Why Teach at a PUI?

It was a rough week in the lab last week, not so much because of the lab work itself but because of all the distractions that hold up lab progress.  In days like this I must remind myself why I do the work I do. 

Faculty members come in many flavors.  Some faculty at PUI's are there because their particular genius was not recognized by the research (RO1) institutions who were looking for junior faculty.  Some faculty at PUI's are there because the one thing they know is college, and they have no greater ambition than to spend the rest of their days lecturing and doing an occasional experiment.  

Many PUI Faculty, including me, chose a PUI career.  I did even before starting my PhD studies.  In a research active PUI the faculty get to work in the lab directly with students during the students earliest development as a scientist.  If it is true that when the pupil is ready the teacher will come, then the PUI faculty member gets to be that teacher.  In those college years with all the searching to build their own identity many students are ready.  As a faculty member you can guide muddled minds into the mind of a scientist ready to achieve success in a career or in a graduate school.  In another time we celebrated lines like "You come in here with skull full of mush and you leave thinking like a lawyer."

I must admit that I am a lab rat.  I love solving puzzles and designing experiments to solve puzzles.  Those reactions that give unexpected products that must be identified make my day.  Well, at least the day that I figure out what was formed and develop a reasonable mechanistic explanation as to why.  There is power in discovery and research scientist get to discover on a regular basis.  

For me the next best thing to discovering something myself is leading someone else to discovery.  If I give my students one, or two, or many tools that they can use to find success in their lives and careers, I have done something that gives my life value.  

The output of laboratories is measured in papers and citations, but in the PUI world the output of students should be equally important.  Unfortunately, there are no citations to demonstrate the quality of product produced in the PUI laboratory.  It would be a good thing if employers and graduate faculty would provide feedback to the undergraduate research mentors of their new employees or graduates students documenting the quality of product produced.