Session 3 — Guest: A PhD Student’s First Year

Session 3 — Guest: A PhD Student’s First Year#

Format B — Practitioner Conversation Week 3 Guest: UW ESS PhD student (near-peer)

What does research actually feel like? · Near-peer mentoring

Before the guest arrives (homework)

Students write one anonymous question they wish they could ask a grad student but feel awkward asking. The instructor collects these before the session and reads 3 aloud as the opening. The guest answers them first, unfiltered.

Guest opening (0 – 15 min)

The guest brings one figure from their research and tells the story of making it:

  • What failed first?

  • What did the raw data look like?

  • How long did it take?

The guest should share their GitHub and point to one open-source dataset they use regularly.

Student Q&A (15 – 45 min)

Open Q&A driven by student questions. If silence falls, seed with:

  • What’s the hardest part nobody warned you about?

  • How do you know when results are good enough to share?

  • Do you regret the path you took?

  • Is Python actually what you use every day?

  • What’s a normal Tuesday look like?

The guest should share something unfinished or uncertain — not a polished success story.

Relevance

Mentoring: The near-peer conversation is the most effective format for normalizing a research career path — the psychological distance is small enough that honest questions get honest answers.

Practical: Students see that a researcher’s daily work involves a lot of confusion and iteration, not just polished results. This directly counters the “I’m not smart enough for research” belief that keeps capable undergraduates out of research labs.

Go Deeper

AGU student section website · ESS graduate program page · EarthScope/IRIS REU program

Action item: REU application deadline is typically January — this is a good moment to spend 3 minutes looking at the calendar.