- What the F?: Childcare Costs Allowed on Fellowships & Training Grants
The NIH has recognized how the high cost of childcare can create roadblocks for graduate students and postdocs on the way to completing their training. In order to help alleviate some of this burden, the agency announced that as of FY22 full time pre-doc and postdoc trainees supp...
- A Guide to Managing Research Teams
Research training programs rarely teach management of staff and trainees. Particularly for those of us who go on to careers in academic medicine, our ability to effectively manage a team is critical to the success of our career. Graduate school, fellowship, and postdoctoral tra...
- Changes to NIH Biosketch and Other Support
The NIH recently announced changes to its Biosketch and Other Support documents that took effect beginning with applications and RPPRs submitted with a due date of May 25, 2021. Don't panic: These changes are minor and an effort to eliminate duplicate information. Below we highl...
- Tune the When, How Much, and What in Your Days
You can have balance, productivity, and meaning when you know how to tune the when, how much, and what of your activities. Let me share what I've learned to achieve this over the past four years.
WHEN. Converging evidence from psychology, biology, and economics show the natura...
- Ten Tips When Interviewing for a Faculty Position
[caption id="attachment_10397" align="alignnone" width="1100"] Landing a Job[/caption]
I’m in the midst of coaching my 21st and 22nd advisees through the process of interviewing for faculty jobs. Every year, I think, I should write this stuff down in case it’s useful to others...
- One Minute Writing Tuneup: Readability
While helping a brilliant scientist revise her abstract to a 10th grade reading level for a foundation award application, I wrote down some tips for converting writing intended for audiences with a scientific background to readers with less formal education:
Smaller words. Hal...
- 10 Tips for Supervising Research Interns
I recently came across this post on Twitter that said, “I’m mentoring an undergrad researcher for the first time! What advice would you give for how to be a good mentor?”
Supervising students is one of my favourite parts of academic life. The post made me think about how I sup...
- Writer’s Toolbox: Creating Sentences That Flow
Have you ever had a high-tech remote control that has multiple features but you only use the off and on button? Or a computer application like Excel (guilty) that can perform many functions and you only use it for addition? Using words and sentences can be akin to using tha...
- Mentoring for Grief & Growth at the End of a Dissertation
Just yesterday one of my Ph.D. students whose dissertation is due to the committee next week asked me "Please tell me the truth. Am I okay?" I assured the student that they were indeed okay, and not just okay but that they had completed an impressive body of work, that they had...
- Working with the Kids at Home? Tips from an Experienced Parent
The ongoing pandemic has made working remotely with kids a reality for many parents. With schools mostly back in person, it's less of an all-day struggle, but with exposure quarantines and canceled aftercare/activities, the kids are still at home more often than usual. Reports ...
