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courses during the year, and if he did very well, he would recommend that he be accepted into their PhD program. In an effort to help him, Dr. Newman gave Ken time off to study for the exams and to prepare for the GRE. Ken did well in the courses and obtained an acceptable score on the GRE, so Dr. Newman wrote him a strong letter of recommendation that played a big role in convincing the graduate committee to accept Ken into their program. Ken became Dr. Newman’s first graduate student. Having already taken several classes, Ken’s course load was much lighter than that of his fellow students. The other students were somewhat jealous when Dr. Newman gave Ken time off to study for his other courses. Dr. Newman also worked closely with Ken on his first research project. The results were very exciting, and as a young faculty member dreaming of tenure, Dr. Newman was anxious to get the manuscript published. Thus, rather than having Ken write the first draft of the manuscript, Dr. Newman did this but Ken was first author. Dr. Newman outlined a series of experiments for Ken to get started on while he wrote the paper, but he assured Ken that he was always available to help him if he got stuck or confused. At the end of his second year, Ken was taking his qualifying exam and, like all students, was very nervous. He was relieved when his advisor gave him two months off to study. Ken passed the exam and was preparing his thesis proposal. Dr. Newman was anxious for work to be done on one of the major aims of his American Heart Association grant-in-aid, and thus he suggested that Ken work this up as a thesis proposal. Ken was the first student in his class to present his thesis proposal to his committee, and the Chair of the Department told Dr. Newman he was very pleased with the progress his first graduate student was making. Dr. Newman and Ken continued to work well together, and the research was progressing very well. Ken was given the opportunity to write a first draft of the Method and Results sections of a manuscript in his third year, and in his last year he wrote the entire first draft of a study. He was also putting together his thesis. Dr. Newman was not very satisfied with the draft of the manuscript, but knew Ken devoted considerable time to writing his thesis. He pointed out weaknesses in the manuscript to Ken, but he then offered to write the next draft to keep Ken on target to finish so he could start his postdoc. Ken received his PhD and was very excited about going to a laboratory where he would work with a well-known biochemist and her three postdocs and two graduate students. Ken successfully defended his thesis. One year later, the Chair recommended that Dr. Newman be promoted with tenure. Dr. Newman got this news the same day Ken called to say that he had decided a research career was not for him. Questions
for mentees: Questions
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