Michael Barker

1.0 1.0 / 5 1 reviews

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University: University of Arizona
Department: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Website: https://www.barkerlab.net/

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Anonymous

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## Advisor Style & Mentorship
He is the kind of mentors or principal investigators (PIs) who maintain a facade of support and friendliness, but his ambiguity and lack of genuine investment in your growth reveal their true indifference. They avoid clear communication, withhold meaningful guidance, and refuse to dedicate the necessary time, energy, or resources to help you succeed. However, when a project fails or faces challenges, they are quick to shift blame onto you, deflecting responsibility while masking their own lack of involvement or leadership.

## Expectations for PhD Students
At the beginning, he comes across as overly friendly—almost unnaturally so. But over time, his true colors emerge. He starts comparing you to his 'star student,' highlighting their achievements while subtly undermining your efforts and labeling your work as inefficient. He employs gaslighting tactics, insisting that 'it’s your PhD, you should take the lead,' as a way to absolve himself of any responsibility or meaningful involvement. In reality, he’s unwilling to invest the time, energy, or resources needed to guide you properly. By the end, the entire burden falls on you. If things go wrong, he distances himself completely, leaving you to shoulder the blame while he walks away unscathed.

## Funding & Support
To thrive in his lab, you essentially need your own funding. Without it, he is notoriously frugal, expecting students to rely primarily on publicly available databases for their PhD research. This severely limits the amount and variety of data you can work with, as he refuses to invest in your projects. Even when he does contribute minimally, he expects disproportionate returns and becomes furious if the project fails, placing all the blame on you while absolving himself of any responsibility.

He never funds his student during summer no matter how much funding he got. His PhD never stays with him for post-docs since he will never be willing to pay for cheap labour more if he can keep paying less.

## Research
After his first exceptionally successful PhD student, his annual publication output noticeably declined. He enjoys spending hours enthusiastically discussing and boasting about his ideas during lab meetings, but the real challenge lies in how many of those ideas actually translate into publishable research. 

## Lab Culture
The lab has a warm and welcoming atmosphere, with friendly seniors and post-docs who make it an enjoyable environment. They organize fun group activities like hiking, camping, and even axe throwing.

In total, he has recruited 9 PhD students. Among them, 
-- 3/9 either quit or mastered out (you won't find these on his website since he removed them)—one went on to become a distinguished professor, another took a healing trip to South America before securing a position in an academic lab after a 5-month job search, and the third transitioned into industry after mastering out;
-- 2/9 of his students successfully obtained academic positions;
-- 4/9 are still currently enrolled in the program.

In summary, consider joining his lab only if you are exceptionally talented, self-sufficient, resilient, or naturally lucky—someone who can thrive with little to no support. Otherwise, it’s best to steer clear of such hypocritical mentors who lack the courage to take responsibility and are quick to backstab their students when things go wrong. Life is better without this type of people in your life, it makes you gross and of course grow.

Review #592

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