Obstacles

Top: A supervisor looks towards their objective, while looking through the obstacles that are blocking the way. He says, "I can see it!" Bottom: Their graduate student looks towards the same objective but cannot see past the obstacles. She says, "It's impossible."

Grad student: “But what about all the obstacles?”

Supervisor: “That’s what you’re here for!”

Hat tip to my research group for inspiring this comic!

04 Oct 2023

Decision Jam

A bunch of life obligations are on a conveyor belt moving towards the left. In the front is a big one called "Big Decision", and it's being blocked by a hydraulic press that's extended downwards and has the label, "Worry".

“Can’t you just move all the little obligations by to at least process them?”

“Oh no, I have to process this one first!”

27 Sep 2023

Spotlight

A big billboard representing "Your Big Idea" has spotlights on it, while a much smaller billboard representing "Your praise for other ideas" is to the side, partially obscured by overgrown brush.

“What’s that small billboard to the side?”

“Oh don’t worry about that, I’d put the spotlights on it if it were important.”

20 Sep 2023

Overcommitting

A graph of "Sense of purpose" versus "Commitments". At first, the relationship is positive, but quickly purpose decreases as you overcommit.

Sometimes, it’s worth doing a little bit of subtraction.

15 Sep 2023

Off-Course

There's a strong wind pulling a person off-course. The wind is "External Forces", the parachute is "Early Choices", and there's a sign pointing in the opposite direction of the wind which says, "Present Desires".

The silver lining is that the wind is warm and comfortable.

13 Sep 2023

Publishable

A scientist struggles to close their closet door, because the closet has way too many things in it. The items represent all the missteps, dead-ends, detours, and ambiguities. Behind the scientist lies a small box which represents the publishable result.

“Oh yeah, you can have the supplemental material. It’s in that closet. Just be careful, it’s a little jumbled in there.”

11 Sep 2023

Gauntlet

A scientist and her friend are on a raised platform, overlooking a scene where many other scientists (her coauthors) are congregated. One is reclined on a chair and is reading the paper. She says to her friend, "My changes are almost through the gauntlet! I almost can't believe--" Then the last coauthor reading the paper exclaims, "I have a few objections..." Caption: Coauthors.

No matter how high of a probability p that a given coauthor will accept, your overall chances of your coauthors accepting the changes will dwindle with the number of coauthors.

08 Sep 2023

Lesson

A person is walking with their friend while carrying a paper they just finished. He says, "Wow, I barely finished this on time after putting it off for so long." His friends says, "I'm sure you learned a good lesson for the next time." He answers, "Yep, that I can put things off until the last minute and still be fine."

“Look, I’m just following where the evidence leads.”

06 Sep 2023

Carrying

A scientist stands with many items stacked on top of their head. They are barely balancing it. Caption: Remembering a paper's million acronyms.

And that’s before you start carrying definitions and concepts from other papers they reference!

04 Sep 2023

Unbraiding

Two curves representing your research opinions and those of your supervisor's over time. On the left, they move in lockstep. But after some amount of time, there comes a decoupling point where they diverge, representing when you become an independent researcher.

And that’s when you know you’re ready to graduate!

01 Sep 2023

To the past To the present