Mentorship

 

My first mentor was Dr. Stuart Riggsby. After I aced his bacterial genetics course in the spring of 1976, he recruited me to work in his lab for senior research credit. The project itself was doomed, but what was important was that I was given a bench, the opportunity to teach myself and the confidence that I could do research. By that time, I had abandoned the goal of going into medicine, and was interested in the nascent field of molecular biology. He strongly endorsed my choice to pursue Drosophila molecular genetics.

One of the grudges that Linda still holds against me was that I asked Dr. Riggsby what he thought of married grad students, since Linda wanted to get married between undergrad and grad school. In the event, he approved, saying that in his experience the married grad students were more mature than the unmarried ones.

I saw Dr. Riggsby once after graduation, at a Genetics Society meeting, and shortly after that, he became Dean of the Graduate School. I don't think I posted his obit here before. He did have an important positive effect on my self-esteem and conviction that I could be successful in science.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/knoxnews/name/william-riggsby-obituary?pid=188071553