Great post, Harold! I would add that if you want to specialize in a particular area (geographically or topically) I would investigate educations opportunities in that specific area as well so that you have a "niche" making you more valuable to other researchers. If you choose some area that isn't well represented in the literature then maybe you can author something as you do your research to learn more about it and that too will give you more credibility and authority in that area of expertise. Michele