Academia

Andrea
Habura

BioMaker: Biologists as Tool-Builders

“If you can’t open it, you don’t own it.” – Maker motto. Alfréd Rényi famously joked that a mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems. We biologists, on the other hand, tend to need more equipment than a pencil and a coffee cup. Stand at your bench, and you can put yo...


Scott
Jeffers

Lessons in Entrepreneurship: Two or More Heads are Better than One

My friend Liz is a serial entrepreneur, who brings resourcefulness and strength to every project. Recently, she’s brought the same resourcefulness to advocate for her family. I’ve been following her story through Facebook posts. Today, she wrote a quote that fit perfectly with my thoughts on ent...


Nathan
Vanderford

Visiting goals at year-end and planning for the new year

I’m not a New Year’s resolution practitioner, but what I do like to do at the end of the year/beginning of a new year is to think about my goals. Goal setting is a best practice for all professionals and especially those who are looking to make personal and professional advances. What you have t...


Gaia
Vasiliver-Shamis

Lean Mean Science Machine

When I decided to pursue the idea I had for a better way to keep up with science, aka Scizzle (check it out, I’d love to get your feedback), I really didn’t know where to start. And so, like a good researcher….I went on Google. This is how I came by the lean startup approach – a methodology ...


Nathan
Vanderford

Just Publish!

Do you want to write, be an author, or publish? Well, here’s my advice…but first, some history. I published academic journals several times as a graduate student and as a postdoctoral fellow and, even after transitioning out of research a little over four years ago, I have continued to publis...


Christine
Zafra

The Art of Picking a Lab: The Pre-Application Stage

Over the past 10 years, I have talked with numerous graduate students that are in the process of selecting a laboratory to conduct their research. One thing that has stood out during those conversations is the lack of homework that students do when selecting a laboratory. With the average time to a ...


Nathan
Vanderford

PhDs Are Everything

Over 50% of PhDs work outside academia (Science and Engineering Indicators 2012) which means that many PhDs are indeed working in a variety of different jobs, and most importantly, this means that the majority of PhDs are not pursuing tenure track faculty positions. Despite this, a perpetuating stig...


Kate
Sleeth

Getting a Professional Opinion

Today I want to focus on something that I believe a lot of scientists should consider getting – getting a professional opinion.  We are all familiar with the idea of being trained by an expert in our field of interest, after all that is what we did with our doctoral degrees, but we don’t se...


Christine
Zafra

It’s OK to be Selfish!

I have a Type A personality (with a capital A), and so, when I face a big decision, I like to consider all aspects, both good and bad, prior to making it. When it comes to my career, part of that process has included talking to others with expertise or experience in the areas I am considering. Howev...


Kate
Sleeth

Increasing your Professional Perception

Ever since I moved away from the bench, I have been reading new books to provide me with tips and tools for my new “Administrator” role.  I have also met with a professionalism coach.  Occasionally, the tips I have heard or seen don’t appear to be pertinent to me.  However, afte...