So...what now?

I passed my orals!

So...what now?

I guess the first order of business will be to actually carry out the research I proposed. However, I'm a fourth-year student, so my project is pretty far along. There's a substantial amount of work remaining, but my (naive?) expectation is that I'll publish my "main project" sometime this spring. I do have to do what I proposed, of course, but I have about two years left; I don't think that will be all I'll do for the remainder of my graduate work.

The nice thing about my overall project -- not just the part that comprised my orals proposal, which I zeroed in on because it was (1) biological and (2) easily defensible -- is that it's broad enough to take me in almost any direction I want. "Stochastic power laws" are everywhere. Biological networks, solar flares, earthquakes, scientific citations, electrical blackouts, stock price fluctuations, the growth of cities, links to websites, and a wide variety of other things. I've also been digging into graph theory and statistical physics, two subjects with a great many applications.

I've been considering taking some physics classes over at Berkeley or Stanford. UCSF has an arrangement with both schools that allows our students to take classes at either school for free. Mostly from necessity, my approach to my research has been to look at each task as sort of an engineering problem, and learn whatever I needed for the task at hand. However, coming from a physics background, I find this piecemeal approach to be unsatisfying. I spent a fair amount of time thinking about this, during the buildup to my orals, and I think what it comes down to is that I'd really like to complete the standard physics PhD curriculum. I originally thought of biophysics as one of many physics specializations -- like particle physics, astrophysics, nuclear physics, etc. -- but in reality, it's something else altogether. More to the point, it isn't exactly physics, and I think that I would like to salvage my physics education, to whatever extent that's possible. My strategy may be to simply drive down to Stanford and ask if they have some kind of certification program; I can't be the only interdisciplinary student who's thought this way.

Now that I'm not frantically studying for orals, one thing I've resolved to do is resume learning Chinese. Realistically, what I'll need to do is brush up my Chinese just by studying, then, with everything fresh in mind, immerse myself in the language for at least a few months. That will be the tricky part. But, if I study it slowly but consistently over the next two years, right after I finish my PhD might be a good opportunity to go abroad! So the timing might actually work.

One thing I'm seriously considering is (at least, temporarily) transitioning away from biological networks, and into a more physical system -- solar flares. This is appealing for a few reasons. First and foremost, it's a natural way for me to segue into a field that's always fascinated me, astrophysics. Biology is interesting, too, but it's more of a practical interest (for me, at least). I'm not sure if I'd want to jump over to astrophysics entirely, but getting some experience in the area so that the option is there strikes me as something I'd be very foolish to turn down. This is one of the great appeals of studying networks -- it's one of the very few academic fields that allows you to avoid hyperspecialization. It's not unrealistic that my research actually could cover both biology and astrophysics, linked through the study of networks. A side benefit of pursuing this is that I'd be forced to learn some new physics.

I guess the real quandary for me is how heavily I want to emphasize the theoretical, foundational aspects of my work, versus modeling specific systems. To some extent they're related, and I can do them simultaneously. But given the choice -- and apparently I really do have this choice -- to (1) study a fascinating physical system (solar flares) in detail or (2) really dig into the theory of variational principles and their application to network dynamics...well, it's a tough choice. But, I guess I've got at least a few months before I have to make a decision...