- Getting Expectations in Line with an Online Mentoring Agreement
Excellent communication underlies the mentee-mentor relationship, starting with the initial expectations, goals, and plans to achieve success together. Yet most Mentee-Mentor Agreements used by academic groups define agreements in formal legalese that often poorly fit specific nu...
- Pro Tips for Networking and Collaborating
One recently promoted PI and another more senior who both started leading large multi-site studies early in their careers shared their best advice on networking and collaborating at a recent Vanderbilt event for early career researchers.
Digna Velez Edwards, PhD
Professor, Ob...
- Fierce Conversations
Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & in Life, One Conversation at a Time
Although the title may bring to mind some vivid images, author Susan Scott doesn't suggest that we talk in threatening overconfidence with unrelenting passion, but rather that our conversat...
- Networking for People Who Hate Networking: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected
If you’re like your correspondent, the very word “networking” sends a trickle of terror down your spine. Even the thought of mingling at a conference fills you with dread. But take heart! “Networking” doesn’t have to be a four-letter word. As Devora Zack admits, while it migh...
- Connecting Through Poster Sessions
Imagine you’re at a poster session. As you walk by the posters, you instantly understand the key points and ‘get’ the research. You find yourself stopping, reading, engaging with the presenter, and you’re inspired to think more broadly about your own work. Posters designed with t...
- Writing Science in Plain English: Clarity Rules
As one might expect from the title, Writing Science in Plain English is clear, concise, and very easy to understand. In fact, it's one of the best books on writing I've come across. If you only read one book on science writing, make it this one.
In short, digestible chapte...
- Not that Kind of Conference: Attending Clinical Conferences as a PhD
For a number of years, I attended one or two conferences annually, focused on my Terrible Disease of Interest, but at meetings largely composed of PhDs like me. More recently, I have started attending the clinical meeting relevant to the MDs who treat said Terrible Disease. The m...
- Negotiating for Your First Academic Position
You’ve just articulated your research vision and completed a series of interviews with potential employers. You’re in your office revising a manuscript and you get a text… It’s your first job offer! How do you proceed in a way that gives you the greatest likelihood of success? ...
- Salvaging an Insufficient Offer
Receiving a faculty offer that is financially untenable is the worst of both worlds: temporary excitement followed by a crash. It triggers disappointment at being led along the hiring path alongside explicit evidence that your value and needs were not understood.
Don’t ass...
- Helping Students Find the Focus of Their Manuscript
Learning how to write a research paper is difficult and takes time, yet it is an integral part of a PhD in STEM. Teaching your students and postdocs how to write good papers is an essential part of being a good supervisor and mentor.
Loose keys from a rainbow coloured comp...
