[derf_]

When I was preparing for my oral exam, I was given something like 1,200 pages of material to read by my committee. I read it.

During the exam, in addition to the expected technical questions, I was asked things like, "What lab did this work come out of? Who runs that lab?"

In other words, "Do you understand the political and funding environment in which you're going to be operating if you continue working in this field?" Fortunately, I had been to a few conferences and met some of these people (also not an accident on the part of my professors), so I knew the answers to these questions. But the lesson stuck.