Sitting in a small conference room last week talking to some on-campus reps from a Big Pharma, I actually said the words, “Science is noble.” I mentally gawked immediately, though continuing to externally plaster a smile on my face. The folks across from me chuckled, betraying their own internal cynicism. As idealistic as we want to be about science, just how noble of a pursuit is it?

Having been at grad school now for almost as long as my entire undergraduate career, I still struggle with the everyday impact of the bioengineering benchtop work that I do. When will the world actually see the fruits of my labor in a useful and meaningful way? Even when I step aside from weighing the tangible medicinal benefits of my work, forget the Nobel Prize even, when, if ever, will my work ever be good enough for Science or Nature?

In a field full of talk about journal impact factors, science is funny in how it seemingly teeters perpetually on that ledge between the noble and the Nobel. Are these even separable?  Where does our science actually fit in?

And so herein lies my own questions in this quest to find personal impact.