Since the final hour of my stay in Chicago is drawing near, I have begun to reflect a bit on my time in Chicago and the United States. In one of the earliest posts I raised the question whether or not it actually made sense at all to come here - it mainly prolongs my time in Academia, which is not where I ultimately see my future. Also, while I do feel that my language skills have improved over the past two years, my time in an institution such as the Fritz Haber Institute, Berlin, where I did my graduate research, had already exposed me to a lifetime's worth of English, particularly via my friends and well-esteemed colleagues Dr. Neetha and Dr. Heather. I trust (in all modesty) that my proficiency of the English language would have sufficed the standards of the Human Resource departments of most potential employers in Germany. So, one might argue that I have just been wasting my time or even hurting myself by deliberately delaying my entering the world of the grown-ups; i.e., acquiring an adequate employment (preferrably in industrial Research & Development).I have been contemplating about this recurrently, but it is only now, in retrospect, that I can evaluate the effects that this endeavor had on me. I have come to the conclusion that it was most certainly the right thing to do. While being a doctoral candidate at the FHI Berlin was the best possible thing that could have ever happened to me in terms of my scientific advancement, it is also a rather hierarchical environment, where students are at the bottom of the food chain, and postdocs do not outrank them by much. That is because the day-to-day management is done by group leaders, while the grand decisions are the privilege of the department head. This type of structure is certainly a neccessity if the manpower (and womanpower!) is to be coordinated for maximum efficiency, but it leaves the individual student only little slack in the pursuit of his or her research. I am not complaining about a micromanagement advising style - I have experienced the opposite in another place, and it was most painful. But in comparison to my current assignment, I am now enjoying a much larger share of the responsability to keep our laboratory up and running, including the introduction and scientific training of two students from scratch. I hope this will be an asset in any job interview situation.
Fortunately, I can proudly announce that both of the students I have been trusted with are doing extremely well, because they are both exceptionally bright and incredibly motivated. I am well aware that one day rather sooner than later they will surpass their teacher. I could not be any prouder. I like to think that I made a difference for Homa and Zhu, and we will certainly remain friends beyond my time as a postdoc at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Therefore, the title of this post, a line from a song by The Doors, is stating the exact opposite of our relationship.
I think it is fair to say that the three of us were and still are a good team. I recently mentioned the mere fact of my departure in Homa's presence, which caused her to burst out in tears! She allowed me to take a picture as a proof and even post it here. - While Zhu is less prone to cry, she is also showing a lot of affection for me, as you can see from the sweet drawings she put on the orange depicted below Homa. Clearly I was lucky with "my" girls! I will miss them direly, and the only moment I could be even prouder of them than now is when they become Dr. Homa, and Dr. Zhu.
