Genesis of an Academic Research Program

Abstract

As students progress towards their PhD degrees, they will become more independent and practitioner-like; for those moving into academia, it is often assumed the programs of their PhD mentors will serve as prototypes for their own successful research programs. However, the author’s research program as an Assistant Professor led him in directions never considered as a graduate student. The author had to make significant decisions in choosing a primary audience, finding an overarching theme, defining the individual problems, and developing these problems into researchable projects. Infrastructure-related issues associated with the author’s research program were also considered. The details of his journey from the end of his doctoral degree to his current position as an Assistant Professor are described in this article.

Keywords

• research program
• junior faculty
• chemical education research (CER)
• practitioner development
• organic chemistry