Should I change advisor in third year of grad school?

[Meganpsi]

I am Ph.D candidate in an US university in natural sciences and I have been in school for 2.5 years (I am in my 3rd year). My current PI is running out of funding, and I am the only person working in the lab, my PI was a big professor once with money, postdocs, etc; but then he stopped applying for grants and caring about everything. He only comes to lab once a week when he comes, but usually he does not reply emails and he is gone for months, he has tenure though.

He is looking for positions in other American university and he said if he leaves he will leave me in the lab of one of his friends, since I am not willing to follow him anywhere (family).I have a strong fellowship so he can really afford paying me less than 20% of my monthly stipend (not tuition). What should I do? I do not like my research but it gives me fast medium quality publications. Currently I have 3 first author and one second author publication, and still have three more papers in preparation. I also would like to graduate in 4.5 years and do an internship in industry, which my adviser does not agree on that. My options are:

a)Stay here and hope he does not leave soon, or the funding does not run out, and he will publish my papers soon (he can take from 1 week to 1 year to submit papers because he almost never works). This will be the easiest and fastest decision, since I am familiar with the research I can graduate in 4.5 years. The other positive thing is that I am my own boss and I am pretty good at managing my time, proposing my ideas and getting this done, and still have a life at the same time. I am highly independent.

Switch to a new assistant professor in my department. I like his research but he pushes his students to work 12 hours daily Monday to Sunday, which I do not want to since I have a family. He has strong connections with someone I would like to do a postdoc with. I also suspect he will not allow me to graduate in 4.5 years even if I have enough papers already. Also he is new so he may not get funding and he does not have many lab equipment, like we do now.

c) Switch to a professor in other department, I do not like his reseach, but at least is more useful than the research I am doing now. He is very nice, well recognized, student oriented, has lots of funding and many students talk very well of him, he gives you freedom and does not obligates you to work crazy hours.

Any advice? which three options would be better for me? I cannot switch to another lab since the other or do not have funding, or are enemies or friends of my PI. I am afraid that if I leave him I will delay in graduation, it would look bad in resume, he will not give me any more recommendation letters or he will get so mad with me. To make things worst we have to change to a worst smaller lab space in the summer for the second time and is pain to pack everything by myself.

[fuzzylogician]

I think it depends on your long-term career goals. What do you want to do after you have your PhD? I don't think it's good to be in a lab with no other graduate students/postdocs and no funding. Word gets around and it will mean that your PI's reputation will be hurt. It's unclear if he could still pull connections for you a few years down the line and whether his letter of recommendation will be interpreted as positively as they once might have been. The trajectory your lab is on really doesn't sound very healthy. So, if your goal is to graduate and leave for industry, I could see the logic in staying and getting out as quickly as possible. In that case, the school's reputation plays a big role, your department and advisor's reputation are secondary, and he might still be sufficiently influential. On the other hand, if the goal is to stay in academia, staying seems like a bad move to me. By the time you graduate it sounds like the lab might either be gone or be extremely unproductive, and that doesn't reflect well on you. Your advisor's reputation and connections matter a lot for hiring decisions. Maybe there is a way to move out of the lab without damaging your relationship with him - e.g., by explaining that you are moving now to avoid problems that might come up if he leaves (which he's shared with you that he is trying to do), so that you can graduate on time according to your plan. If you are able to finish writing your papers with him even after you are gone, I think he should be happy with you. Now, when it comes to choosing where to move, I personally think the relationship with the PI is more important than the specifics of the research you'll do. If the choice is between someone who is known for being a good advisor and someone who is known to work his students to the ground, I would go with the former in a heartbeat. You'll have a lifetime to work on your own research, and I think you can't produce good work even if it's the most exciting topic if you are just not happy. 

[Meganpsi]

Thanks for replying my long-term career goals is to work in industry. I do not want to do a post-doc but apparently is required in my field. So I will try to get an industry post-doc or a big name professor/big university post-doc.

