Mini-rant

So I was writing a message to someone on Facebook to keep up to date and figured it'd make a pretty good post, so here's a chunk of that message! Enjoy some little revelations that I've had since I started grad school.

This is my first year at grad school and after (hopefully about) 4 more years I'll have a PhD. I realized after I started I probably should have join the MMG (Microbiology and Molecular Genetics) program, but I got into a lab that's doing something cool, so that's alright. I'm really into the genetic engineering side of things and I'd like to apply it for some sort of bio-based solution (like bio-ethanol or bio-remediation) but I feel like the efforts being made now are kind of... fumbling and awkward. Maybe it's because they're directed by the government and kind of out of date, or maybe we're just not to the point where an efficient, concerted effort can be made.

Eventually I'll probably get into teaching and having a lab at a college, but every so often I read the news and think, "Hmm I should engineer a bacteria to help fix that," so I guess we'll see where I really end up. I feel like things change so fast that what I'm learning now may be obsolete in 5 or 10 years and newer, better methods might be the thing to do. I guess we'll see when we get there.

Yeah... so, that's that and I kind of want to just skip the next few years and develop technology today with next decade's scientific results. If only it were that easy...