The
research - teaching nexus
Paul
March
My
day as a science academic at The University
of New South Wales, Sydney began at about 8:30 when I arrived
at the lab.
My honours research student was already looking at the result
from the experiment she had done the day before. She is trying
to work out the function of a gene that we think regulates
membrane structure in bacteria. We quickly discussed what
new experiment she should try based on what we observed from
her previous result.
I did not have that much time because I had to dash off to
a 9:00 lecture that I was scheduled to deliver to year three
undergraduates in Microbial Genetics. I enjoy the teaching
and the challenge of trying to convince every
student that they should love Microbial Genetics.
After the one hour lecture it was back to the lab. I had to
respond to urgent emails from other Research students and
their supervisors in my role as Director of Research Student
Programs (this includes the responsibility of co-ordinating
the School's Honours, Masters, and PhD programs). There are
more than 200 students in these programs so there are many
urgent issues to respond to on a daily basis. After the email
triage I met with my PhD student.
On this day, she was concluding an unsuccessful project and
we had a several hour meeting to plan the start of the next
phase of her project. She is interested in developing assays
to select for small nucleic acids that can
act as inhibitors of protein function. In
our meeting it was crucial to build a multifaceted experimental
approach that would yield results that could be published
within 12 months.
This meeting spanned lunch and when we concluded it was time
for my next scheduled teaching engagement. I teach in the
laboratory for the Microbial Genetics course from 2:00 to
6:00. I love what I do.
The research - teaching nexus
is a daily challenge and stimulates me to learn and integrate
what I learn into my teaching. Paul March Senior Lecturer
Director of Research Student Programs School of Biotechnology
and Biomolecular Sciences UNSW Sydney Australia
Looking back even to my primary school days I now realize
that I was always going to be a scientist. I never articulated
this but I had a chemistry set, and a microscope. I set up
a lab in my bedroom.
As a hobby, I read books about the human
body, cells, and sea creatures.
I would go out to streams and ponds to collect samples to
look at. This was not a passing interest, but an activity
that I pursued throughout my primary school years. I do not
know where this interest came from, I had no relatives that
were scientists. I did not have any inspiring science teachers
in high school. Discovering the functioning of the natural
world was just something that I loved to do (and it still
is today).
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