Navigating the Research World

Nurturing research skills from young age is critical in shaping the next generation of scientists. For high school students, finding research opportunities is a challenge. Scientists by nature are shy of limelight. This makes even harder to find right professors to work with. Where and how to find this research community is a crticial piece of puzzle.

A person with a PhD is a proven researcher. To earn the degree in a STEM field, the person must publish peer-reviwed articles. This information is aggregated by google scholar. Scientists working in universities and other research centers are actively contributing to knowledge space in their respective field through research publications. Watch out for gaps in their publication activity. This might reflect temporary or permanent shift away from academic research.

It is not straightforward to compare two scientists. There are few considerations in evaluating a scientist, specifically their research domain and location. Different countries offer different grant mechanisms and research funding is not same as well. The US spends more money on research than any other country and had been a leader in the global research world. NIH and NSF are the major agencies that support scientific inquiry and research, both at fundamental and applied sc