How to Pick a Graduate Advisor
Ben A.Barres
If your advisor does not know how to be a good scientist or does not know how to train you to be a good scientist, you are unlikely to become a good scientist.
First and very importantly, never assume just because a faculty member has a job at a good university that he or she is therefore a good scientist. Second, many faculty are not tenure track. Third, some faculty who are not good scientists make it to tenure any way. Tenure is by no means a perfect process.
If your prospective advisor has not published a good research paper in over 5 years, this is a serious warning sign (what is the chance you will just happen to be the one student in that lab to publish?).
If the day arrives when you are in graduate school when you wake up and do not wish to jump out of bed and head off to lab, it is time to consider whether it is time to switch to another lab. I have encountered many students who realized midway during their PhD that they were not happy in their lab, only to decide to stick it out rather than discuss the situation with their advisors and try to resolve the problem.
I have argued that the greatness of a university may well depend on high quality of mentoring; happy and well-mentored trainees to a large extent drive great innovation. Effective mentoring should be an expectation that is not only talked about but actually ensured.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627313009070