{"610630":{"#nid":"610630","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Coffee Leads to Collaboration ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEditor\u0026#39;s Note: This story by Victor Rogers was originally published on the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2018\/08\/08\/coffee-leads-collaboration?utm_campaign=daily-digest\u0026amp;utm_medium=email\u0026amp;utm_source=dd-article-primary-tlink%3A9200%7C2018-08-30\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech News Center on Aug. 8, 2018\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen Will Ratcliff and Peter Yunker first met for coffee they had no idea they would eventually collaborate on research that would be published in \u003Cem\u003ENature Communications\u003C\/em\u003E and \u003Cem\u003ENature Physics\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERatcliff, an assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences, arrived at Tech in January 2014. Yunker, an assistant professor in the School of Physics, arrived in January of the following year.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I met with [Physics Professor] Dan Goldman and told him about my interests in biophysics,\u0026rdquo; said Yunker. \u0026ldquo;He told me there\u0026rsquo;s another young guy who just arrived. You should contact him.\u0026rdquo; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYunker reached out to Ratcliff, and the two began meeting weekly for coffee in the basement of the College of Computing.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I think our conversations for a solid six months were just about friend stuff,\u0026rdquo; Ratcliff said. \u0026ldquo;We talked about science, but we weren\u0026rsquo;t actively pursuing projects. We were just hanging out and getting to know each other.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYunker said they discussed ideas about the evolution of multicellularity.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Will would talk a little about the biology of the evolution of multicellularity. And then we would pivot, and I would talk about the physics of multicellularity,\u0026rdquo; Yunker said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThough coming from different disciplines \u0026mdash; biology and physics \u0026mdash; Ratcliff and Yunker quickly recognized some common ground. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I would say, \u0026lsquo;There\u0026rsquo;s this thing in biology where this needs to happen,\u0026rsquo; and he would say \u0026lsquo;there\u0026rsquo;s this thing in physics where this needs to happen,\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; Ratcliff said. \u0026ldquo;It would blow my mind because it was a totally different way of thinking about the things that I was already thinking about. It was incredibly exciting because there were these parallels coming from such different places, and they were describing the same overlapping material. I think we both could tell there was a lot of cool stuff to be done.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe harder part was figuring out where the overlap was concrete so they could actually conduct experiments or write models.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;A lot of our conversations are brainstorming style,\u0026rdquo; Yunker said. \u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;re less about knocking down ideas and more about: \u0026lsquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s get a lot of information out there so we can find where that concrete idea emerges.\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe collaboration also eased the pressure of being a new faculty member.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s nice to work with other people who are at a similar level, to bounce ideas off each other, talk about critical review, and vent about frustrations,\u0026rdquo; Yunker said. \u0026ldquo;The whole time I\u0026rsquo;ve been here I have always heard Georgia Tech is very supportive of collaboration. I\u0026rsquo;ve heard of other places where that support isn\u0026rsquo;t there when you\u0026rsquo;re still at the assistant professor level. I haven\u0026rsquo;t worried at all about if there will be trouble down the line if we collaborate. Instead, I see it as we\u0026rsquo;re doing the best science, and that\u0026rsquo;s what Georgia Tech wants.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERatcliff said, \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s one of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s real strengths. People really appreciate our collaboration. I hear from people in both communities \u0026mdash; biology and physics. They appreciate not just the research, but also the strengthening of the bridge between the departments and the sense of community it builds.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to their research collaborations, Ratcliff and Yunker co-advise a Ph.D. student and a postdoc.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECollaboration Advice to New Faculty \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYunker and Ratcliff make collaboration look deceptively easy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Collaboration takes effort. It takes sustained interaction,\u0026rdquo; Ratcliff said. \u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s got to be a reason to do that because as new professors we\u0026rsquo;re super busy trying to get everything off the ground: get your lab running, get grants, write papers, design classes, do service work. We\u0026rsquo;re spread really thin. So, to have sustained interactions that are needed for a good collaboration, you have to prioritize it and want to do it.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYunker added, \u0026ldquo;One of the best approaches when starting a new collaboration is to either let it grow or die on its own. If the idea isn\u0026rsquo;t there or if you just don\u0026rsquo;t mesh, then forcing it is going to be difficult for everyone.