Rethinking career advice: beyond "follow your passion" for physics students

I started reading a new book a few days ago: "So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love" by Cal Newport. Having read many self-improvement books before, I can confidently say that Newport's book has already changed my perspective on my professional career and career development in general. Reflecting on my journey thus far, I would like to share some advice with readers of my physics education blog.

Many of you have likely chosen physics (or a related subject) as your major because of a strong high school background or a fascination with big questions about our universe. For me, the latter was true in particular. I was drawn to astrophysics due to my love for documentaries about black holes, science fiction movies, and the job prospects physics offered. Motivated by my passion for astrophysics, I began my undergraduate studies in physics.

Exploring hot topics in condensed matter physics and materials science

Lately, I have been contemplating hot topics in condensed matter physics and materials science that could be interesting for students seeking a suitable research group to carry out their PhD or B.Sc./M.Sc. research projects. I want to share my personal list with the readers of this blog. Disclaimer: Certainly, this list is incomplete and possibly highly subjective. Nevertheless, I do believe that it may serve as an inspiration for interested readers. 

Navigating nonlinear career paths -- a personal perspective

Today, I would like to share my personal motivation for studying physics and eventually pursuing a PhD. You will realize that my motivation has changed quite a bit over time, but I firmly believe that I always followed my heart and trusted my instincts. Perhaps the main takeaway from this blog post is this: Always follow your passion, stay open to new opportunities, and do not view shifting gears as a negative thing. I hope that my personal story will inspire some of the readers and encourage folks to chase their dreams. While many steps in my CV may seem logical and straightforward, I would state that, in some regards, my career has taken a nonlinear path.

 

My initial passion was astrophysics. As a kid, I was captivated by documentaries on German cable TV that dealt with black holes, supernovae, comets and the Big Bang. I also loved watching the science-fiction series "Stargate" and admired the role of the astrophysicist Dr. Samantha Carter, who could eloquently explain everything that is going on in the universe. In high school, physics was not necessarily my best subject, but I certainly did enjoy it. Other contendors for my future college major were computer science and electrical engineering, but ultimately I decided to pick physics. My decision was primarily driven by the hope to find answers to the big questions about the universe while still being able to secure a decent job in the future, since physicists appeared to be in reasonably great demand in the job market.

Transforming an advanced physics lab course

Over the course of this semester, I am taking over the advanced physics lab course at our Institute of Physics at Goethe University Frankfurt. This task comes with certain responsibilities such as holding the introductory session, doing some paperwork and communicating with students as well as the supervisors of the individual experiments, but it also offers me the chance to renew and transform the overall structure of the course as well as selected experiments. 

I believe that the advanced lab course, which is typically taken by B.Sc. students (Bachelor of Science) in their fifth semester as well as M.Sc. (Master of Science) students, is of paramount importance for all future physicists because of the following three reasons: 

How to maximize your conference experience

Preliminary note: A modified version of this article is going to appear in the IEEE Magnetics Society Newsletter, so please enjoy this sneak peek and do check out the Newsletter if you are interested. 

Through my experience of attending approximately 20 conferences as an active researcher in the fields of experimental condensed matter physics and magnetism, I believe that I am qualified to share some thoughts on the various possible ways to make the most out of any conference, no matter whether you are a young and less experienced researcher or a seasoned professional.

Five ways of improving the learning experience for physics students

Prior to launching this blog I had written down numerous bullet points related to topics in physics teaching that I would deem important. In today's post, based on five selected points I would like to discuss how we could improve the learning experience for physics students by implementing changes in the physics curriculum, course syllabi, and teaching methods. Clearly, most the ideas can be traced back to my time as a postdoctoral research in the United States. 

Having the right mindset for a physics degree

Recently, I had a nice discussion with a colleague about the mindset of undergraduate physics freshmen (i.e., first-year) students. This conversation has inspired today's blogpost on the very same topic. 

Many things are different at a university as compared to high schools. Physics students oftentimes feel overwhelmed during their first semesters at college. Professors are rushing through the course material, homework is due every week in multiple classes, and a major part of the fellow students appear to be geniuses. They seem to grasp even complex contents very quickly, do not need to spend much time on their homework and ask a lot of smart questions during the lectures. One might get the impression that they do not need to work hard to pass exams and achieve their goals. These are only a few examples of the mindset that many students tend to develop. I would like to argue that such thoughts are largely unfounded and are making life unnecessarily harder for many students.

The teaching statement

Recently, I have talked to a friend about the application process for faculty positions in the United States and Germany. While in the US it is very important to write substantial and convincing statements on teaching as well as on diversity, equity and inclusion, it is not that common in Germany and other European countries. From my experience, even if it is required, both the applicants and the search committee do not seem to take such statements very seriously. Of course, in the US it also depends on the specific university, but in general I would contend that the aforementioned documents play a much bigger role in the States. As I argue quite often on this blog, I think that the importance of teaching skills of future faculty is highly undervalued and should be at least as important as the research profile of an applicant. Obviously, it is hard to quantify a person's teaching skills, but I think that a teaching statement and a teaching demonstration are appropriate ways to better assess an applicant.

Declining student enrollment numbers in physics

Today, I had a look into the most recent statistics about physics undergraduate and graduate student enrollment numbers at German universities. Typically, these statistics are published each year in the "Physik Journal", which is a monthly magazine published by the German Physical Society (DPG, Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft). You can find the current statistics here.

Why study physics and not engineering?

Nowadays, more and more people seem to be asking the question "Should I study physics or engineering?" 

From my experience in the United States, engineering majors such as electrical and computer engineering (ECE), mechanical engineering, chemical engineering and aerospace engineering are extremely popular with young people. As an engineering student, your future career options are relatively straightforward, since you become an expert in a specific field with a great selection of potential employers in industry. In other words, as an aerospace engineer you will most likely end up in industries in which you design and build aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, missiles or related applications. No big surprise. Certainly, this is also true for the German system as well as for the rest of the world.  

Computational physics is underrepresented

The subject "physics" can be divided into experimental and theoretical physics. In order to become excellent physicists, students attend numerous classes on these two subcategories of physics. The neverending "battle" between theoretical and experimental physicists on which group of people are the "real" physicists is being fought on (presumably) each and every university campus in this world.

But does the simple division into two categories, theory and experiment, do justice to this large and complex subject termed physics? Not really. How about computational physics?

Defining success in higher education teaching

"What are you most proud of to date in your teaching career in higher education?"

That was one of the questions during my interview for an assistant professor position at a primarily undergraduate institution in the United States. 

I think that every teacher, professor and lecturer has had some very positive moments, but also negative experiences in their past teaching activities, no matter how advanced they are in their career. It is extremely valuable to reflect on these experiences, and usually you can draw important conclusions for teaching in higher education in general. I will try to do this in today's blog post by considering one of my greatest achievements thus far as a teacher. Perhaps I am going to do the same in a future post, but with a negative example. 

What is this blog about?

Welcome to the "Teaching Physics in Higher Education" blog! 

My name is Dr. Martin Lonsky and I am currently a research scientist at the Goethe-University Frankfurt in Germany. Aside from conducting research, I have a great passion for teaching physics and materials science. I am always excited about trying out new teaching approaches and to spark students' interest for natural sciences by conveying my enthusiasm for the aforementioned subjects. 

But why exactly did I decide to start writing my very first blog? Does the world really need a blog about teaching, especially in the field of physics? Is there really so much to talk about this specific topic?