
Working as an academic researcher, publishing your work is essential for advancement in your career, and to effectively contribute new knowledge that pushes your field of study forward. I love to write, and I greatly enjoy telling the story of my research and interpreting what my findings mean in the context of the study and field of research in general. This requires practice, diligence, acceptance of criticism from you peers, and rejection as your papers often get rejected from several publications before being accepted. If I did not love to write, this process could be an extremely difficult part of my job, and I know many good researchers who have left science or went into industry or another sector to avoid having to write and publish as a key part of their career. 


Reason #4: When I design and perform experiments and obtain results, I am often the first person to have discovered that set of information on that given topic.
This truly a great part of science. When you do work to push your field of study further, you develop an area of expertise, and ask questions that have either never been asked or attempted to be answered in the same way you plan to do so. As such, you end up collecting data and results that reveal information that has never been revealed before. Even if some results you obtain replicate a previous study's findings, your interpretation may be entirely different based on the context of your particular study. It is kind of like digging in a big field, and you have a tiny plot of land that's yours and yours alone. The deeper you dig, the more and more things you dig up that no one else has ever excavated.
I am always fascinated by obtaining data, as you never really know what you will find; even if you have some predictions, those may be wrong and you end up with something totally unexpected. I often say that I end up with even more questions when I do experiments than answers to the questions I originally had.


Reason #5: I get to go to conferences and meet others with like (or different) interests and share ideas.
In my opinion, science is an extremely social occupation. People sometimes have the misconception that scientists and researchers are non-social geeks who spend all day in the lab. Though it is often true we spend long hours in the lab working, I find that I have had the opportunity to give dozens of talks on my work, present at local, regional, national, and international conferences, and meet other researchers at these events who have amazing ideas and love to discuss them with others that are interested. I can think of few other, if any, careers that would have afforded me such unique opportunities for networking and collaboration. I greatly look forward to attending conferences and symposia and giving and listening to scientific talks. It is an important part of what I do, I take it seriously, and I enjoy it immensely.



This was my short list of reasons why I became and enjoy working as a scientist. However, there are many other things I enjoy about what I do. The process of becoming a researcher has been transformative and has changed my perspective of myself and how I think about the world around me. It is not perfect, but no job truly is. I hope this little slice of my life is educational and informational, and I am always happy to take emails from anyone who has questions on what it's like going to graduate school, being in research, or that wants to further discuss my research.

#top5   #science   #research   #researchers   #academia  #biomedical   #medicine   #neuroscience