Boss, the paper and well-deserved awards

Boss won an award for mentoring, which is truly appropriate as I work for a truly outstanding individual. In lieu of posting about how I did nothing today – ate and slept and was basically the epitome of laziness, I’ll remind myself of how the academic world can be. This also ties up the story of my last graduate publication.

To set up the publication part of the story, this particular paper was my favorite of the various manuscripts I’d written. I therefore sent it to Excellent Scientific-Field-Specific Journal. There are two – one for theory, one for experiments. I went experimental, and they said no. Offered some comments from a single reviewer, but opted out, clearly unimpressed.

Disappointed but undeterred, I decided on Good Medical-Field-Specific Journal. They publish crap all the time and, under pressure to publish before graduating to the point of being denied a defense date, I wanted the certainty of getting in. An initial review indicated they liked the work, but thought it was more appropriate as a case study than a full report. Happy to oblige, I reformatted and edited and resubmitted. They were again encouraging, but indicated the fatal flaw of the work. Should I obtain data that fixed that specific problem, they would love to see the work again. I couldn't obtain said data.

Faced with the increasingly sad prospect of a submission website with two listings marked Reject, I asked advice. “Send it to Eh Scientific-Field-Specific Journal.” People said as I desperately wanted to defend, but was facing last-minute but firm resistance from one member of my committee. So I included responses to the reviewer comments thus far, trying to avoid future criticisms, then sent it along.

I was on a lengthy interview trip and arrived at one airport to find my ride was not waiting. Content to wait with wireless internet available, I checked my email, thrilling to find a note from Eh Journal. I felt my mouth drop open when they rejected my poor paper, leaving me with the harshest criticisms I’d received thus far. So I gave up – couldn’t bring myself to read what the reviewers said or what I had written, the paragraphs now scarred where they’d been rent to include responses to reviewers that didn’t want to see the paper again regardless.

I took the job here, started and began to settle in. I looked at my CV – at the line that indicated the paper was under review when it was, in fact, waiting patiently in a folder for its next foray into the world of criticism and rejection. But I was scared – I didn’t want to hear that the work was awful again. Having tentatively decided to give up, I sighed over the thought – there was valid information in that manuscript! Why did people hate it so?! Advisor returned it with a typical “Looks good!” each time it was offered, and my co-authors, all young scientists themselves, had no ideas on why it was doing so badly out in the scary world of publications. And so begins my letter.

April 3, 2007

More than a year ago, painfully discouraged, I took a copy of the final paper describing my graduate work to Boss. After knocking on the always-open door, I waited until he looked up and motioned me inside. I offered him the pages and explained the outright rejections I’d received from three journals. I didn’t know how to fix the problems they identified and was ready to move on to the work we planned at Current Institution.

“I want to give up on this paper.” I concluded. “But could you look at it before I do that? Just confirm that there’s nothing worthwhile there?”

Boss doesn’t tend abandon projects without a compelling reason. I wasn’t surprised when he said that he would take a look and see what we could do with the manuscript. He has developed an environment where I feel help is freely available, yet independent research is strongly encouraged. I have taken many meetings, set up collaborative relationships, written protocols and arranged for projects I find fascinating and challenging. Yet when I need help, I immediately call upon Boss for guidance and unfailingly receive it.

I view my postdoctoral fellowship a bit like a view the paper I struggled to get published. There’s a tremendous amount of possibility – graduate work completed, skills acquired, ideas that are beginning to develop. Additional training is required and so I’ve studied, read a lot, tried to establish collaborative relationships and navigated the appropriate channels to do research in humans. Boss has been invaluable in all of these steps – reading IRB protocols, introducing me to colleagues he feels could help my work, attending meetings and seminars to provide support, passing along papers, providing a bi-weekly opportunity to interact with major faculty inside the department during our fellows meeting, and encouraging work on certain projects that are relevant. He is an excellent mentor in all the areas I can consider.

The truly exceptional quality is that he goes beyond what could reasonably be expected. Finishing graduate publications should not fall in the realm of his responsibility, yet he read my paper more than twenty times – changing wording, suggesting organizational solutions, and teaching me where I could improve to create a stronger manuscript. It was tentatively accepted to the first journal Boss suggested and we completed three rounds of revisions thereafter. He continued to work with me diligently – suggesting different wording for our title and noting the sources of reviewer concerns as we continued to trade paper copies scrawled with notes in black ink so that I could move slowly closer to publication.

In a gesture that was a lovely surprise, a figure from the paper that took upwards of three years to publish – one I would have abandoned without Boss’s help and encouragement – appeared on the cover of the March issue of Very Good General Field Journal. We smiled over the framed copy of the cover that I received from the journal, then Boss went around the department to collect copies from subscribing faculty since he’d already given me his journal and wanted me to be able to take one to my family.

I’ve never doubted how deeply he cares for each of his fellows and how much he wants us to succeed. The research is important and the time he spends editing text, showing up for imaging sessions in the early mornings or on weekends and consideration paid to making the right connections with faculty outside Department prove his interest in our careers. He has also offered quiet support in moments of personal problems, tends to suggest rather than demand, encourages rather than becoming frustrated with slow progress, and offers a constant confidence that we have the necessary talent and skill to do some truly important work in My Field.

From a pre-interview dinner in a downpour two years ago (he gave me his umbrella and walked through the rain unprotected), I have thought incredibly highly of Boss. Soon after meeting him, I decided I’d love to work in his group and have been consistently grateful for the opportunity to know such a wonderful man. I’m learning a tremendous amount from him – about science and about how I want to treat those people with whom I work. I have an excellent example to follow in doing that and can’t imagine a better candidate for mentor of the year.

Sincerely,

Katie

He ducked his head at my congratulations yesterday, saying it was due to his wonderful fellows more than his mentoring ability. He's wonderful and I'm exceedingly lucky to know him, let alone work for him. It's a good thing to remember.