Joseph F. Clark, Ph.D.

The first day and a half for Renee was relatively low stress with just simple chats and lunch talks. During the first research discussion I had with Renee she made it clear that I was very welcome in her lab, that she expected me there in January (18 months from now) and that she had [...]

There were two pivotal meetings scheduled for Renee that could shape the perception of the success or failure of the trip. One was her talk to the Department of Physiology, and the second was a one-on-one meeting with Ron Myer. Dr. Myer was a known opponent of the compartmentation theory and Dr. Ventura-Clapier was a [...]

It was important for me to get a grant to support my research because the politics of higher education and research are an amalgam of the altruistic scientist who wants to do the greatest good for humankind and may put his or her life at risk to expand human knowledge, and the empire builder in [...]

Ann and I had many conversations about my putative plans to go to Paris to do my postdoctoral studies. She felt that she could not spend a whole year out of the country. She was close to her family and did not want to be away from them. Her pilot lessons were also going well [...]

It is sometimes hard to comprehend all the work that goes on in the scientific community. This is because there are multiple disciplines in science and these can overlap and get complicated. Confusion occurs because sometimes the scientific terms used can be different depending upon which community you talk to. For example, physicists and chemists [...]

After lunch Dad drove all four of us to the local airport where his plane was. I was going to get a ride in a two-seater Piper Cub. I’d been on lots of planes before, but never a small propeller-driven plane like this. As we drove through the airport Dad gave us a tour of [...]

We were going to meet Ann’s parents, and the drive from Lansing to Flint, Michigan, where they lived, was only about an hour. I had met several members of her family already and gotten the seal of approval from them. But now I was meeting Mom and Dad, and felt as nervous as if I [...]

Graduate school is a lot more than school. Yes, there are classes, and yes a degree is involved and there is most definitely tuition being paid for class credit. But graduate school is most definitely work—it is a full time job. It involves deadlines, duties, bosses and a small subsistence stipend, which is aptly named. [...]

For a poor graduate student, vacations were a luxury that was hard to afford, although they are something everyone needs for mental health. Ann said that if we did not get away together soon, one of us was going to go nuts. We planned an affordable 5- or 6-day getaway (Thursday to Tuesday or Wednesday) [...]

Attending a big scientific convention like The Biophysics Meeting was an opportunity to meet some of my heroes in person. I was giddy with anticipation at the prospect. I searched through the list of names and abstracts looking for names and subjects that might be related or important to my work. There were lots of [...]