Postdoctoral researcher, Volcanology, Dr. Tim Yilmaz
NAME: Dr. Tim I. Yilmaz
CURRENT TITLE: Postdoctoral researcher at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU Munich) (@LMU_volc on Twitter), Germany
AREA OF EXPERTISE: Volcanology
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: 10 years of education
EDUCATION: I started with my undergraduate studies in earth science back in 2005 and finished my PhD in 2015.
WEBSITE: http://www.mineralogie.geowissenschaften.uni-muenchen.de/personen/postdocs/tim_yilmaz/index.html
What’s your job like?
I am currently working at the Department for Earth and Environmental Sciences at LMU Munich. My research focusses on the hydrothermal alteration and two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) textural analysis of International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) core samples from the Mt. Unzen conduit (Japan) which were drilled in 2004 (ICDP Mt Unzen).
What’s a typical day like?
I start my day with kissing my wife and son, as cheesy as it sounds. In chronological order after that: I have breakfast, drop off my boy at kindergarten, arrive at the office, check my emails, have a look at my schedule, check yesterday’s experiment results, run some new experiments, read literature, have meetings, prepare new samples, run some more experiments, write down some results, check out from the office, pick up my boy from kindergarten, drop him off at home, workout, and then, I’m done.
What’s fun?
Field work, traveling, sports, and family!
As far as my career, being in the field is great and it doesn’t matter whether it’s for teaching or research. But there are, of course, amazing days at the laboratory as well, especially when the results of my research start to make sense. I also deeply enjoy literature research.
What’s challenging?
Life!
The most challenging part is structuring my schedule. There is nobody telling me what to do, when to do it or where to do whatever there is to do. Of course, this is a great challenge for all Ph.D./postdoc students out there.
What’s your advice to students?
Publish!
I always thought Ph.D./postdoc students were freaky, uncool geeks until the day I became one of them. So, I think giving advice is a waste of time, but let’s try: In my view, self-responsibility is the most important keyword in successful studying and publishing.