338 NATURE | VOL 433 | 20 JANUARY 2005 | www.nature.com/nature

As 2005 begins, it is gratifying but alsodisconcerting to say that this year, I willgraduate. I’ll complete a PhD in molecularbiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. But despite this impendingaccomplishment, I can honestly say that at 30 years old I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

For the past eight years or so, I’vestudied aspects of mRNA in mammaliangene regulation. After taking some dead-end paths, I am quite happy with the stories that my dissertation researchwill tell. I began my graduate studies withthe same fervour for RNA biology that I now possess. If I based my next careerchoice solely on following my scientificinterest, I’d continue working with RNA and stagger down that well-worn path to postdoc and, if I’m lucky, professor.

But, life is not all about the lab and mylove stretches beyond ribose chains. I’m a happily married man and my wife is adisturbingly brilliant public-policy researcher.Looking into how we’ll solve our two-jobdilemma, I’m exploring science writing andpublic policy. Should I test those waters or study a new problem at the bench? All have their appeal and I’ll be learningabout these paths as I finish my degree.This is going to be an interesting year. ■

Jason Underwood is a graduate student in

microbiology at the University of California,

Los Angeles.

GRADUATE JOURNAL

Time to explore new worlds

Naturejobs Career View

Hardly anyone couldbelieve my summerplans. “You’re going

to work in an Austriancastle?” a fellow graduatestudent asked. “Well, it’smore like a palace,” Iexplained, somewhatsheepish about planning to research civil war in suchluxurious surroundings.

The truth was I couldn’tbelieve my luck. Aftercompleting my second year of graduate studies in demography at theUniversity of California,Berkeley, I was accepted atthe International Institutefor Applied SystemsAnalysis (IIASA), a small,multilateral, autonomousresearch institution thatruns a summer programmefor PhD students. Locatedjust outside Vienna, theIIASA allows scientistsfrom all over the world toconvene and collaborate toaddress issues within the

institute’s three themeareas: natural resources andenvironment; populationand society; and energyand technology.

Each summer, about 60graduate students work ontheir PhDs through IIASA’sYoung Scientists SummerProgramme (YSSP). Thisoffers the students a chanceto explore the policyimplications of their work.The IIASA’s projects rangefrom the technical —developing and applyingmathematical modellingtechniques — to thepractical — integratingsocial and natural-sciencemodels and data in policy-relevant analyses.

I spent most of my timeon my research intowhether a young populationand abundance of naturalresources make civil warsmore likely to start. Mymentor gave me helpfulinput on how to modelthese processes over time.Seminars and focus-groupdiscussions exposed me tothe work of important

worldwide scholars.A midsummer work-

shop allowed us to shareour current research. Manyof my YSSP colleagues wereenvironmental scientists,geographers, politicalscientists and biologists, sothe interdisciplinaryfeedback I received wasvery helpful. Students andinstitute scholars suggestedarticles, techniques anddata sets I might never haveencountered otherwise.

The YSSP helped melook at my research fromfresh angles. It offered thespringboard I needed tomove from coursework to productive independentresearch. I’ve returned witha potential dissertationchapter, lots of new ideason how to proceed, and anew network of colleagues,friends and potentialcollaborators from aroundthe world. ■

Sarah Elizabeth Staveteig is a

graduate student at the University

of California, Berkeley.

➧ www.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/YSP/yssp2005/about-program.html

&

Frustrated by the slow progress ofhis work at the beginning of hispostgraduate career, Iain Mattaj

once considered joining a friend’s retailbusiness. But his desire to understandhow the world functions at the molecularlevel won, thanks in part to an influentialmentor. In May, the 52-year-old molecularbiologist will take the reins of theEuropean Molecular Biology Laboratory(EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, one ofEurope’s premier research institutes.

Mattaj’s understanding of sciencewas influenced by the enthusiasm andcreativity of developmental biologistEddy de Robertis, his supervisor at the

Biocentre Basel in Switzerland: “Hetaught me to constantly think about themost important question one could ask.”

In 1985, when de Robertis joined theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, theScotsman Mattaj took the opportunity toset up his own group at EMBL, where anew gene-expression programme hadjust been started. He never regretted thedecision. His research in the late 1980s,one of his most productive periods,resulted in a solid understanding of howmacromolecules are trafficked betweenthe nucleus and the cytoplasm.

At the time, Mattaj recalls, things stillmoved slowly. “Nowadays, researcherslive in a whirlwind of information,” hesays. He is well aware that the pace hasincreased pressure, in particular onyoung scientists in highly competitivefields. Graduates considering a scientificcareer should therefore think very wellabout the question they want to haveanswered, and then carefully chose the

right place to go, he says. “It is crucial to learn in a top-quality environment.”

When he starts as EMBL director,Mattaj can rely on long experience inscience management. After chairing thegene-expression programme for tenyears, he was promoted to be EMBL’sscientific director in 1999.

Looking back, he appreciates mostthat as a young scientist he could doindependent research with very little redtape. This was only possible, he says,because senior colleagues were lookingafter the administration. Now he wantsto do the same for the next generation. “I find satisfaction in organizing thingsfor the community,” he says, “even thoughit is rarely so much fun as doing science.”

But he is keen to stay as closely intouch with research as possible. “We’rejust beginning to understand how thenucleus is built and organized,” he says.There is a good chance that the almost-retailer will know the answer soon. ■

MOVERS Iain Mattaj, director-general, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany

1999–2005: Scientific director of theEuropean Molecular Biology Laboratory(EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany.

1990–99: Programme coordinator, gene-expressionprogramme, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany.1985–90: Group leader, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany.

CV

International Institutefor Applied SystemsAnalysis,Austria

SCIENTISTS SOCIETIES

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