"You have to be resilient to bounce back. There are always multiple pathways and multiple ways forward to shape your future.”
Steffen Bass has a unique way to sell failure to students: "I ask them, ‘How many of you are still dating your childhood sweetheart?’ They seem to be able to take that ‘failure’ on the relationship side much easier than on the academic side."
The physicist’s own academic journey has not been without its challenges, including setbacks in securing research grants early on in his career, and being close to jobless.
As a postdoc applying for several faculty positions, Bass was only met with disappointment. "I thought I was hitting it out of the ballpark,” he said. "I thought my CV and everything looked really good. And I did not get a single job interview.”
In his desperation, he reached out to a former advisor who had previously offered him another postdoc position, securing a temporary role to "survive for another two years."
Bass describes this experience as "humbling," as he feared his days in academia were over.
However, things turned around the following year: He received five job interviews, ultimately landing one of the positions. Today, he is the Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Physics, and the department’s chair.
"The difference between success and failure can be very, very small," Bass says.
Bass likes to tell these stories to his students so they know that failure isn’t the end of the world. “I tell them, ‘You have to be resilient to bounce back. There are always multiple pathways and multiple ways forward to shape your future.”
Department of Physics