An ideal academic lab setup
What I think (thought) would make a good lab structure…
Updated: 2022-01-17
I figured out what I want my future lab, and overall career, to be. At least to the best approximation that I can given the data that I have.
I want my lab to be focused on engineering and mathematics. Specifically the intersection of the two known as control theory. The focus of control theory is in being able to change the behavior of a system. To do so you have two deeply understand two things: how does the system behave and what capabilities do you have to change that behavior? You also need to be able to measure some things about that system, but most of that work will come from somewhere else.
Why this is important is that it means I’d have quite a small startup package. In theory, I’d be able to do all of my research directly in the hospital. I’d need a whiteboard, a computer with access to a computing cluster and GitLab, and a set of bright-eyed graduate students. The mathematics would be living in the space between the hard-at-work minds and the engineering would be happening directly with patients. We’d build up understanding from our interaction with patients, work that understanding around in our heads to iterate through that understanding, and then try to test and apply that understanding to improve patient care. Rinse and repeat.
Maybe, to add a bit more of a ‘hardware’ component, the lab could be extended into the space of robotics, specifically surgical robotics. If that’s the case then we may have a mock-up of an operating room to do our research directly in. I know GeorgiaTech has one of these and, having been in it, it’s an absolute rush to be literally in the intersection of engineering and surgery.
I haven’t done my clinical rotations yet, but being able to pin down my research goals has made me very excited for the clinical world. Specifically because the research goals I’ve outlined above seem to me to be way more tractable with a career in neurosurgery. Unlike basic science, I wouldn’t need wet lab materials, animal housing, chemicals, beakers, etc.