Leading a productive research program involves much more than simply running a bunch of experiments. It requires an overarching conceptual framework, a strategic plan for the sequence of studies to be run and, of course, financial support for your work. None of these aspects of a research program are simple, and knowing how to do them is certainly not an innate skill. Unfortunately, many mentors focus their teaching efforts only on the experimental details of doing science. They fall short on teaching their scientific offspring how to conceptualize and lead a full-blown research program. Paul Chapin's expert guide to the planning, support, and conduct of research does a splendid job of laying out both the broad and the nitty-gritty issues of running a research program.

One of the core issues, of course, is funding for your research program. Securing support has become a constant, often nagging facet of modern scientific life. It starts early and never seems to let up. You likely have to worry about how to pay for your graduate education, and you certainly need to think about how you can support your postdoctoral training. Often, you need to write detailed proposals outlining what you would do if you were accepted into the various laboratories to which you have applied. It gets more complex once you are leading your own lab, since you may well need multiple grants to sustain the efforts of a modern, typically complex scientific enterprise.