So You Want To Be A Professor: Interview with Assistant Professor John Fisher

John Fisher (Ph.D., Rice University, 2003) originally joined the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the fall of 2003, and became a member of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering in the fall of 2006. We sat down with him to find out what becoming a professor was like for him.

Why did you decide to become a professor?

After I graduated from college, I wasn't sure what to do.  I applied for jobs, and sort of offhandedly applied to graduate school. I'd been successful in school, but not wildly successful—school was always a challenge for me. When I got to graduate school, I found that research and working in the lab were things I could do well.  This was the major event that got me excited about continuing on to get a Ph.D. and becoming a professor.  In addition, I liked the fact that if you did well, it was because of your efforts, and if you did poorly, it was because of your efforts.  [As a professor,] no one tells me what work to do or not to do. It's all up to me to decide and that motivates me.

Had you taught before?

I was a T.A. but I only lectured maybe a handful of times before I started here.

Because of that, were you nervous about the idea of having to go in and teach classes here?

Sure, I guess a little bit. While you're in graduate school you get more and more used to speaking in front of groups of people, so that becomes less intimidating. Organizing a class, and making sure it's a quality class, is a bit daunting. For the first year and a half [I was here] I was teaching the lab course, which has a both a lab and lecture portion, but the lab portion is the emphasis. So, in some respects, the lab course was an easy way for me to get started on how to lecture and how to organize lectures.

What appeals to you about being in academia vs. industry?

Being a professor is a little bit like having your own small company, but you still have that infrastructure surrounding you to help you with all of your efforts. Now, you also have a lot of responsibilities you wouldn't have if you were in industry, but hopefully those are things you like to do, like teaching and working with students. That's a significant and fun part of the job.

What was the application process to become faculty like?

It's pretty straightforward. You put together a C.V., a statement about the research you'd like to do, your thoughts about teaching, what you would teach and how you would teach, and letters of recommendation. [I did it] back in the era where you printed it all out and mailed it, which I think no one does anymore...[laughs] In chemical engineering, bioengineering [and] biomedical engineering there are a lot of job openings now, as there were when I as applying.

You started with the Clark School in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. When you were applying for faculty positions, what kinds of departments did you apply to?

I think I applied to about 20 places, places that I thought would be a good fit. I didn't really mind so much if I was in chemical or bioengineering, or biomedical engineering. [I was looking for] a good research fit, a good place to live, and a place where I'd be happy.

It seems like in the sciences, you really need to have a post-doc position before you can apply for faculty positions. Is that true or does it just give you an edge?

I applied, interviewed, and accepted the position at Maryland while I was still in graduate school. The interviews and the final job commitment occurred in the spring. Then I finished graduate school the following fall, and did a short post-doc. So I secured the job before I even did my post-doc, more than a year in advance. This is somewhat common in chemical engineering, where they give you the position but then tell you, "Go do a post-doc position for a year or two, learn something else, then come back." Now having said that, I did interview at places where people weren't so fond of this approach. In any event, I think a post-doc position is good for opening your eyes to other possibilities, distinct from your graduate research. However, what's going to make you successful as a professor are a lot of thinking, management, and other skills you couldn't learn in 10 post-docs.

Were you assigned a faculty mentor? If so, who is your mentor, and how is your mentor helping you settle in?

I don't believe I had a formal mentor. When the BioE department launched in the summer of 2006, [Graduate Program Director and Professor] Peter Kofinas was assigned as my formal mentor. Nevertheless, from the day I got here, Peter Kofinas, [Professor and Chair] Bill Bentley, [ChBE Professor] Sheryl Ehrman, and others were always around for me to ask for advice, and I went to them whenever I needed help.  I never felt the lack of available advice.  And it is extremely important to ask for help and advice; we all need help.

When you came here, the Kim Building didn't exist. Did they give you a lab that was already here, or did you have to set up from scratch?

My original lab was actually a beautifully renovated lab in the Chem Nuc Building with all of the key components: cabinets, sinks, hoods, and lots of space. However, it's up to you to decide what equipment and supplies you need in the lab—and order it. That's the typical way to get started. I think the process taught me to be pretty detail-oriented when it came to purchasing stuff, organizing lab space, and what's worth spending the money on. So now I have a pretty good system of budgeting and record keeping. There are so many things you have to do that you don't even think about [at first]—safety, inventory, training...If you don't jump on that stuff early, and get it organized, I think it could be a train wreck!

I should add that the graduate students in my lab are fantastic. They're extremely organized and very conscientious, and they do a huge amount of the work that involves keeping a lab going. Diana Yoon was my first graduate student and from the very beginning she was helping to organize and set up the lab.

On a related note, what is it like to recruit students who might end up being your advisees and/or work for you in your lab?

I'm still learning how to do that well. When I used to meet with a student I would say, "These are the things I expect of you as a graduate student, and these are the things you should expect from me as a P.I." I find it's kind of a dicey situation to try to convince somebody to work in your lab, because if they get there and find they're not happy, it's going to be a miserable situation for everyone. Generally I let people come to us and say "I saw your work, I read one of your papers, and I'm interested—can I talk to you about working in your lab?"

What advice do you have for students considering a career in academia? Is there anything you wished you would have known?

One thing I think [people] tend to worry about if they're running a lab is, "Where am I going to come up with great new ideas?" But what I‘ve found more and more is that while a new and great idea is wonderful, you always need to base your work on things that you can demonstrate you can do or have done in the past. You become more conservative and take the next logical step forward, not a huge leap. It's difficult to convince people that you can make that leap successfully...[when you're] a new assistant professor. I think you can make those huge leaps once you have experience behind you.

In addition, I don't think I had a full appreciation for the length of time and the huge effort it takes to put together a lab that has a cohesive theme and structure, especially an experimental lab. For example, it's going to take a year or two before you can [present at a seminar] based only on the work you've generated from your lab.

If you weren't an engineer and could have any other job, however impractical, what would it be?

Good question—I'll get back to you on that one!