Career Paths
Jennifer
Reineke Pohlhaus
Tricks to communicating your science
According to Brian Malow, the best way to communicate your scientific results is to tell a joke. And if your joke fails, you can always say, “that joke was endothermic – it required some input from you to make it work!
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William
Johnson
Transitions from Academia to THE REAL WORLD
As I was winding down my Ph.D. studies, I found it necessary to start looking for employment. Since the economy had hit an all time low in Michigan in 2006-2007 due to auto industry decline and overall recession, I found it necessary to start looking about 1/2 year to 1 year before my Ph.D. de...
Jason
Sherwin
Moving Around and Following One’s Nose
I’ve gotten some requests on this blog to go a little more into my research. Don’t worry! It’s coming. But, for now, I want to focus on a “career-related” issue, since this is a bio career related blog. In particular, this entry is a response to an article that recently appeared in the Wal...
Clement
Weinberger
Looking for a change?
I was. I had too. I was an assistant prof. teaching stimulating courses to good students. We passed some good times in the classroom, lunchroom and, of course, the local bars. There were even a couple of grad students whose research was working out. What’s wrong with this picture? Teaching is grea...
Jennifer
Reineke Pohlhaus
Should you learn another language so you can do a postdoc somewhere interesting?
Sure! But maybe there is a better reason for learning another language. Read more details below…At the Annual AAAS Meeting of 2011, I attended a seminar on Bilingualism. During the introduction to the session, we were reminded that two questions about language were part of the Top 125 questions to...
Marielena
Mata
Letter to Andre
Just a few weeks ago, my little brother defended his Ph.D. thesis (OK, so he is not so little and technically he is not my brother). I wanted to write him a note with some words of wisdom, but decided to actually share that letter with all of you, who perhaps might find value in the learnings ...
Xiaobang
Hu
A Bit About Me
Hello, everyone! I am very glad to have this opportunity to join Bio Careers and interact with so many great people here. I never have written a blog before, so I think the easiest way for me to get started is to give a brief self-introduction. My name is Xiaobang. In Chinese, Xiaobang means, “Kno...
Ping
Xiao
3 tips for a successful job search for a Ph.D.
We are our own inner architects. As a PhD, it is not hard to understand an equilateral triangle base is the least requirement for a stable frame, and the broader that triangle is, the higher the building could be. Skill, Interest and Value are the three sides of triangle, which are necessary f...
Wenny
Lin
Foreign postdocs at the NIH
During my first meeting with the planning committee for the 2011 NIH Career Symposium, I learned that more than 60% of the postdoc fellows at the NIH are non-US citizens or residents. Briefly judging from the accents heard around the room that day, I estimated that possibly 75% of the planning commi...
Xiaoli
Du
From Beijing to Washington: dream and reality
“Hi, my name is Serena, nice to meet you!” I feel this was a kind of introduction of myself a long time ago, which sounds formal and exotic to me. “Oh, nice to meet you! What is your Chinese name? My name is Richard.” “My Chinese name is Xiao-Li. Sorry if it is hard to pronounce, jus...