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I have a sign above my desk: "If we knew what we were doing, we wouldn't call it Research" --Einstein

As a Ph.D. student, what was more daunting than the realization of just how much I didn't know, was the day I realized that I had more questions than I could find answers to in one lifetime...makes you feel rather...mortal.

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Bachelor's Degree: you think you know everything

Master's Degree: you realize you don't know anything

Doctorate: you realize nobody knows anything

BS = B_llSh_t

MS = More of the Same

PhD = Piled Higher and Deeper

I am also a Ph.D. student and it's somewhat comforting to realize I am not the only one who has more questions than one lifetime would allow one to answer. It's also comforting to acknowledge I am not the only one who has printed that Einstein quote and placed it by my workdesk. Science is a humbling quest indeed.

Quoting Prof. Carlos Bustamante (Cornell):

"Being a scientist means living on the borderline between your competence and your incompetence. If you always feel competent, you aren’t doing your job."

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