Learning

For a while I wasn't happy with my post-doctoral position, and I should have been. I was in a position as a Materials Research Engineer, which means I still got to do materials-related research. I was in an environment where the pace of work was relaxed, enabling one to look at tangents when they came up (but ideally before you get too far and don't write up your previous results). Most importantly, as a post-doc at my work place, I had the freedom to determine my project. I dictated my research for the next two years.

Some of the problems I had was that I really wasn't doing any more materials research. I was researching on materials, but I felt much more like a mechanical engineer than materials scientist. When I went to the last two conferences I mentioned, I realized how much I missed microstructure-related science. Whether it was discussing improvements and novel techniques in microstructure characterization, or the details and complexity of microstructure evolutions during deformation, recrystallization, and grain growth. Additionally, because I felt outside my realm of expertise as well, I was easily frustrated when obstacles and set-backs occurred and I didn't know how to get around them.

It wasn't until I was catching up with my colleague at Carnegie Mellon University that my work attitude turned around. While she (another post-doc) was still getting to continue a similar line of work to her PhD, she reminded me that I was getting the chance to learn new techniques like digital image correlation and new fields like sheet metal forming.

This conversation reminded me of why most of us pursue a PhD in the first place. It's the opportunity to keep learning, whether to keep becoming an expert in a field you're in, which was what I thought needed to be happy, or branching out into a new area, which I am happy with where I'm at now.