If you go into academics, you have to run a lab. And again, a lab is broadly defined. Many people have a small lab; just have one or two students at a time. I like to take for the most part, a student per year, because it's a nice pace. But for the most part, if you're going to be in academia, you have to be running a research lab and it's up to the faculty member how many students they feel they need to carry out their research. And a level of comfort with having a big lab versus a small lab, but it's pretty much a given or it's essential that you're going to need a research lab in order to be able to produce and remain an academician.

I like to go beyond the traditional numbers. Sometimes I think we place too much of an emphasis on GRE scores and not everybody scores well. I go beyond the GPA, I look for that their research interests match mine and that they're highly motivated. They're independent and they really have this strong passion and wanting to ask real interesting questions. And it comes down to, when they come interview, if I make them an offer to interview, that personal match. There needs to be a nice fit, because sometimes you can tell, "I can work with this person" verses the times you can just pick up cues that say, "This will probably not be the best fit between that person and how I work."