More on the Uri Alon Videos

So, I was sent the videos in the last post by a colleague who has met Alon and thought that I would enjoy his work. I do. What he talks about is what I have been trying to say and live ever since starting grad school. Academics is more than just the science that we do in the lab. It is about growing the whole person so that we have competent researchers. Students needs to learn how to choose research problems, how to formulate those problems into appropriate proposals, how to manage research groups, how to express research results to maximize their impact, and how to accept rejection (because there will be some). These are generally *not* skills taught as part of the formal graduate education. I think they are intended to be left to the mentor and taught throughout the research execution phase of the Ph.D. (and postdoc), but I know many, many times this does not happen. Why not? Why isn't this a formal part of our research education? These are the truly important skills.