Taylor Armstrong, a Ph.D. student in the lab of Dr. Allen Place, has a checklist for choosing a dissertation topic. She must answer yes to all the following questions:

• Can I see benefits to this research? 
• Does it relate to my advisor’s research?
• Does it build on skills I want to learn? 
• Are there identified end-users who will benefit from the research? 
• Will different chapters of the dissertation be able to emphasize different skills?

In a new blog post, Taylor Armstrong outlines how she decided that pursuing a Ph.D. was the right choice for her and how she landed on a topic for her research.

Read Taylor's full story on the Maryland Sea Grant website.