Training Philosophy

In addition to advancing our collective scientific knowledge, an equally important goal of the Nayak Lab is the training of stellar scientists. As a graduate student or a post-doctoral scholar in the Nayak Lab, you and Dr. Nayak will develop a personalized training plan designed to advance your career goals. You will actively participate in the development of this training plan while you are in the lab. This will include regular one-on-one meetings with Dr. Nayak as well as annual or biannual mentoring / thesis committee meetings. Annual "Individual Development Plan" (IDP) reviews will serve to ensure that you are on track to achieve the goals you set for yourself (which, of course, may evolve as you mature as a scientist). After your time in the lab, Dr. Nayak will continue to serve as a mentor, sponsor, and champion for you. Trust, open communication, and honesty are integral for a productive mentor-mentee relationship.

Favorite Quotes

In science, there are many rough patches. We seek refuge in our labmates, mentors, family and friends. And sometimes, words of inspiration help too.

“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” – Booker T. Washington

"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful." - Marie Curie

“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” -Maya Angelou

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass

“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” – Dr. Mae Jemison

“You need not see what someone is doing to know if it is his vocation, you have only to watch his eyes: a cook mixing a sauce, as surgeon making a primary incision, a clerk completing a bill of lading, wear that same rapt expression, forgetting themselves in a function. How beautiful it is, that eye-on-the-object look.” ― W. H. Auden