I did undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics. During my off-semesters, I did MRI research with Chris Bowen and Steven Beyea at the NRC Institute for Biodiagnostics (Atlantic). I happened upon this group when looking for research opportunities after my first year of undergrad, and it stuck. I loved working with the group and stayed in the lab for over 5 years. This experience seeded my interest in Biomedical Engineering, where I could work with both math and engineering, as well as human anatomy and [patho]physiology. Skipping a few steps in this story, I ended up pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, specifically in Neural Engineering.
PhD’s are tough, demanding endeavours. As I’ve had many conversations with students considering pursuing a PhD in science or engineering, I wanted to share some of points to consider. Note that these are difficult to answer without the benefit of first-hand experience and hindsight, but having them in writing will hopefully help guide and inform the prospective planning.
Overall, PhD's require a whole lot of persistence and so you want to make sure you've done your due diligence in picking a city, school, dept, lab, project that you're excited about, that you care about, that you’ll be willing to keep trouble-shooting and nudging up the Sisyphean hill day-after-week-after-month. Bring your curiosity, your willingness to explore, your persistence, and your self-management. Insights from Rob Butera, PhD (as of this writing, Dr. Butera is the VP for Research Development & Operations at Georgia Tech): "You are not a failure if you leave your PhD program! Nationwide, probably only about 50% of STEM PhDs finish. Faculty are sometimes surprised by this number -- data from my own campus supports this, and in my own co-hort of 20 first-year PhD students 30 years ago, I can only count less than 10 that stayed in our program and finished. In my experience, there is no smoking gun on why (i.e. it is NOT everyone failing their qual exam). The attrition is for a wide range of reasons, mostly for personal reasons. In some domains -- like neural engineering -- we are seeing exponential job growth in industry (and not in academia). While a PhD may be required and serve that job well, there are many other jobs where the employer may want the skills you already have obtained -- even if you did not finish your PhD." Lastly, it's ok if you don't know what you want to be "when you grow up". Remember you're not trying to find THE right option, just pick amongst many good options and try to avoid the ones that aren't good fits. Let me know if you have additional thoughts!
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A student recently asked me about how to get started with yoga and with mindfulness. It can be a daunting prospect for a newcomer. Here's a list of various resources on different (but related) topics around yoga & mindfulness, and in different formats.
Intro to asana (i.e. yoga poses) - Yoga Journal is a good resource. - They have basically a look-up dictionary of poses, where each page provides detailed steps for the pose, other poses to do before that one (to warm-up), and other poses to do after that one (among other info); also see search bar in top right. - They recently made a post that goes through 22 beginner poses. - Classes: Try to find not only a yoga style that you enjoy, but also an instructor with whom you resonate. Yoga studios offer many different class types and levels, so perhaps contact them and ask about options. They often have an intro offer to try one or a few classes as a discounted price. If you start with a class that is too advanced, they may be difficult to follow (with all those Sanskrit terms thrown around) and you risk getting injured by not having the background knowledge. - YouTube videos: Check out my list of YouTube channels with classes and with yoga instruction. Those could be good tools to start to cultivate a home practice and to have another avenue to learn about the names of the poses, their alignment, the transitions, etc. Many people enjoy Yoga with Adriene. Another advantage is that you can pick a class that's only 20 min, e.g., if the time commitment of going to the gym or a studio doesn't always work. Beyond asana You expressed