Academia

Xiaoli
Du

National Postdoc Appreciation Week

The past week is the third annual celebration of National Postdoc Appreciation Week. Time flies so fast! It is already my third experience in celebrating postdoc appreciation day/week. I still remember the first time I heard about National Postdoc Appreciation Day in 2009. Together with friends in t...


Wenny
Lin

Mentoring: Not one size fits all

A few weeks ago, I was invited to sit on a committee of postdoctoral fellows that evaluated nominees for the National Cancer Institute’s Outstanding Mentor Award. We were advised to select award winners who not only performed their expected mentoring duties but went over and beyond the normal expe...


Wenny
Lin

Traveling on the government’s dime

As a Cancer Prevention Fellow at the NCI, I have a generous $3000 “travel and training budget” for attending conferences to present research results, taking training and academic courses, as well as purchasing textbooks that are pertinent to my research. Many labs or research groups at the NIH p...


Kate
Sleeth

National Postdoctoral Appreciation Week

The most important event for Postdoctoral fellows is fast approaching.  I am talking about National Postdoc Appreciation of course.  This is where postdocs and other researchers celebrate the contribution postdocs make to science, both here in the US and worldwide.  The National Postd...


Fatos
Kopliku

My first blog entry for Bio Careers

Hello everyone. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Fatos I am from Albania, a small country about the size of Maryland. I graduated from the Molecular Biology and Genetics Department of Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. Later I worked in the Natural History Museum in London. 


Xiaoli
Du

Available resources for government jobs

The NIH Career symposium was held this month on the Bethesda NIH campus. The 4th annual career symposium has covered all the possible career areas for fellows including Faculty careers, careers in science education, careers in science policy, research in industry, career options for clinicians, cons...


Kate
Sleeth

Fun Alternative Teaching Methods – Music Videos!

Occasionally, we come across excellent teachers who find a unique angle to deliver their subject.  Universities have wonderful professors who have very traditional teaching approaches.  However a few years ago I discovered a novel teaching method which I enjoy.  They are videos on bio...


Kate
Sleeth

The Perceptions about Ph.D’s

At a seminar by Dr. Peter S. Fiske, he touched the subject of the public’s perceptions of individuals with Ph.D’s to great hilarity.  If you were to ask an average person on the street what someone with a Ph.D looks like, they would probably describe a geek; glasses, pocket protector, pocke...


Sarah
Pick

Attending BIO International Convention

I recently attended BIO’s International Convention in Washington, DC and it was quite an exciting week. Over 15,000 people attended from 48 states and 65 countries.  I’ve written about maximizing your networking at scientific conferences, and I took a colleague’s advice by volunteering at...


Xiaoli
Du

Women in science

If we look at the graduate students and postdoc fellows around, it is easy to tell that more than half are female in the science field. However, the truth is the leaders of labs in academy or related companies usually have fewer women than men. The imbalance of the women in science and those who suc...