Summertime and the Research Is Easy [Perspectives on Graduate Life]

Summertime in a research laboratory is a wonderful experience. The ebb and flow of research activity abides by no schedule, least of all an academic calendar, and yet there is a pervasive undertone of contentedness and ease in the summer that replaces the more frenetic forward tilt of the school year. For a student like me, fresh from his or her first year of graduate school, summer is a relief of coursework-free time practically begging to be overwhelmed with experiments and relevant literature. Anything seems possible. In fact, these may be the months during which Nobel prize-winning work is dreamed up and carried out.