interest in not just learning how to do the yoga poses, but also how to be mindful in your yoga practice, which is fantastic!! There are in fact eight limbs (i.e. facets) to yoga, one of which is the physical practice (asana). The others include breathing and meditation. Pranayama (i.e. breath control) There are different types of pranayama, or breath control, in yoga. During our asana practice, we often maintain ujjayi breath, or victorious breath. This involves breathing in and out through your nose, while keeping the back of your throat slightly constricted so that your breath is slower & audible; if you try saying "hah" with your mouth closed, that'll give you a sense of the throat constriction. Sama vritti is another good starting place, where you match the durations of your inhales & exhales (e.g. inhale for a count of 4 and exhale for a count of 4). Maybe set a 5 min timer and try this. A fun one to relieve tension is lion's breath, where you exhale with your tongue sticking out (trying to touch the bottom of your chin). Dhyana (i.e. meditation) I mentioned some breathing techniques before meditation because one good way to start trying meditation is through allowing your mind's attention to settle on your breath. Meditation can be done lying on the ground, seated, standing, or walking. I'd suggest picking a posture where you are physically comfortable, and trying to close your eyes, and allow your attention to settle on the sensations of your breath in your body for a few min (perhaps set a timer so you're not worried about the time). Your attention will wander (everyone's does), but just without judgement or criticism, just gently guide your attention back onto the sensations of your breath. There are also many YouTube videos, podcasts, and apps (e.g. Headspace) for guided meditations that you could peruse. Also more on meditation in the two books listed below... Mindfulness To me, mindfulness means choosing to cultivate self-awareness to know myself better (and be able to respond to situations, rather that knee-jerk react) and to cultivate awareness of others. It's a practice of being able to stay grounded to allow a clear mind to process the inputs from your surroundings and to process your own feelings/thoughts/etc. - Koru Mindfulness is a program that was developed at Duke, but has now been translated to colleges across the US. It's a 4-class course, offered regularly. - One of the Koru co-founders (Dr. Holly Rogers) recently published a book called Mindful Twenty-Something that provides easy-to-digest and relatable text on mindfuless, including many small actionable exercises for the reader to try. - Another popular book on mindfulness is Wherever You Go, There You Are (by Jon Kabat-Zinn). I'd suggest picking a couple of the above and starting there, so you're not overwhelmed with too much new material and too many options (decision paralysis, as they call it). In my previous post, I offered a yoga class plan that involves no weight on the arms. As an adjunct, here's some bonus material with focus on core work done on the forearms, so avoiding most wrist issues. You could do this at the end of the other class plan, or interleave the sequences.
Sequence 1: Forearm plank
Interim 1: Camel
Sequence 2: Side plank
Interim 2: Locust pose
Sequence 3: Dolphin
Interim 3: Pigeon prep
A friend of mine has found herself in a cast on her forearm/wrist/hand. I started pondering whether I could design a physically challenging class that involved zero weight-baring on arms. This could also be a nice class for those who have wrist problems.
In addition to sequences of standing poses, I wanted to incorporate core work and some arm work, without the planks, chaturangas, arm balances, etc. Let me know what you think! Warm-up
Sequence 1 -- Flow in crescent lunge
Sequence 2 -- Flow in warrior 2
Sequence 3 -- Combine sequences
Core (back bends & abdominal exercises)
Closing
I teach yoga at Duke University. Any group on campus can request a yoga class for their group through Duke University's Group Fitness program. I had the opportunity to step out of my usual power yoga box to teach a yoga class for the "Progress. Period." group, which works to destigmatize menstruation and raise funds to purchase menstrual hygiene products for those in need.
