Purpose:

Some of you might be familiar with Esquire magazine's feature: "What I have learned". It has a particular style of knowledge transfer that I am a big fan of. If you are not familiar with the feature, you can see some samples at:

(walter Cronkite) - http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0406WILCRONKITE_170
(best of) - http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0103-JAN_WILBESTOF_rev_
(best of 2) - http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/ESQ0104-JAN_BESTOF?id=gSNaRJ3PWMLPHBC2NPUq
(homer simpson) - http://men.msn.com/articlees.aspx?cp-documentid=760907&wa=wsignin1.0

What I would like to do is create a new tradition where part of the graduation processes from SI is to identify a similar collection of thoughts that can be collected and then made accessible to the current SI Ph.D's. There are many times during the program that I have held on to the gems that you all have said at bars, dinners, or other informal conversations. To me, it was a great help and I think others might benefit as well.

Cal Lee - Graduated '05 - Advisor M. Hedstrom. Now: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - School of Information and Library Science

• Three things: persistence, organization and thick skin
• Seek out numerous mentors. They'll all provide something different and important.
• Develop your own internal criteria for productivity and success. Meeting those criteria should be your goal.
• Attend every single proposal defense, dissertation defense and job talk that you can. This will be time better spent than whatever you would have been doing on your research. Trust me.
• This is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't burn yourself out.
• Spend time with your family. They're more important than your PhD.
• If you have an interesting idea, get it down in writing. It might be useful for your dissertation. If it's not related to your dissertation, then be willing to set it aside until you're done with doctoral program.
• Learn to say "no" often. When you say "no" to a major commitment, file this no away and take pride in it. This is an accomplishment.
• When your advisor says you're done, you're done. You can tweak and extend all you want once you have the degree.
• Rely on your fellow doctoral students for support however you can. They understand what you're going through in ways that few other people do.
• Decide for yourself why you want to be part of the Academy. Remind yourself of those reasons when you get frustrated with aspects of academia that you find annoying or even unhealthy. You don't have to embrace all of the prevailing values of the system in order to make valuable contributions.
• Consider using bibliographic software. You really don't want to be dealing with citation styles by hand.
• Get to know people within your field of study and make yourself known to them. You want them to already know who you are and be interested in you BEFORE you apply for jobs.

Jeremy Birnholtz - Graduated '05 - Advisor T. Finholt. Now: Cornell - Communications

• Working hard on your research and being productive do not always correlate. Learn to spend time on stuff that matters and leverage your effort/time in as many ways as possible.
• Relatedly, it's always possible to spend more time doing work. Sometimes this is the right thing to do. Sometimes it's not. Understand the difference.
• Some elements of the process are a game. In many ways, you have to play these games to be successful, and learning to play is therefore important and makes things easier. Don't forget, though, that other things are important too. Stuff like having an impact and doing work that others will respect.

Erik Johnston- Graduated '07 - Advisor J. Olson. Now: Arizona State University - Public Affairs

• The tough part was getting into the program. The rest is details and hoops.
• The first year is the toughest, not the most work, not the most stress, just the toughest.
• We all have weaknesses. However, being comfortable asking for help eases most every weakness.
• I chose to be here and I am happy to deal with the consequences.
• I am going to miss milestones.
• This is a great time to have children. Flexibility with your time is invaluable when struggling to be a parent.
• Some things take time to learn and no amount of effort can help you learn them faster.
• Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.
• The program is humbling regardless of performance.
• Field studies are like Venus Fly Traps, easy to get into, impossible to publish.
• Kulthau talks about the emotional roller-coaster of high schoolers doing a class research project. Amplify that to grad school and remember that the ups and downs are all part of the ride that everyone experiences.
• The school has an agenda for you. Once you know this, take time to create your own.
• In the first year explore as much as you can what SI and Michigan has to offer. In the second year publish something small, just to learn the process and know you can. In the third year, teach, publish something big, this will be what gets you noticed and get you a job. In the fourth year, stop publishing, find a job, finish dissertation. If you choose to spend more time, spend it repeating the third year.
• Your first summer is the only one that will be a vacation.
• The dissertation is a collection of 100 ah-ha moments.
• The dissertation is a small piece of work, done very well.
• You want to do great research? For every different article you read, think of one colleague who would also benefit form that article, buy them a drink and ask them about their research, but first ask them how they are doing, and listen.
• Being in the program is one of the safest places to make mistakes. Plan on making many of them with the goal of learning from each of them…
• In the same thread, the most untapped source of learning is the learning from mistakes. If you do not have the courage to make your own, spend time to learn from the scars of others.
• An average research paper will be read by one person and will take less than 30 minutes to read, a class will be attended by an average of 20 people who will give you an hour each, 15 week in a row.
• There are many models of success. Find the one that fits you best. Better yet, create your own.

Derek Hansen - Graduated '07 - Advisor Paul Resnick. Now: University of Maryland at College Park - College of Information Studies

• Choosing a research area is really about choosing who you want to hang out with [shamelessly ripped off from Mark Ackerman].
• There are countless potential conferences to attend in an interdisciplinary field like ours. Explore several, but make one your home where "everybody knows your name." You can always venture out beyond that when necessary.
• The most stressful time for me was when I was on the job market. Just remember, most applicants are turned down, so don't take your rejection letters personally.
• Having a job lined up is a great motivator for completing your dissertation. Having started my job I am very glad that I managed to finish before leaving SI - although I certainly cut it much closer than I should have (just ask my wife who was driving the moving truck to Maryland while I was making my final revisions before catching up to her the next morning).
• Stay connected to the SI community, even when you are busy. There is a time to buckle down, shut the door to your office, and ignore your IM, but it's not a year or two before your graduate - it's a month or two before you submit your dissertation and even then you should come up for air enough to keep things in perspective.
• Schedule time for the most important things in life (for me that included my family, my church activities, and Ultimate frisbee). I benefited greatly from taking an entire day of the week off of all school and work and I know those around me did too.
• I agree with Erik that grad school is a good time to have young children, and Ann Arbor is a great place to have them.
• Make time to excercise a few times a week!
• And finally, don't miss out on signing yourself and your family members up for all those great paid studies - like the one where I went sleep deprived for 2 weeks and couldn't exercise;the one where my wife collected her (and our new babys) spit for 2 months; or the many where our toddlers had electrodes hooked up to their scalp while they played computer games. Great fun.

Libby Hemphill - Graduating '09 - Advisor: Stephanie Teasley. Now: Research Fellow at UMich, Visting Scholar at Arizona State University, Founder of RAW (Research at Work)

• Choosing a research area is really about choosing who you want to hang out with [shamelessly ripped off from Mark Ackerman and Derek Hansen]
• Today's (or this year's) "new hotness" in research may not be your favorite thing. Don't ignore it, but don't sell out either. You can have both if you are patient.
• Academia is not the only place to find a job that fulfills you and keeps food on your table; in fact, you may find that starting your own business or working in industry makes you happier. Happier is good.
• Methods classes are the best use of coursework. You can always learn from journals on your own instead of in class. You can't always get someone to teach you how the proverbial sausage gets made.
• Ashley's has wireless and outlets in the back of the bar. You can enjoy British Isle happy hour and get work done. You can even do so with friends.