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A "Zettelkasten/Permanent Notes/Literature Notes/LIT-202509012125-how-to-choose-a-good-scientific-problem.md"
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| id | title | type | created | modified | citekey |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIT-20250819112550 | How To Choose a Good Scientific Problem | literature | 2025-08-19T15:25:50Z | 2025-09-02T01:41:17Z |
How to Choose a Good Scientific Problem
Authors
Notes
Uri is all about the 'nuturing lab', which means a lab's goal is not just to advance knowledge, but to nurture future scientists.
He describes problems on two axes: interest and difficulty. Interest here means how much knowledge we gain from solving the problem. He says grad students should choose easy problems, with ideally low interest, then postdocs move to high interest and easy (to save time), and finally new professors move towards the hard problems with high impact, as they have time to do so.
Uri also argues that taking time to find a good topic is time well spent. It can save a lot of time down the line.
The inner and outer voices can lead to different ideas. Outer voices are those of peers, the department, or speakers at a conference-- but the inner voice is the more valuable voice. That is your own voice. Uri descirbes the inner voice is often something that needs nurtured, but can lead to less laborious science, and more self expression.
Finally Uri talks about the schema that should be considered during research. It is not useful to think students will go from A->B taking the shortest path. There must be room to wander, as that is where new problems can be best found. This is what really lets students grow.