I've outlined the class plan below, offering gentle movements and restorative poses to help ease menstrual pain. Hope you find some poses in here that provide some ease in your body! Feel free to leave other suggestions in the comments. Warm-up - Lie on your back with your knees bent. Place your feet hip width apart and your knees together. Place your left hand on your chest and your right hand on your belly. Close your eyes. Allow your mind to follow your breath in and out for a few minutes. - Draw your knees to your chest. - With your hands on your knees, make a few knee circles in each direction, moving your knees together (circling in the same direction), or apart then back together. - Take a twist, letting your knees fall to one side, arms out to a T. Switch slides. - Roll onto your side. - Press up to seated. - Cat-cows on your own time, pausing/shifting as needed. - Thread the needle each side. - Puppy dog. - Down dog. Keep your knees soft. Pedal your feet. - Take small steps to a forward fold at the top of your mat. Grab opposite elbows into ragdoll. Sway side to side. - Twists in your forward fold: Bend your left knee, place your left hand on a block, right arm up to the ceiling. Stay a few breaths and take the other side. - Bend your knees, slowly roll up. - Shoulder rolls back. Gentle flow Half Surya with Side Bends - Inhale your arms out and up. - Interlace your fingers, releasing your index fingers. - Exhale to side bend right. Inhale up. Exhale side bend left. Inhale up. - Exhale forward fold. - Inhale flat back. - Exhale fold. - Inhale arms out and up. - Exhale tadasana. Repeat, taking the side bend to the left first. Step Backs with Anjanayasana - Inhale arms out and up. - Exhale fold. - Inhale flat back. - Exhale step your right foot back. - Anjanayasana: Lower your right knee (perhaps on a blanket). Stay with your hands down, or hands to your front thigh, or arms up. - Stay a few breaths. - Frame your front foot. Tuck your back toes and straighten your back leg. - Down dog. Stay a few breaths. - Inhale right leg up to an easy 3-legged dog. Take any variation of 3-legged dog for a few breaths, maybe bending your knee, opening your hips, circling your ankle. - Step your right foot between your hands. - Inhale flat back. - Exhale left foot forward. - Inhale arms out and up. - Exhale tadasana. Repeat other side. Step Backs with Anjanayasana & Twist Same sequence as above, but after anjanayasana, frame your front foot, maybe straighten your back leg, inhale right arm up for a twist. Seated poses - Child's pose for a few breaths (knees together or apart; arms forward or back by your sides). Reach your arms forward; walk them over to the right for a few breaths, then the left. - Camel pose/one-armed camel. Moving on breath side-to-side with one-armed camels. - Malasana (squat). - Half-bound malasana. - Janu sirsasana. - Ardha matsyendrasana (which I call pretzel twist). - Half pigeon. Closing - Supported bridge for a couple of minutes, with a block or two under your sacrum/pelvis. - Supine twist (as in the warm up). - Happy baby. - Reclined bound angle pose. - Savasana. I've had the great fortune of mentoring many fantastic students while I've been at Duke. I've worked with many undergraduate and master's BME students for various research projects. As such, I decided to write up some of the lessons I've learned and systems I've put in place. Please leave comments on things I may have missed or about different experiences you've had! Job Ad I've hired students in different ways. The past few times, I've put out a job ad and sent it to the target group, whether BME undergrads who are in a certain course, all first year BME Master's students, etc. Keep in mind that depending on your available communication channels, it can take some time and persistence to obtain applicants. Here's a sample job ad, giving an overview of our lab's research, a brief statement of the project on which the student would be working, and expected qualifications: We are seeking a highly motivated individual who enjoys the freedom to pursue their own ideas in a supportive environment to join our team. Our goal is to understand and control neural function with the purpose of restoring function to individuals with neurological impairment or disease. Presently we have active projects in • deep brain stimulation (DBS): mechanisms of action; closed-loop control; design of innovative therapies • peripheral nerve recording and stimulation for control of bladder function, including restoration of continence and emptying • spinal cord stimulation to treat chronic pain: modeling, preclinical studies, and clinical studies to understand mechanisms and innovations to increase therapeutic efficacy • autonomic nerve stimulation and block: computational modeling for analysis and design, with complementary in vivo experiments • transcranial magnetic stimulation: mechanisms and innovations to increase therapeutic efficacy We conduct computer-based modeling of neurons and electric fields, in vivo stimulation and recording in pre-clinical models, and clinical feasibility studies in humans. The focus of this position is on computational modeling of electrical stimulation and block of autonomic nerves. This is a part-time position and provides exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary research and career development. A BS in engineering, strong programming skills, and prior coursework or experience in bioelectricity are required. We encourage curiosity, enthusiasm, and initiative! For consideration submit a resume to... Interviewing Once I've received resumes, I'll set up interviews with the top ~3 candidates. Here are some interview questions that I use. It usually only takes ~30 min to interview, and then I'll show them around the offices and lab. I'm looking for some level of technical expertise, but I also want to know that they'll be excited & curious about the work, that they'll communicate well, that they'll take initiative, etc. Interviewing is nerve-wracking, so I want to get them talking about things in their comfort zone, then work up to tougher questions.
