Academia

Kate
Sleeth

Being a Supervisor

Over my career as a scientist I had the opportunity to mentor a number of students; both as a graduate student and then as a postdoc.  Most summers I had one summer student who I dedicated time and effort to;  both in teaching my research to, as well as teaching the skills necessary to ass...


Maida
Taylor

Bench vs Bedside: Arrowsmith Revisited

In 1925, Sinclair Lewis published Arrowsmith (a novel for which he later won a Pulitzer Prize), the story of a young medical researcher.  Martin Arrowsmith, the protagonist, served as a role model for scores of medical students intent on devoting their lives to medical science.  The portra...


Gaia
Vasiliver-Shamis

Got a Plan?

If you read my previous post  you know I’m a big fan of plans and being flexible about them too.  As I see many  trainees prioritizing another experiment over spending an hour to plan for their career, I thought of writing a post about how  to create your plan instead of waitin...


Virginie
Adam

Networking: you never know who you’ll end up meeting!

With the start of the fall semester at Penn, On-Campus Recruiting has also now swung into action. Various large firms come out here, giving informational talks (i.e. propaganda sessions) about their work and how to become one of the ‘elite’ who join them. The university also hosts a number of Ca...


Sarah
Pick

Career Tracks in Bioinformatics - A Snapshot of Life as a Bioinformatics Analyst

What’s life like as a bioinformatics analyst at an academic research center? How do analysts apply their backgrounds in life sciences with the analytical and programming skills needed for their work? What are the typical projects done by analysts with ten years experience in this field?


Kate
Sleeth

Scientific Media: Gift from the Gods or poisoned chalice?

When I was doing my graduate studies I was concerned about publishing papers and my thesis.  Then once I moved to my first postdoc position I learned that if you have a particularly good finding you are expected to do press releases which may lead to you appearing on TV or the radio!  As s...


Jenne
Relucio

That Science CV into a Resume for the Real World!

This week I have officially started working on my law school application packages. The first roadblock comes from the most unlikely of sources --- my chock–full-o’-science CV. I’ve been a science student all of my adult life. I majored in molecular biology in college, and am now on my way t...


Dr
27

The job search – resources for the search part 1

In my last entry, I talked about the reasons why I wanted to leave academia. I was tired of the low pay and time spent in the lab with little progress. I was upset and frustrated in my postdoc and I definitely didn’t want to become a full professor and carry the responsibility of writing grants an...


Liang
Zhang

Is Toastmasters a good way to help with public speaking

Toastmasters is indeed a great way to improve your public speaking skills, and presentations skills are definitely an  important part of grad school and life beyond.  You’ll be in a room filled with other people who are there to improve their communication skills, with everyone acting bo...


Kate
Sleeth

Being Reliable

I often wonder why people flake out on doing things.  Why do they agree to do something and then not follow through?  Is it because they don’t want to offend during an in person encounter so they agree while fully intending to slip under the radar immediately afterwards? What does this t...