Navigating a Difficult Mentor-Student Relationship

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Don't even *think* about doing it. Really. Nothing good could possibly come out of it for you, and a world of hurt is quite possible.

Yeah, I agree. I will just say that Dr. X published quite a few papers as a grad student and postdoc (Nature Materials, Review of Scientific Instruments, Langmuir, etc), but has done very little since joining our university in fall 2004. I think his lack of leadership and management skills are crippling him as a PI, and hence he is not producing very much. He seems to do great work under the supervision of others, but can't produce when he is the big cheese.

 

[Pythagorean]

Yeah, I agree. I will just say that Dr. X published quite a few papers as a grad student and postdoc (Nature Materials, Review of Scientific Instruments, Langmuir, etc), but has done very little since joining our university in fall 2004. I think his lack of leadership and management skills are crippling him as a PI, and hence he is not producing very much. He seems to do great work under the supervision of others, but can't produce when he is the big cheese.

I work at a research library. That's enough information to find an author if I know what university you're at, especially with the journal name dropping. Just a heads up.

 

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I started this thread during the summer time. I have now found a new adviser/mentor to do research with in my department who is pretty much the polar opposite of my previous one. The difference is amazing, and I'm finally excited about physics research again. I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice. I followed it and was able to make the transition from one prof to the other without any bad feelings. In fact my new adviser encourages students to try as many different things as possible as an undergrad; contrast this with my previous adviser who was hell-bent on keeping all of his students in biophysics. I just wanted to thank everyone out there for helping with my situation.

 

[Checkfate]

Glad everything worked out for you. I read your thread and it sounded like you were doomed for a bit there. :P