Chef Gusteau

How I love the movie Ratatouille. A great chef dies, but lives on and continues his legacy by speaking words of inspiration and wisdom to a gifted rat. Chef Gusteau's words were, "You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul. What I say is true - anyone can cook... but only the fearless can be great!" Combine that with Anton Ego's words: "In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto, ‘Anyone can cook’. But I realize - only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere."

I've often thought of myself as a bit of an impostor--I'm in education, but came from the hard sciences; I'm in psychology, yet have only taken one "real" psychology course in my entire life. And most of all, I'm at probably the most elite university in the world as a postdoctoral researcher working on a really cool project with  people from an impressive academic pedigree. This is something I could never have thought possible in my life. I definitely feel like an impostor here. But Anton Ego is right ... talent can come from anywhere. I just have to believe it, and act it.

And then there are the words of the great Chef himself: Anyone can cook ... but only the fearless can be great. Back when I was an undergraduate taking my first educational psychology class from a professor who would be so important to my life, I was intimidated by how knowledgeable he was and how critical he was of everything his students wrote. So I approached him one day before a writing assignment was due and asked him for some advice. His enigmatic answer: "Just be fearless, Jason. Write fearlessly." And then when I decided to go into teaching, I came to him for advice: "Dr. P, what do I do ... I've never taught before!" His advice once again: "Jason, just be fearless ... teach fearlessly."

After Dr. P died, I thought my research career was over. But somehow I mustered up the strength to get over it and move on. Dr. P spoke to me like Gusteau did to Remy. And the reoccurring theme? "Just be fearless." Let me just say that when you lose your advisor midway through your doctoral program, fearlessly going forth is pretty friggin hard. How do I carve out a research agenda that will sustain my academic career when my advisor died before I even became  a doctoral candidate? Most junior faculty members are able to do research and write with their advisors. Me? Dr. P didn't even guide me through my dissertation. What did that mean for me? It meant that I had to be supremely resourceful ... I sought out the council of others. And in the process I formed wonderful relationships with scholars in my community. But I had to be fearless to do that--I had to go outside my comfort zone.

With this postdoc, it feels like I've got an incredible opportunity to carve out a future for myself in academe. At the same time, it's tricky (who ever said it would be easy, right?). I'm an educational psychologist with a background in science and teaching. But I'm working with a group of people who are in educational technology and math education. Once again, I'm the misfit. But misfits  can do great things, right? Yes, but I have to be "imaginative, strong-hearted. I have to try things that might not work". In a word, I must be fearless. Thank you, Dr. P ... my Chef Gusteau. I shall carve out a research agenda that I hope would make you proud ... and if I am successful, it will have come about because I first learned to be fearless.