Rich Zhou

Graduate Student

Cao Lab

BS, Biochemistry and Physics

UT Austin

Rich enjoys exploring the outdoors, particularly rock climbing. At home he can be found dialing in espresso shots, playing with his cat Lumi (short for Illumina), or playing video games.

Sanjana Prakash

Graduate Student

Conrad Lab

BS, University of British Columbia

Sanjana loves to boulder, and recently got into crocheting little animals.

Komal Sethia

Graduate Student

Conrad Lab

BTech, MNNIT Allahabad

MS, Pennsylvania State University

Komal loves trying new coffee shops. She tries reading when she can and watches a lot of movies. 

Aidan Drozdick

Graduate Student

Pfeiffer Lab

BS, University of Iowa

Aidan enjoys taking care of their plants and trying new coffee.

Alex Caron

Graduate Student

Hendrixson Lab

BS, Texas Christian University

MS, Texas Christian University

Alex enjoys camping, hiking, and spending time outdoors. When unable to spend time outside, he can normally be found playing board games or reading. 

Chad Evans

Graduate Student

Wu Lab

MS, Texas Tech University

BS, Texas Tech University

Chad enjoys spending time with his two dogs, cooking new things, and watching movies.

Jiaoling Wu

Postdoc

Wu Lab

PhD, Nanjing Agricultural University

Jiaoling enjoys reading and outdoor activities, especially hiking in nature while interacting with animals.

Rashi Jindal

Graduate Student

Pfeiffer Lab

BS Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Rashi enjoys Bharatanatyam, acrylic painting, and experimenting with new recipes. During long holidays, she loves traveling to new destinations.

Faculty

What is your best advice for trainees to maintain a work life balance?

Kevin Forsberg:

1. Do NOT make your science your identity. It’s what you do but not who you are.
3. Make Plans. They don’t have to be elaborate – or even social. But if you have something on your calendar regularly that has nothing to do with Science (solo dinner, solo movie, solo hike, house cleaning, volunteering, etc), it’ll reinforce the break between home and work.
5. Respect your weekends. Its OK to go into lab on a Sunday night to start a culture or something – but your typical pattern should be to take time for yourself.

Sherry Cao: Exercise is a great way to reenergize and relieve stress from research. It doesn’t have to mean running 3 miles a day. Any form of movement, even 5–15 minutes a day, can make a big difference if you stay consistent. The key is finding something you enjoy, whether it’s walking, stretching, or a quick workout.

Chien-Ting Wu: Rather than searching for a balance between work and life, I believe it’s more about finding ways to stay happy or avoiding situations that make you unhappy. When it comes to work, the most common sources of frustration are failed experiments or pressure from superiors. Unfortunately, these challenges are inevitable. My advice is to recognize when you're feeling unhappy and step away from the situation early—give yourself a day or two to breathe. If an experiment fails, take a break from lab work for a day or two. 

Students and Postdocs

What is your best advice for trainees to maintain a work life balance?

Alex Wells, Postdoc: Maintaining a balance in life is always a work in progress for me. In science, we go through periods of time where we are working to finish a paper, grant, dissertation, etc. In those time, we often put our other interests on hold to accomplish our goals in our career. But its important to take advantage of times when you don't have these deadlines and do things you enjoy. For me, I enjoy taking my dog on different adventures on the weekends. Sometimes its not elaborate, even just a trip to Lowes counts when I am busy. Last summer we started doing competitive dock diving together which is really fun and is a completely different community outside of science.

Josh Baty, Postdoc: I multiplex my days so I maximize time spent in lab-- I try to have as little downtime in lab as possible so I can enjoy my downtime at home. I also try to go outside and touch grass as often as I can!

Emily Rex, Student: A hobby helps me maintain a good work-life balance; having something else to focus on at home helps me stay sane! It can be something small, like planning my meals for the week, trying a new recipe, or finding new parks to walk the dogs. Watching sports is a fun hobby, too. Or, better yet, actually going out and doing an activity! 

David Schad, Student: Your mental and physical health are more important than any experiment or other task at work. Without them, you cannot work effectively. So, prioritize yourself first and good work will follow.

Amanda Dobbins, Student: The best way I know how to maintain a good work life balance is to be on top of planning my lab work. I keep up a lab calendar where I usually have a week or two in advance what I am planning to get done each day in lab. So, every day when I walk into lab, I immediately know what I need to get started on and what strains or anything to prepare for the days ahead. This allows me to be really efficient in lab during the week and generally limit my weekend hours to 1-2 hrs on one day.