[juilletmercredi]

I don't understand the first line of your last paragraph - where you say that you can't transfer to a lab other than these three choices because either the other labs aren't well-funded or because the other PIs are enemies or friends of your PI.  The funding I understand, but why should it matter whether your new advisor is an enemy or friend of your PI?  If they're a friend, that's a good thing, because they will view your work positively and admire your PI's opinion of you.  If they're an enemy (which I think is probably a strong word - perhaps your PI just doesn't get along with them)...well, he will be gone, yes?  Even a PI trying to move to another university wouldn't let his grants lapse and be gone for months.  Quite the contrary, actually - he'd have to make himself desirable to other places.  There's something weird going on here.

 

But to me, the whole point of going to graduate school is to do research that you like and are interested in.  Maybe you won't absolutely love the research that you do in graduate school, but you should at least like it and be mildly interested in it.  Still, it doesn't sound like you have a good option to do research that you like - the one advisor who does interesting research also expects 12-hour days and seven-day work weeks.

 

If you are a third year and you think you can graduate in 4.5 or even 5 years (realistically) then that means you will be at your current institution for 2 more years.  I think you need to have a frank conversation with your advisor about his plans for the lab in the next 2 years.  You say that he's trying to move on - has he shared this goal with you explicitly (i.e., has he straight-up told you that he's trying to move elsewhere) or is this just what you've deduced from watching him?  Either way you should still approach him, but how you approach him will changed based on that.  If you know he's searching, ask him if he is seriously searching this year and what his timeline is for leaving.  If he hasn't already started applying, then the earliest he could leave would be summer/fall 2016, and then you would only have one year left.  He might be able to advise you remotely as you write up your dissertation and get out.  I agree that staying with your advisor is probably your best course of action if you want to go into industry, because then you will finish quickly and his opinion will matter less.

 

After that, the best option does seem like C.  I know you said that you don't like Professor C's research.  Is it at least mildly interesting, and can you work on a project in that field for 2-3 more years while you finish up?  If the answer is yes, since your goal is industry I think the working relationship between you and your advisor is paramount here.  A person who pushes his students to work 12 hours daily Monday to Sunday may not take kindly (or support) a student he knows wants to go into industry (I'm generalizing here, but I do believe this).  On the other hand, the other advisor is well-recognized - he might have connections with a postdoc you want to do that you don't even know about yet; his research is useful (which is paramount in industry) and more importantly you'll be able to have the lifestyle that you want in graduate school without going crazy and/or neglecting your family.

 

This is where the conversation with your current PI comes in.  If he's upfront about wanting to leave, then I think switching makes sense.  Realistically it might delay your graduation, but that will probably happen anyway - it would be better to control the switch yourself (and the delay) before you begin dissertation work than to wait to the last minute and find that you have to switch anyway, but you are halfway through your dissertation and now you have to get set back significantly or even start over.  Most scientists are sane people who wouldn't deny their students recommendation letters - or be irrationally angry with them - because the student switched labs because the PI is leaving.  What else are you supposed to do if he leaves?

[Meganpsi]

I am avoiding switching with my adviser's friends because if we end up bad he will still be able to influence my graduation, life, etc. I also do not want to swtich with his enemies (believe this is real, he has many issues specially with one professor) because I do not want to burn any bridge (if any left).

 

He already apply to at least two different professor positions in other universities. If he move he plans to leave me in someone else lab but still be working for him. I just know that if his mentor skills are already bad I cannot imagine that relationship from the distance. I will stay I guess and try to finish as soon as I can, I know if it will be worth it or not. I am not sure if my motivation levels will increase with no one working around me in the lab, but I guess I do not have other choice.

 

Thanks

[rising_star]

This is tough. I mean, my advisor wasn't any better or worse as a mentor once he left for another university. I didn't go with him to the new institution but that also didn't really change our relationship. If I were you, I wouldn't worry so much about who are your current advisor's friends and enemies. I'd worry about trying to find a good research fit and a lab where I can get out in the least amount of time.