Q1: In your experience, is it most effective for a new professor to address incremental questions on one topic within her comfort zone; undertake a more challenging, possibly more impactful big-picture project; or some combination of both?

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(chemical engineering, bioengineering, directed evolution)
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(structural biochemistry, purine metabolism, nucleobase deamination, antibiotic production)
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(analytical chemistry, chemistry, mathematics, geology, geography)
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(computational enzymatic catalysis, protein dynamics, computational mutagenesis, molecular docking, drug discovery
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(in-vivo imaging, chemical force microscopy, photosensitive materials, supramolecular chemistry)
MWZ 🇺🇸>🇨🇭
(tissue engineering, biofabrication)

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Q1: In your experience, is it most effective for a new professor to address incremental questions on one topic within her comfort zone; undertake a more challenging, possibly more impactful big-picture project; or some combination of both?

I always have long-term, challenging goals as well as short-term, low-hanging fruit projects. One has to be publishing regularly by doing several things at once.

On starting my independent career, I left biochemistry, the area in which I trained from college through my post doc, for the field of medical research where I remain today. Naturally I applied much that I had learned to the new area, so the most accurate answer is “both combined”.

Big risky problems are best, but it is advisable to have both risky and reliable research running in parallel. When I started, I have to admit, I was not that strategic.

If the chosen project/topic is not sufficiently challenging, it is difficult to get grants, but high-risk projects often fail to give short-term returns and publications. Therefore a combination of high-risk and bread-and-butter projects seems best.

Think of your research program as you might an investment portfolio. Combine reliable instruments yielding low to medium but steady profits with high-risk, possibly high-yield investments.

All research demands dedication, and maintaining quality is key at every level, but full articles serving an ambitious overarching aim are my personal preference and goal. I want, and wait to publish until, stories are as large and complete as I can make them.

The most important factor here is focusing on a problem that interests you. Namely, be driven by your curiosity.

My strategy has been to balance the two complementary streams. I pursue one safe in the sense of being straightforward and productive; as well as the second, which is risky but possibly more impactful.

As an assistant professor I undertook an entirely new area, and have remained there. From mechanical engineering as an undergraduate, graduate student, and postdoc, I went to tissue biofabrication and drug delivery.