We asked young scientists to answer these questions: What is your definition of a successful scientist? How has this definition changed between your mentor’s generation and your own?
Science is truly analogous to philosophy. It stems from the love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline in which humans rationally investigate the truths of society through research. It ends as a form of art when science becomes a product of human creativity and effort that can be utilized to comprehend life, especially the mechanisms by which debilitating health outcomes occur. Thus, being a successful scientist involves more than the exchange of ideas and theories to foster the betterment of mankind with the hope of ameliorating diseases and disorders. It also centers on the essence of innovation and finding answers to questions that were once considered unfathomable or impossible. This definition of a successful scientist remains unaltered between my mentor’s generation and my own generation. Nevertheless, in my generation, the definition of a successful scientist also entails an individual who is a mentor for those that aspire to pursue careers in research and is a good teacher. As a teacher, a successful scientist provides the educational tools for students to determine their lifelong aspirations and to fulfill their destinies of becoming research professionals. He or she is one that enables students to become agents of change in the field of scientific research and the writers of their own life stories as aspiring scientists. In other words, he or she uses a philosophy of teaching that promotes inspiration in young scientists and is centered on transformative learning.
Joyonna Gamble-George
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37209, USA.
Full Response: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2012/04/04/336.6077.32.DC1
Source: Science 06 Apr 2012: Vol. 336, Issue 6077, pp. 32-34. DOI: 10.1126/science.336.6077.32.
Publisher: The American Association for the Advancement of Science.
