Deborah Levin Fliflet

The real cost of PhD here is too steep for an average person to afford. While the loss of long term mental and physical health is hard to quantify right now, the loss of unearned money is quite steep where you would be devoting 7-10 years with an advisor who doesnt know much about the field (Physics-wise, very savvy at academic politics though). You'd loose the money you would have earned working in the STEM field. Try and do the math yourself to see if this actually makes finacial sense before joining.

Advisor Style & Mentorship

She lacks the foundational knowledge in math, physics, and even chemistry that one would expect from a high school student. Her sole purpose seems to be stirring up conflict among people, a behavior she continues even after you graduate.

Look at the comments by undergraduate students: https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/816162
https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2017071

Expectations for PhD Students

Torture and mockery between 5 -10 years. Enjoy.

Funding & Support

She has funding because she is a lobbyist/Zionist. That is the reason she switched back from her husband's last name, Fliflet, to Levin. Some people attribute the funds she receives to her status as a minority in the field, but no one in the community can tolerate her for more than 5 minutes.

Research

I agree with all the comments below. Her thesis was highly likey written by Arne Fliflet, her husband, who was a postdoc in the same lab. Her advisor, Vince Mckoy passed away about 4 years ago. It may be too late to learn the reality about her. In 2017, two graduate students in the lab got married, and she found this situation very unprofessional, despite having done the same thing herself 40 years ago.

All of her actions should be investigated and closely studied to write a book titled 'How to Be an Evil Advisor.' This would be her only contribution to science.

Lab Culture

No comment is necessary on this. Read the following reviews.

Not worth it.

Advisor Style & Mentorship

I need to complete another Ph.D. in the field of Psychology to understand her state of mind. She creates unnecessary problems and makes you deal with them. Interaction with her can be described as "mobbing" and "abuse". She yells and belittles the student solely to stroke her own ego. I have strong doubts about how she completed her Ph.D. I personally think someone close to her wrote her thesis.

Expectations for PhD Students

Long hours (Monday-Sunday), no input or help, and at the end of it all, an angry email will find you Sunday morning (not Saturday because of sabbath, Thank God).

Funding & Support

What surprises me is that she is able to get funding, which makes me question the intellectual level of the program managers. She often mentions how much of a burden you are on her projects, the same ones that she could never complete by herself.

Research

A mixture of whatever will get her funding (potpourri).

Lab Culture

Instead of devoting herself to science and research, she is more busy pinning students against each other.

Advisor Style & Mentorship

She leaves you in the dark and will gaslight you when you are stuck on a problem. There is no mentorship, there is only abuse and mockery. She makes you question yourself and will even pit students against each other if it’s in her best interest. She doesn’t bring any technical experience to the table so you will only have questions and no answers with her.

Expectations for PhD Students

She expects long hours in the lab and for you to be able to answer every silly question she has. Her main strategy is to ask these obscure but usually highly irrelevant questions that you didn’t prepare for, to leverage her power over you.

Funding & Support

There is funding but if you are stuck on a problem she will hold it over you, especially international students and POC.

Research

It is a very toxic environment that will take years off of your life. You will lose more than you will gain if you join the lab.

Lab Culture

She doesn’t know how to approach research intelligently, she just wants to brute force a problem without thinking it through. Most of her success has been through piggybacking off of other better researchers works.