We’re following in the tradition of open discussions among scientists that has resulted in important advances in both science and society.
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Dear Dora,
I’m a third year postdoc with no first author papers, although we’ll be submitting a manuscript in the next year. My husband was just offered a position in another city and now I’m faced with the decision to move and change labs or try to stay and deal with the distance. How bad does a three year postdoc with no papers look on a CV? Any advice?
– Katelyn – Postdoc
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Literature research skills are essential for any scientist. An important part of scientific research involves being fully clued up on your research topic and ensuring that you’re not replicating work already done by others. Good literature research skills allow you to quickly identify relevant papers, reports, reviews, books, websites and patents from the ocean of scientific literature. Over several posts I’ll give you some tips on how to improve your literature skills and avoid some of the pitfalls.
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Dear Dora,
I can see my rotation project expanding to a thesis project that would actually overlap with two labs in the department. Should I consider joining two labs jointly, or just setting up an official collaboration?
– Darren, grad student
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Dear Dora,
I am currently a postdoctoral fellow working on ssr markers in mulberry. The work is a bit monotonous, which is causing me to lose interest in the field. I love basic research and would like to transition to a more interesting project or field, do you have any advice for how to move forward?
– Mahadeva, postdoc
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Regardless of what your favorite model organism, pet-molecule, or area of study is, there are unspoken and universal ways to get the most out of a conference. Although I have always thought of myself as an intelligent person, it took me no less than five conferences to finally figure out a strategy or two that could help me get what I want.
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My perception of what the road to graduate school was supposed to be like was molded by three things: 1) my father’s experience earning his PhD, 2) the incessant cheerleading of high school teachers and counselors to pursue continued education, and 3) the professors who framed my liberal arts university experience.
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You have decided that you what to be an entrepreneur. Wait…what is an entrepreneur? Webster’s defines an entrepreneur as one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. Sound familiar? As graduate students and post-docs we develop a hypothesis, organize experiments, and then manage those experiments, all the while assuming risk for the outcome (please let this work!) So, you are already on your way to becoming an entrepreneur. Not enough? I didn’t think so- here are some suggestions for helping you learn more about entrepreneurship and how to start.
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As we mentioned on Monday in 3 Scientific Products We Need in Lab, this is Global Entrepreneurship Week. It’s a time to raise awareness for, provide resources to and celebrate the individuals who take the step to start a company and follow a dream. So academics- it’s time to put on your party hats because like it or not, we’re all in business now.
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As it turns out, there is a “LinkedIn for scientists” we should all be using. It’s called… LinkedIn. With over 80 million users, LinkedIn provides the infrastructure to build a large and diverse network of professional contacts that benefits scientists as much as any other profession.
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Dear Dora,
One of my friends got to take off 6 weeks to study for their qualifying exam, but my PI says I should be in the lab until 2 weeks before it. I’m not sure that’s enough time and I’m getting stressed out. Is there any kind of rule that says how much time we should get to study for it?
– D, grad student
