I was recently in Nashville, TN when a storm of the century hit the area. What started out as a typical thunderstorm, escalated to a relentless pounding by thunder, wind and rain. After two days of flooding and landslides, many homes and businesses were destroyed and clean water was a luxury. The tragedy highlighted just how quickly things can go from sunny to scary and while we may have insurance on our homes, we surely don’t take out a policy on our bench. But that could be a big mistake…
Flyceum: Your Science. Your Career.
We’re following in the tradition of open discussions among scientists that has resulted in important advances in both science and society.
If You Don’t Disaster-Proof Your Bench Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later
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Is a Lab Holiday Party Too Much to Ask For?!
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Dear Dora,
Is it too much to expect a holiday party from your PI- even if it’s just a lunch outing?
-TJ, graduate student
You Should Try Some PCP: A Model Scientific Conference
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Recently we asked how many conferences scientists should attend each year. The vast majority of respondents felt two conferences a year was the ideal number – enough to make it to a large society meeting and a small, specialized conference. While most of us are familiar with the format of the usual suspects (ACS, AACR, SfN, Gordon conferences – the list goes on), there is another model out there that deserves some attention.
Seven Steps to Successful Summer Student Supervising
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As finals wrap up in colleges everywhere, graduate students and postdocs across the country can now be overheard exclaiming, “this summer’s going to be so awesome! I’m going to have an undergraduate student working with me and with four hands instead of two, this project is going to take off!” Oh, it’s going to take off – in what direction is the real question…
Is it Career Suicide to Work for a Competitor?
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Dear Dora,
We always seem to be competing with this one lab, but they do really good work and I like them a lot. Is it acceptable to do a postdoc with a competitor’s lab?
Gena, graduate student
Meet Your Search for Research Microgrant Winners!
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Last week the inaugural Search for Research competition came to an exciting conclusion. While there was movement all across the leaderboard, the eventual top two finishers battled it out for the top spot with over 1000 votes between them in the final 24 hours! Luckily, thanks to all of your support in downloading and using the toolbar, we raised enough money to fund both of them! So let’s meet the first class of Microgrant award winners.
Choose Your Microgrant Winners While You Still Can!
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It’s like we’re at that point in a book where we’re dying to skip the last 20 pages to find out what happens. Or that part in a Keanu Reeves movie where you whisper to yourself “I can’t believe I seriously just sat through that.” That’s right, we’re at the end. At 11:59pm EST tonight, this competition will be history, so take one last minute to support your favorite proposals.
You’re a Grad Student: You Shall Perform, Even When Sick.
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My project is one of those studies where not coming into work is just not an option. I am looking at a phenomenon that requires me to make observations over time, and missing any of those time points introduces a serious gap in my data. Although it is a good project, there is one major flaw in the design: no back-up plan in case I get sick.
Full-time Student (and Part-time Employee?)
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Dear Dora,
I’m having a hard time making ends meet and am considering taking a part-time job in the evenings to help keep me afloat. If I’m enrolled full-time as a grad student, is that legal? I’m hesitant to ask our graduate coordinator since I don’t want to anyone to get suspicious.
M.J., graduate student
11 Days Left to Make Your Votes Count!
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Lately, there’s been a lot of movement on the Search for Research Leaderboard. Not the kind of movement caused by prunes – we’re talking about the kind caused by votes. So coming into the homestretch, we’ll keep a close eye on how many votes separate the top contenders so we can help give our favorites the final pushes they need to win.