Projects It can be hard to define a suitable project for a new research assistant. The goal is to strike a balance between ownership and importance. You want the student to feel like they have ownership/control over their project. This is empowering and motivating. People want to feel like their work is important. However, you want to make sure that if things don't go well, or go more slowly than expected (which they always do), you're not stuck in making your own progress. In other words, make sure that you are not dependent on your student's progress. Finally, make sure that the scope of the project is suitable for the student's training, experience, interests, availability, etc. On-Boarding You want to make sure that the student gets started on the right foot. Here's a list of things that I do to on-board a new hire:
* Extra note on availability: Even if already discussed in the interview, re-establish expected min hours per week (e.g. 10 hrs/week). That being said, I tell my students that courses come first, so if they're in a crunch with exams, for instance, and can only put in 5 hours instead of 12 that week, just let me know. I always ask each student if they'd prefer a weekly set meeting time (standing meeting) or check in as needed. I generally find that starting with a standing meeting is helpful; you can always drop it later if it seems unnecessary. Also, maybe for the sake of your own schedule and work flow, you would prefer to have a standing meeting so that the student is not asking you questions at random times. Lastly, make sure that the student has a sense of the big picture of the project. Why is this project awesome/important? Motivate their work, even if they're doing more repetitive tasks. Research Mentoring So now you have a student, you've assigned her/him a project, and you've gotten them on-boarded. How do you best guide their research progress? One thing to consider (even before hiring) is your goals for your student: learning vs research progress. Hopefully, you can do both. But for instance, if progress is slower than you expected, it can be good to think back about that balance of goals; if you feel that they're learning a lot, then that's just a different kind of progress In no particular order, some ways in which you might interact with your student: - I really get excited (with them) at their successes, big or small. High fives, 'awesome work', whatever. Positive feedback wherever it makes sense. - I let them know that they should tell me if there's anything I can help them with...whether they need more feedback, set meeting time, papers... - When going through updates with them, I make sure I understand all of their steps, and interrupt with questions wherever I need. Often that helps them clarify their thinking too. - For next steps at the end of a meeting, ask the student what they think should be done next, or what the options are. That way, you're not just telling them your vision; they'll be more engaged, will learn more, and may surprise you with new ideas. Further, it takes pressure off you to feel like you should always have the answers. - More generally, it's totally fine to defer answering a question if you have to go digging and get back to them later. And tell them as much - it's a sign of a good question and good research mindset! - Make sure that next steps/action items are clear. I often send an action item recap in writing via Slack or email after meeting, especially if there were many tasks discussed...but depends on the student. Or I'll ask them to send me a meeting recap in writing. - If you feel like things aren't going well or fast enough or.... Try to think for yourself why that might be, and then ask the student about how you can help them progress at a faster pace or make sure that their quality of work is more consistent or that they work on clearer communication or that expectations are clear for both mentor and mentee... However, keep in mind that sometimes, it's just not a good fit. If things really aren't gelling, you're doing both yourself and the mentee a disservice by keeping them on. Motivation Motivation, productivity, and work satisfaction all go hand-in-hand. I want my students to be happy in their research. Science is hard, but overall, I want them to be proud of and enthusiastic about their work. This recaps some of my earlier points: - Hire someone motivated!
