This is going to sound like
an infomercial: Early in the year 2000, I decided that I needed
a career change. I was employed in an unhappy job and I felt that I needed more
education to pursue my life goals. With one simple phone call (email, really)
I changed my life. The email was to my old friend (meaning that I
had known him for a long time) Dror Minz, head of a small
research lab at the Volcani Institute in Bet-Dagan, Israel. I told him that I wanted to pursue a
Ph.D. with him. He responded: “Well, come here and
we’ll figure something out.” So, I quit my job and moved to Israel.
The day I arrived in Israel (true story) Dror received approval of a grant
from the US-Israeli Binational Agriculture R&D Fund (BARD) which funded my research for
the remainder of my stay.
What can you say about Dror’s lab? In
addition to being a great person and advisor, Dror also has a
knack for choosing compatible people. This was of paramount importance
while there were 10 researchers packed into a lab space that even rats would
reject. The lab crew initially consisted of me, Eddie, Tamar and Larissa, and over
the years Ehud, Racheli, Tammy, Galit, Liat, Patricia, Yochi, and Maya joined (Pictures). In
addition, the lab constantly served as a mecca for students interested in
learning various molecular techniques.
There is an old adage that
says that it doesn’t matter what your thesis is about, it just matters
who your advisor is. This is true, but it also helps to have a nice group of people
to work with. Because of all my friends in Dror’s lab, the years in
Israel were great ones.