Reflections on a successful transplant.

I'm back in SmallTown, America after a week long visit to BigCity, Canada. The reason I went to the BigCity was to help out some colleagues with an experiment we started while I was still living there. This is not my first attempt at a collaboration and I really hope it does not go the way of my two other 'collaborations'. Those ones ended badly for me. In the first case, I was brought into a postdoc's office and told that I was being taken off the paper because she had decided it wasn't worth it to her to have too many authors. Myself and one other grad student were "summarily dismissed" after we contributed a great deal of time and energy collecting data and help with building a model.

So when we started this experiment, I have to say I was a little uncertain and hesistant about contributing time. I know that it is often the case where you start a bunch projects with people, some will go nowhere, while others will bloom. My past experience suggests that the ones which are likely to end badly (where someone is removed from authorship, despite the contribution of data) may have more to do with the self-serving motivations of the people involved.

Right now, I'm working with two people who do not let ambition dictate how they operate in their professional relationships. The lead on this project, LivingtheScottishLife (LSL), is respectful and keeps me involved in the decision making process, despite the fact that I live so far away. I really appreciate this and so I do my best to participate fully and help out as much as I can. This in my mind did not happen in the two other cases - I was not seen as a colleague but merely a doorstep for someone else's career.

The experiment was so involved that while in the BigCity, I spent most of my days transplanting many little seedlings, from a shared space in a tiny little pot into their own larger pots. A lovely metaphor for what has occurred in my own life. I have moved from a large university so crowded with students all competiting for space and recognition to a small university with tons of space to allow this little seedling to blossom. It was ironic that I did all of this work in LargeUniversityinCanada's (LUC) greenhouse but it gave me time to reflect on my own transplantation.

One thing I thought about was how my interaction with GeneralSolutionGuru (my PhD supervisor) was different than that of the interactions I have with Dr.Add'emUp (my postdoc supervisor). Both supervisors are incredibly smart and supportive, but when I talk with Dr Add'emUp I feel like a colleague.

I am sure this has more to do with my confidence.

It was good to return to LUC having spent time away in a small place where the emphasis is on collaboration because I now understand that despite the strong academic training, I was finished my training at LUC.

Even though SmallUniversity is small, the people here have big hearts and there is plenty of space for me grow.