EJN: Do you have any advice for younger scientists who want to pursue a career in academia, or is there something you wish you would have known at that stage?
TRAINOR: One of the things I’ve learned through interacting with my students and others is that everyone’s path is individual. Everyone’s needs are a little bit different. Everyone’s coming from a bit of a different place. Academia can be competitive, with expectations to publish lots of papers in high level journals, to teach classes well, to do outreach, and to engage in administrative roles. I often find that students early in their careers can get discouraged and overwhelmed. My advice is always to stay true to your ideas. What questions doyou think are most interesting and important, and why; and then, how can they be answered? If you can get caught up in the excitement of the work, a lot of the rest will follow. If you aren’t passionate about the questions you are addressing, the work will become tedious. If you spend too much time worrying about outcomes like number of papers, you’re taking away from the joy of actually doing the science, which is why you’re here. Easier said than done of course! But I think one of the most important things is to gain that inner confidence of knowing what is an important scientific question and figuring out how to study it. In my experience the rest will follow.