A student came to my office to enquire about becoming a graduate student in my lab. She was extremely bright, energetic and had done some homework about my work as evidenced by the insightful questions she was asking. I put a lot of weight on the questions and dialogue that occurs when I interview, and she was a top notch inquisitor.

I’m actually a big fan of trying to read information behind the question. It is something I’ve tried to teach students to read the question and understand why it is being asked. With this student I could tell that her interests were in clinical science and medicine and that she has an interest in pursuing an MD or an MD/Ph.D. degree. This is fine because that is the type of research my lab does. Also based on her questions I could tell that she was interested in neuroscience and brain disease. While I do stroke research and am a professor of neurology my expertise is NOT brain but how the blood vessels affect the brain during diseases and injury. I gently pointed that out to her and she was unfazed and continued with her barrage of questions.

What I was trying to do was to answer her questions directly but also provide information to her that I hoped would be helpful in the career decisions she was facing. I could do this based on the motivation I surmised being behind her questions. There is every possibility that my interpretations were wrong, but in the end she asked to be put on my mailing list of news, events and plans so she could keep track of my research.

But the episode did remind me of the tools I’ve tried to teach students and colleagues about the information behind the questions people ask. As an example I was involved in a discussion of research being conducted that a company was interested in pursuing to develop a commercial project. We were updating the company bosses on the latest research and told them that some additional funds were obtained to do some new experiments. One of the “bean counters” also known as an accountant, from the company asked where the funding came from. I answered it came from a student grant award, which was the correct and truthful answer. The quizzical expression on the accountant’s face surprised me, but my boss, who understood the reason for the question, added to my answer. He informed them that the funding was a non-dilutable government grant. He of course knew and I learned that the reason for the question was to determine if they needed to pay someone back or had competition for taking over the technology. Everyone was happy and we went on.

The greatest skill in providing information in a question, or a series of questions, I witnessed was with a college professor of mine and a fellow graduate student. The professor asked a question of the student and the student said he did not know. Undaunted the professor asked a simpler question on the topic that the student answered quickly. Nodding the professor asked a series of questions all of which the student answered correctly and were related to the initial question. The final question was, “based on what we’ve been discussing, can you answer the original question?”.

The student was able to effectively answer the first, harder, question. The lesson I learned and I think the class learned is that we have to think about the answer to a question based on what we know as well as there being information in the questions asked of us. The professor was pointing out relevant facts pertinent to the initial question by asking other questions.

I’ve tried to employ those skills when teaching and have several times said to a student who claimed to not know the answer to a question to hang on so we can get back to the subject. I then try to do what my professor did in graduate school without torturing students. Inadvertently embarrassing students is sometimes a risk depending upon the students’ sensitivities and personalities. I’ve not mastered that skill yet, but it is rewarding when I see the lights go on as I quiz a student. The little victories keep me going.