This might seem like a simple question to answer but only when you truly delve into its scientific domain, you will be able to realize its complexity. Let us begin with who becomes a scientific supervisor in our current society. Needless to say, students who get a doctorate degree and follow it up with long term postdoctoral studies can apply for scientist positions to eventually become full time professors running big labs. They take in students and gradually build up on their work or explore novel research avenues or both depending on the funds obtained through several government grants. This is broadly how the academic system works.
Further, awards are given to scientific supervisors who have performed brilliantly in their specific fields and that recognition is much needed to motivate talented people. While working in academia, often a scientist’s contribution is recognized through different awards, that are conferred to them based on: positive recommendations from other scientists working in similar fields and the number of papers published by the scientist. The more the number of papers in a short span of time, the greater the probability of the scientist to take the award home. Overall, scientists with a larger scientific network around them tend to win the awards via simply a greater number of positive recommendations or votes. These are votes given by other scientists or professors and not by students who work very closely with the faculties or principal investigators than anyone else. Despite being the most integral component running a lab in collaboration with a professor as the head, a student’s voice is seldom heard when these awards are distributed in the scientific community. Don’t you think that faculties or scientists who have been great mentors to students too, deserve these awards more rather someone who just focuses on oneself?
A supervisor with lots of research experiences in the form of several post doctorates, may or may not end up as a good mentor to his or her lab students. You might think why so? This is because mentoring skills do not refer to the ability to publish papers after papers, rather it entails helping students by providing correct directions and expert suggestions related to the student’s academic ventures from time to time on a regular basis suited to the students working style and personality. We can possibly think of supervisors as ‘directors’ who are guiding the ‘actors’ to enact a scene close to perfection. Just like an actor working hard to bring his or her own creativity on the table during the performance, students’ too work hard to design scientific theories and execute intricate scientific experiments and simulations, utilizing all the knowledge that they have individually acquired in their life. Therefore, the supervisor holds a position that is much greater than just being a guiding light for the students. A true scientist as a supervisor becomes a career builder and thus, a life builder of the students. Hence the saying, with great power comes great responsibilities.
Most of the students who are pursuing an academic career in science, do so out of their extreme passion for science. It is thus imperative that every principal investigator respects this passion and ignites it further in the right direction. Interestingly, respect for everyone emerges from the heart of a good human being. Therefore, the need to be an empathetic soul is a must for a true scientific supervisor. This profession of guiding students is an amazing opportunity to concoct a good number of scientific thinkers who then move ahead to create more thinkers and the cycle goes on -- to result in a legacy of thinkers -- that enable scientific research to thrive, sustain and grow. In the process, a good change is introduced into the society that only helps in the betterment of the society as a whole. This is exactly why students' growth and progress in their careers and life should be solely observed as a means to judge the scientists for not just awards but also, for promotions to higher academic positions. Possessing the patience and capability to help students’ flourish in both their careers and life should define -- a true and a good scientific supervisor. Nothing else can alter this absolute truth. Can it?
"Let your light shine so brightly that others can see their way out of the dark." ---- Unknown
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