Professors at Tufts are true teacher-scholars. We put a really large emphasis on both the educational mission as well as on the scholarship mission. And we think that what we do our mission is enhanced when we intertwine those as much as possible. And so access to students is something that Tufts faculty really prioritizes. And it's something that I think our students really benefit from.

Tufts is an ideal place to do research. Any given lab might have undergraduate students and graduate students at different levels, masters students, doctoral students, postdocs... We're constantly trying to think of how to open up different career trajectories and explore different career trajectories with our graduate students.

Well, our department is a very collaborative atmosphere. I've worked on projects with other faculty, we've brought students into these projects. Oftentimes, students will travel with faculty to conferences, there's a lot of student interest in working on projects. So faculty often co-author papers with students who work with them on their funded projects.

So the graduate student experience at Tufts is really unique because you're involved in very big ideas and high end research but with a very personal connection with those people that are conducting the research.

Students get a lot out of mentorship with faculty. I believe that they gain expertise in the fields that they're interested in. They gain critical data analysis, communication skills, we also serve as to help them on the job market and to find placement and to write recommendations. So working with a faculty mentor is critical to the research process.