So You Want To Be A Professor: Interview with Assistant Professor J. Helim Aranda-Espinoza

J. Helim Aranda-Espinoza (Ph.D., Universidad de San Luis Potosi, Mexico, 1998) joined the Fischell Department of Bioengineering in the fall of 2005, and currently leads the Cell Biophysics Laboratory. We sat down with him to find out what his first year as a faculty member was like.

Why did you decide to become a professor?

I don't think there's a specific reason—I just remember that ever since I was in high school I wanted to be a professor.

Had you taught before?

I taught a course on statistical mechanics in Mexico. 

What was the application process to become faculty like?

My experience was good, in the sense that at all the places I went, the people I spoke to were friendly.  The faculty members I met gave me a sense of really wanting to get to know me and to know what I was doing.  So, one thing everyone should do [when applying] is to choose job opportunities in what they love to do.  If you love what you do, [people] are going to be very accepting of you.

You earned your Ph.D. in  Mexico.  How does the academic environment differ here?  Do you have any advice for international students considering pursuing graduate studies or an academic career in the United States?

[The graduate school process] is very similar.  The only difference is size.  In Mexico, for example, universities and departments are, on average, smaller.  At the graduate level, the interaction between students and faculty is more personal.  You see your professor more often, you interact more often...most of them  become friends.  So it's a more personal operation than here, especially in big universities.  There's a bit more of a professional approach here, I think. 

The faculty hiring process, in comparison with Mexico, is very different.  In Mexico, particularly, they want people to go back and find a job [in academia].  So you don't really have to interview there.  Here, it's a very competitive environment, more fierce.  But that's good, because it makes you [perform] better.

How would you describe your first year as faculty?

It was very fun.  I've had one of the best experiences ever for me—building a lab from zero, having to attract the students to my lab to work in it, having to convince people that my work is at least interesting or fun if not important.  And I enjoy teaching.  So it's been a great experience...besides the commuting [in the Washington, D.C. area]!

What was it like recruiting students to come work for you?  How did you find them?

That's still ongoing, as it would in any lab setting.  I've contacted students and talked to them to tell them what I'm doing.  [Department Chair] Bill Bentley has helped me a lot—I was able to present my work in his class.  And [the Graduate Program in] Bioengineering has a very good system.  We have lab rotations in which students can come and experience your lab without committing right away.  I've also been going outside of [The Fischell Department of] Bioengineering.  I've gone to the Physics Department and the Materials [science and engineering] Department.  Two students from Materials are going to come and work in my lab on a trial basis this spring semester.  My next step is [to try to recruit students from] Life Sciences.  Another thing I have done is to put up my website.  

During your first year,  who was your faculty mentor?  How did your mentor help you settle in?

[Department Chair] Bill Bentley was my official mentor, but I've had lots of informal mentoring from other professors. [Graduate Program Director] Peter Kofinas is one—he's been a great help—[Assistant Professor] John Fisher is another one who is even more help because he's also a [relatively] new professor. 

You said that setting up your lab was one of the best experiences you've had.  Where do you start when someone says, "Here’s an empty room, and it's going to be your lab.”?

Well, the good thing was, I knew most of the things that I wanted to buy.  So, in that sense I had a good starting point.  The other good thing is that nowadays [finding] everything is easy—you can just Google it.  You can compare machines, materials, supplies, and prices.  But the fun part for me was getting to bring in different microscopes, try them out, and then decide which one I wanted.

Which classes are you or will you be teaching?

This semester I'm teaching an elective class, something I put together myself called Cell Motility.  It basically is an engineering approach to how cells move, at all levels from the molecular to the human level.

That's a big part of your own research, isn't it?

Yes.

What other classes have you taught?

I taught Mathematical Methods for Engineers the first semester I arrived.  The second semester I didn't teach [because I was setting up my lab]...I'm teaching thermodynamics next semester.

What surprised you during your first semester here?

I was pleasantly surprised to find that most my colleagues were very helpful.

What advice do you have for students considering a career in academia? 

You have to be passionate about what you're doing. Otherwise, you might be better off in industry. The other thing I can say is that the information is out there, so if you want to [get into academia], most professors will be very happy to talk to graduate and undergraduate students about what it's like to be in this profession.  Go get all the information you can now.

If you weren't a bioengineer and physicist, and could have any other job, however impractical, what would it be?

If I could do anything else?  I'd be a soccer coach.