SENS has a page that might help answer the first question you posed above.
You could email Audbrey de Grey and ask for ideas. (The page I have linked above seems to suggest that he is highly open to receiving emails from intelligent people who are interested in doing anti-aging research, so don’t let the fact that he’s internet-famous prevent you from sending him a note).
In response to 2, I would say that it seems like you are already highly skilled, such that you could dive in and tackle any problem(s) you decide to start working on immediately. People gain skills by working on hard problems, so it doesn’t seem necessary for you to take additional time to explicitly hone your skill set before starting on any project(s) that you want to work on.
Thanks for reminding me about SENS and de Grey, I should email him. I should reach out to all the smart people in the research community I know well enough to randomly pester and collect their opinions on this.
Regarding their replies: I wonder whether you should rather take recommendations appearing most frequently or whether it is a better idea to take the most highly rated single recommendation.
People gain skills by working on hard problems, so it doesn’t seem necessary for you to take additional time to explicitly hone your skill set before starting on any project(s) that you want to work on.
The embarrassing truth is I spent so much time cramming stuff into my brain while trying to survive in academia that until now I haven’t really had time to think about the big picture. I just vectored toward what at any given point seemed like the direction that would give me the most options for tackling the aging problem. Now I’m finally as close to an optimal starting point as I can reasonably expect and the time has come to confront the question: “now what”?
I spent so much time cramming stuff into my brain while trying to survive in academia that until now I haven’t really had time to think about the big picture.
I completely understand and sympathize with that feeling. I am about to graduate with an undergraduate degree in chemistry, and it was not until earlier this semester that I began to realize that I still don’t know what type of career path I want to pursue after doing graduate work in operations research, given that I am somewhat more inclined to go to graduate school than I am to go directly into industry.
To answer your questions:
SENS has a page that might help answer the first question you posed above.
You could email Audbrey de Grey and ask for ideas. (The page I have linked above seems to suggest that he is highly open to receiving emails from intelligent people who are interested in doing anti-aging research, so don’t let the fact that he’s internet-famous prevent you from sending him a note).
In response to 2, I would say that it seems like you are already highly skilled, such that you could dive in and tackle any problem(s) you decide to start working on immediately. People gain skills by working on hard problems, so it doesn’t seem necessary for you to take additional time to explicitly hone your skill set before starting on any project(s) that you want to work on.
Thanks for reminding me about SENS and de Grey, I should email him. I should reach out to all the smart people in the research community I know well enough to randomly pester and collect their opinions on this.
Please do. And tell us the results.
Regarding their replies: I wonder whether you should rather take recommendations appearing most frequently or whether it is a better idea to take the most highly rated single recommendation.
The embarrassing truth is I spent so much time cramming stuff into my brain while trying to survive in academia that until now I haven’t really had time to think about the big picture. I just vectored toward what at any given point seemed like the direction that would give me the most options for tackling the aging problem. Now I’m finally as close to an optimal starting point as I can reasonably expect and the time has come to confront the question: “now what”?
I completely understand and sympathize with that feeling. I am about to graduate with an undergraduate degree in chemistry, and it was not until earlier this semester that I began to realize that I still don’t know what type of career path I want to pursue after doing graduate work in operations research, given that I am somewhat more inclined to go to graduate school than I am to go directly into industry.