Year 1. Focus on adjustment, learning the culture of doctoral studies, relationships, and courses.

In year 1, you are going to be transitioning to the culture of graduate school (and perhaps a new geographic area). You will likely be taking a lot of classes. Allow yourself the time to settle into these new routines. Be open. Get yourself grounded and happy in all areas of your life, as you will be spending several years in this endeavor. Do well in your classes and notice what you find particularly energizing (whether it’s a topic or a method). Be open and curious to the new humans around you and allow time for building relationships with them. Your classmates will be your future collaborators. Your advisor will be your guide. Your classroom instructors may be your future dissertation chair or on your dissertation committee. The staff member who heads up the graduate program will at minimum help you with the required paperwork and might help you with a real financial or personal dilemma. These persons are your companions along the way, and so you might as well enjoy human connection with them. Some may become lifelong friends.

Begin to pay attention to the following ways to get inspired and find dissertation topics. This is a long list, so the keyword here is BEGIN:
• Start an electronic or paper notebook solely dedicated to dissertation ideas and inspiration. Jot things down in this notebook regularly.
• Transition your resume to a CV. Look for models online and find one you like to follow. Keep it updated. Ask others for feedback on it, such as your advisor or even fellow students. You university might have an office to help with this, but make sure that they know you are developing an academic CV, not a resume.
• Establish an identity on academic/professional social network sites such as LinkedIn or ResearchGate. Begin to connect with others.
• Identify 2-3 top journals in your field and set up so that their table of contents are delivered to you (email). Regularly browse the table of contents.
• Read your advisor’s publications from the last 4 years. Ask yourself what is important about them and how they were practically accomplished. If you aren’t sure, ask your advisor.
• Attend a journal club that interests you or START a journal club that interests you. A journal club meets regularly to read and discuss publications of interest. At the beginning you might seek to simply understand the publications deeply.
• Identify local and national/international conferences of interest. Attend those that are low cost/low time as soon as you can.
• Attend EVERY in person seminar that is remotely related to your field. Seminars are useful because you will be exposed to topics before published, and moreso than publications, seminars often portray the big picture trajectory of a field and/or tell a research “story”. Always get something out of a seminar. If you are bored with a topic, ask yourself why. If the speaker is not great, take actual notes on why and what could be better. If the speaker is wonderful, again, take notes on what made it so. If the topic really interests you, both record this and also ask yourself what it is about the topic that energizes you.
• Identify webinars that you can attend (often for free). These are especially important if there are few in-person seminar options in your field.
• Find ways to keep up on how the news media may be covering your topic. This might be a news aggregator delivered to your email.
• See if there are any “lay” books that address your interest. This can be a great way to get the “big picture” of an area and also get inspired on what is of interest.
• About once a semester, tell your advisor about your current interests and ask for direction in terms of what to read/who to talk to.
• Set up “informational interviews” with experts in your field. Do not shy away from doing this. If this is difficult for you, find out why and address this. Ask your advisor who to start with. Be prepared by reading some of their publications ahead of time. Google “informational interview” to be more prepared. Don’t hesitate to ask them what inspires them about their area and what are key gaps in their area that need to be filled. These gaps might be dissertation ideas.

Year 2. Focus on courses, writing, and finding inspiring ideas.

Further your skill sets and deepen your knowledge, whether through classes, lab rotations, or your Research Assistantship. Do well in your classes. Take a class ideally on grant writing, or if this is not available, on academic writing or any sort of writing. The grant writing class should not only cover writing skills, but the foundations of how to select an answerable and worthwhile research question. This skill set is key and will help you develop your dissertation. In addition to spending MORE time on the list for Year 1, add:
• Assist in a manuscript review for a journal. Ask your advisor for opportunities to do this.
• Read a grant proposal in your field. You will need to work with your advisor to get access to one or two. Read actively to figure out why the scientific question was worthwhile, what practical decisions were made in designing the work, and what “size” the question is (and whether it seems large or small in scope to you.) Keep in mind that most students envision a dissertation project that is way larger than is feasible.
• Explore funded grants in your area of interest. One great way to find these is the NIH Reporter. Note that grants show you the research that is ahead of what is currently published.
• Read a Strategic Plan for a funding agency in your field, for example, an NIH institute like the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences. Experts at these agencies are thoughtful about knowing work that is published and funded, and what should come next to make the world a better place.