- Get the student on-boarded and introduced to the group so that they know that they're part of a team. - Make sure the student knows where their project fits into the big picture of the broader research goals AND where the project could go in the future if they choose to keep working on it. - Get excited about their progress. Recognize when they take initiative. Give positive feedback wherever it's deserved. - Be mindful and dynamic about how you provide help and guidance. Sometimes, you need to sit down and work through issues with them, give them some answers/directions. But don't always provide answers right away. Give them time/space to try working through things on their own. Sometimes, I do that implicitly - by just deferring til later or the next day etc. before meeting. Sometimes explicitly, by saying "try xyz" or "try working on it a bit, and we can meet Thurs". Ok, that's all for now! Again, please comment below with ideas/questions/etc.! Sources of images:
Written for the Duke University Scholars Program blog. The second group for the University Scholars Symposium 2017 discussed various political and economic perspectives on Relativity. We began with Alex Oprea’s thought-provoking talk exploring “Does Moral Diversity imply Moral Relativism?” With a show of hands, we all agreed that eating is morally acceptable and eating children is morally unacceptable…but there was a gray zone in between with pigs and shark fin. Similarly, we agreed that women working in the office is acceptable and female genital mutilation is not, but is it morally acceptable for women to wear a veil? Or to be obligated to wear a veil? Alex thus demonstrated moral diversity. Does this imply that there are different acceptable standards? Is it ok if we have certain standards for ourselves and our local culture, but are simultaneously accepting of other standards in other areas of the world? Some philosophies say no, that there should be a single, absolute set of acceptable behaviors. Others think that there is a collection of acceptable standards (“pluralism”), but then the question arises as to which standards fall within or without this collection. What do you think? Alex’s presentation was followed by Zach Heater’s enlightening overview of slavery in ancient Athens and Rome: “When Slaves Write the Laws”. The history of slavery in the United States is quite sordid; conversely, slaves in ancient Athens and Rome often held admirable positions in society. They were state-owned, and as such, anyone who mistreated another, whether a free person or a slave, could be reported and punished. Slaves often held erudite positions, including recording the current laws, recording the weights and measures, teachers, and remembering names to whisper into their client’s ear in social events. Lastly, they were a large proportion of society, estimated at 40% of Romans in the first century BCE, as compare to 10% in the USA in 1855. Bobby Harris then guided us through an intriguing exploration of how the phrasing of your available options can influence the rationality of your decisions: “Can Rationality Explain Weird Outcomes?” For instance, consider a disease expected to kill 600 people, and you could pick between two treatment programs: A) If program A is adopted, 200 people will be saved. B) If program B is adopted, there is 1/3 probability that 600 people will be saved and 2/3 probability that no people will be saved. Which option would you pick? Now consider these two options: C) If program C is adopted, 400 people will die. D) If program D is adopted, there is 1/3 probability that nobody will die and 2/3 probability that 600 people will die. Did your choice change from the first two options? People will often choose options A and D, contrary to expected rational behavior since the two sets of options are the same except for the phrasing: the upper options start with 600 dead people, allowing us to save people, whereas the lower options start with 600 living people, requiring us to let people die. This importance of reference point and framing can be related to the latest US Presidential Election, where Trump had a much larger range of potential performances, leading to a riskier option, but with the possibility of higher performance and higher utility, whereas Clinton had a higher expected performance, but within a much narrower range of possible performance and utility measures. We finished the student presentations with two talks on trade. Greg Lyons brought us into the world of big money and advanced statistics in the Business of Sports. The sports industry continues to grow, forecasted to be worth $75b by 2020, but creating a successful sports team is complicated. How do you quantify the value of a player? And their value in the context of a team? And are you aiming to win in the short-term (experienced players) or long-term (train up young talent)? Sports analytics is an exploding industry, employing data analysts and statisticians to capture a player’s full value; as a simple example, the number of touchdowns scored will not be indicative of a football linebacker’s value. These methodologies of assessing relative value are used to allocate money amongst contract offers, to trade players and coaches, and to select draft picks -- including the option to tank your team for the sake of better picks in the future! Lastly, Kavya Sekar led us in a fabulous interactive activity to explore the challenges of trade negotiations. In each group of four, there were two people from Country A (wealthy country with high labor protections and patent technology for mass production of leather goods) and two from Country B (poor country with low labor protections, but ample land for leather cow farming). Currently, there are high import tariffs for both countries and Country A citizens cannot start businesses in Country B. The groups were given 5 minutes to try to make a trade deal, role-playing as a leather factory worker & shoe manufacturer from Country A and an unemployed laborer & leather artisan in Country B. There was a wide variety in outcomes amongst the dozen groups in the room, although only a couple came to an agreement. Most discussions seemed to disadvantage one or both of the Country B citizens. Further, most groups aimed for consensus on the terms of the trade deal, but thereby failed to come to agreeable terms, given us all a sense of the challenges of real-life, large-scale trade negotiations. Excellent presentations and activities all-around! Written for the Duke Graduate School Professional Development Blog. I am sitting cross-legged on the bank of a river. I am surrounded by grand, serene trees. The light is diffuse. I am watching the river flow past as I take slow, calm breaths. Sometimes the water lazes by, sometimes it turns into torrents. This is what I visualized during a guided meditation with psychiatrist Dr. Holly Rogers during the BME PhD Peer Mentoring Program mindfulness workshop. Dr. Rogers shared a definition of mindfulness with the 30 attendees: non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. Using a metaphor, Dr. Rogers suggested that rather than being swept away in the turbulent flow of the river of our thoughts, we should each climb onto the bank of the river so that we could observe our thoughts without judgment. Being a graduate student carries many challenges:
Developing a practice of mindfulness can help create a lens through which you view your life – its joys, its challenges, and everything in between – with more clarity and less judgement. Living mindfully does not aim to eliminate stressors. Rather, it provides tools for noticing your mental, emotional, and physical states. By stepping back and taking a more mindful stance, we can see our situation with more understanding and clarity, and thus, can better see how to move forward. Dr. Rogers, who works at Duke’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), shared her story of discovering mindfulness over two decades ago through the book Mindfulness in Plain English. She was due to move back to North Carolina from New Zealand, where she was completing her first job as a psychiatrist, and was experiencing significant anxiety about the move. Through the book, she realized that her anxieties weren’t stemming from the looming challenges themselves, but from the way she was relating to these challenges. More importantly, she realized that she could change that relationship. In that moment, she began to develop an ability to step away from a challenging situation and see it with more clarity, with more mindfulness. Dr. Rogers has since co-developed and co-founded the Koru Mindfulness program, designed to teach mindfulness to young adults with various approaches, including meditation. Thus, she was perfectly poised to discuss the challenges of developing a practice of mindfulness with our academic audience. She asked us what we would do if we had to bench-press 200 pounds to graduate with our PhDs. We wouldn’t simply go to the gym and start with 200 pounds; rather, we’d start with a low weight and gradually work our way up. Similarly, we need time, patience, and persistence to build a practice of mindfulness: we shouldn’t set personal expectations to sit still for 15 min and meditate with perfectly calm focus on the first try. We discussed some reasons to have a regular meditation practice:
We also discussed reasons we might not practice mindfulness regularly and ways in which we can reframe our perspectives around these challenges:
As a yoga instructor, I have discussed and practiced meditation and mindfulness in various capacities, allowing me to become more aware of myself, my environment, and my situation, as well as the impact of my actions on my environment. I practice being in the moment, being present, with the ability to step away from persistent worries about the past, the future, and potential failure. Continuing to explore different resources, be it books or workshops, is an important part of my mindfulness practice, as I deepen my understanding and broaden my perspectives. Next time I find myself stuck in circling, anxious thoughts, I’ll try taking a few breaths and stepping out of my turbulent river, onto the bank. You can watch a recording of the workshop here. I organized the workshop with three other biomedical engineers: PhD students Rob Morhard and John Gilbert, and postdoc Amy Martinez. We founded and launched the BME PhD Peer Mentoring Program in Fall 2016, matching first-year BME PhD students with senior student mentors. The mindfulness workshop was an end-of-year event open to all BME PhD students, postdocs, and faculty. We would like to acknowledge generous funding support from the Duke University Graduate School Professional Development Grant, which provided lunch for the event, and from the Duke University Graduate and Professional Student Council, which provided copies of Wherever You Go, There You Are (by Jon Kabat-Zinn) and fidget toys for the attendees. References:
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