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERatcliff has advice for new faculty who are interested in collaborating.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s really exciting and valuable to have a close collaborator from a different discipline or with a\u0026nbsp; different skillset,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;To get that, I suggest forming collaborations with other professors who are about your age. Key reasons are you\u0026rsquo;re both at the same stage in your careers. You\u0026rsquo;re equals. Also, a new professor is likely to have time to form new collaborations. Lastly, new professors have startup funds and a large degree of flexibility. This is great for trying things that are risky.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe also suggests attending receptions for new faculty.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Talk to people outside of your discipline. Don\u0026rsquo;t spend \u003Cem\u003Eall\u003C\/em\u003E of your time at the mixer talking to your departmental colleagues,\u0026rdquo; Ratcliff said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDeveloping a good collaboration can be transformational.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our collaboration has fundamentally reshaped the way I think about key problems in my field,\u0026rdquo; Ratcliff said. \u0026ldquo;I know how to think about the things I was trained to think about, but I had no idea how to think about things I wasn\u0026rsquo;t trained to think about.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYunker said, \u0026ldquo;Together we\u0026rsquo;re able to ask and answer more interesting questions. I was not versed at all on questions about evolutionary transitions and individuality. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t aware of all the open questions and problems there, and they\u0026rsquo;re fascinating. By coming together, we end up asking even more interesting questions and, hopefully, coming up with new approaches.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERatcliff said what made the collaboration work is that he and Yunker became friends.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We enjoy hanging out. I look forward to having coffee,\u0026rdquo; Ratcliff said. \u0026ldquo;We have these exciting scientific discussions where it was obvious that there\u0026rsquo;s something there, but we had to make the ideas touch down to reality.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Mutually enhanced curiosity from a good cuppa java"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen Will Ratcliff and Peter Yunker first met for coffee they had no idea they would eventually collaborate on research that would be published in Nature Communications and Nature Physics.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Meetings over coffee led two professors to collaborate on research. "}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2018-08-30 17:51:10","changed_gmt":"2018-08-31 12:32:00","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-08-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-08-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"609498":{"id":"609498","type":"image","title":"Will Ratcliff (left) and Peter Yunker","body":null,"created":"1533771453","gmt_created":"2018-08-08 23:37:33","changed":"1533771549","gmt_changed":"2018-08-08 23:39:09","alt":"Will Ratcliff and Peter Yunker at Highland Bakery","file":{"fid":"232137","name":"Ratcliff and Yunker2.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Ratcliff%20and%20Yunker2.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Ratcliff%20and%20Yunker2.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":430675,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Ratcliff%20and%20Yunker2.jpeg?itok=Q2-hrvGU"}},"609497":{"id":"609497","type":"image","title":"Will Ratcliff (left) and Peter Yunker at Highland Bakery ","body":null,"created":"1533771293","gmt_created":"2018-08-08 23:34:53","changed":"1533771354","gmt_changed":"2018-08-08 23:35:54","alt":"Will Ratcliff and Peter Yunker at Highland Bakery ","file":{"fid":"232136","name":"Ratcliff and Yunker.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Ratcliff%20and%20Yunker.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Ratcliff%20and%20Yunker.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":336524,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Ratcliff%20and%20Yunker.jpeg?itok=VI8C11-A"}},"599139":{"id":"599139","type":"image","title":"Yunker and Ratcliff in Yunker physics lab","body":null,"created":"1511797212","gmt_created":"2017-11-27 15:40:12","changed":"1511797212","gmt_changed":"2017-11-27 15:40:12","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228416","name":"Yunker.Ratcliff.yeast_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Yunker.Ratcliff.yeast_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Yunker.Ratcliff.yeast_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":519688,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Yunker.Ratcliff.yeast_.jpg?itok=FpEzVABT"}}},"media_ids":["609498","609497","599139"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.rh.gatech.edu\/news\/587025\/cholera-bacteria-stab-and-poison-enemies-so-predictably","title":"Cholera research "},{"url":"http:\/\/www.rh.gatech.edu\/news\/599147\/when-physics-gives-evolution-leg-breaking-one","title":"Evolution of multicellularity"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"108591","name":"Will Ratcliff"},{"id":"168707","name":"Peter Yunker"},{"id":"277","name":"Biology"},{"id":"960","name":"physics"},{"id":"340","name":"collaboration"},{"id":"4323","name":"coffee"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:victor.rogers@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EVictor Rogers\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["victor.rogers@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}