I had a chance to talking with my old colleague about career goal and meaning of doing research. Everybody has different impression, but I believe we do research to make our lives happier. I'm currently working in aquatic toxicology laboratory to assess biological functions of contaminants in ambient water. I consider that all findings and achievements through my research will contribute to protect environment and pass down fragile beautiful nature to next generation. This is my motivation.
Research is not only for researchers. Everybody does "research" to make our lives better. Pizza chefs spend time and effort to make their pizzas better. Marketing managers analyze trend of their customers by statistical approach. One of the differences between researchers and those people is that we are not sure when our findings will benefit us. It can be in 5 years, or be in 50 years. People (especially students) involved in basic science sometimes struggle to recognize importance of their research and say "Why am I doing this??". Mostly it's because of insufficient communication with principle investigators.
I'm still learning a lot to become an independent researcher. There will be a lot of chances to write grant proposals as I develop my career. I want to keep it in my mind and design project with clear goals that people who don't have research background also understand.
