笔辞蝉迟罢颈尘别：8/22/2017
August 18th – Aaron Ciechanover MD, DSc, Distinguished Research Professor in the Technion, Vice Chancellor of GTIIT, laureate of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), held an inspiring and impressive lecture for the GTIIT first students.?
Prof.?Ciechanover shared his life experience with them by highlighting his career path and several important decisions points along it. By bringing examples from his career, he gave the freshmen some useful advices. At the end of the lecture he answered questions and concluded: "We are a family here at GTIIT, and you, the first students, are our children, so we shall make all we can that you will be successful."
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The following is the abstract of Prof. Aaron’s lecture.
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Where are you heading with your career?
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Decision-making is not easy. We are all facing pressures concerning our future career, and success and the pressures come from within our families, and from friends and colleagues. The pressure is dangerous as it can cause us to take the wrong path, to choose a profession we are not good at or we do not enjoy.
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Personally, standing in several cross roads, I made four important decisions:
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The first was to choose a career. When I was studying in high school, I had good grades in mathematics and physics. But having good grades does not mean one understand the problems in depth, and I felt internally that I have a difficulty in abstractive thinking which is essential for being successful in mathematics. I thus chose biology as a major in high school, an area that uses more ones memory and visual abilities rather than abstractive thinking.
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For my profession I chose medicine, which is close to biology. Being a medical student in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, I somehow felt that the studies are aimed mostly at treating patients rather than understanding the mechanistic basis of diseases. So I stopped my medical studies, took a year off, and did a research project in biochemistry, to get acquainted with this area.? I immediately felt that here I feel like a fish in the aquarium, that I want to be a biochemist, a scientist. Remember that for your career do not choose a profession, choose an area that you will enjoy doing daily – choose a hobby, something you are passionate about and love to do, this will certainly be an important element in your success.??
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After a year in research, I returned to my medical studies and graduated, and still hesitated – still swinging between clinical medicine and research.? After a few months in surgery I decided finally I will become a researcher and enrolled into graduate studies in biochemistry in the Technion. This was my second important decision.
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The third major decision I made was whether – after my graduation – was to go abroad to broaden my scientific education.? I could obtain a position in the Technion but decided to travel abroad to MIT to obtain post-doctoral training, to be exposed to different scientific culture, different mentality and different languages. There, I became independent, studied my own ideas with minimal interference, and learnt how to conduct researches and how to mentor young people.
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The fourth decision I made was to return to Israel after my six years training at the USA. I am deeply attached to my country - the culture, the food, the history, the language, and my friends and family. I felt America has a lot of scientists, but my country needs me, and there I shall have a bigger impact.??
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So as you can see, I made several important decisions in my career, that in many ways led to my success as a scientist. At each point I chose a direction that took me to a higher point along the way, where I felt I shall be better. The critical point in all these steps was that I consulted and listened, but did it my way (as Frank Sinatra says in his famous song)?
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Being a successful professional will help you also to contribute to the society you live in, so I wish you all to live meaningful and impactful lives.
Text/ Photo: News and Public Affairs Department
