- 10 Tips on Providing Feedback to Students
This post is inspired by a tweet by @HaPhDsupervisor where she asked, “In your view, what is good supervisor feedback?”
The following 10 tips are based on responses to that tweet and my own experience as a supervisor (and former PhD student).
Ask questions and listen. Ask...
- The Guiding Principle in Scientific Writing
Many scientific authors think that effective writing is based on a set of rules, such as proper grammar or word usage. But writing well is not simply about following rules. Writing well is about using a collection of skills and principles to write in a way that engages and inform...
- Know Thy Study Section Members
The top 20% of grants in any given cycle at any study section are largely impossible to rank in terms of objective quality. Assuming paylines won't allow all to get funded—which they won't—funding individual grants in that 20% becomes a lottery, with subjective criteria often...
- Specific Aims Part III – the Hypothesis (part 1)
As Mary Poppins says, let’s start at the very beginning. What is your hypothesis? Since the entire grant revolves around this one statement, it’s important that put some thought into generating a good one. What is a good hypothesis? One that is clear, testable, provable, and supp...
- Flight Tracker: Streamlined Career Development Tracking & Analysis
Career development programs, no matter what stage of the academic career they cater to, face similar challenges. A wide range of information about scholars is available, from demographics, publications, and grant submissions to pilot funding, composition of mentor panel, training...
- Inspiring the Next Generation of STEM Researchers
Do you remember the moment you decided to become a scientist? What inspired you? Were there others around that you could look to as role models? For many kids from rural areas or who may become first generation college students, like myself, that answer is likely no. The new “Who...
- Celebrating “The Climb”
To achieve a goal, we must celebrate the small wins to fuel motivation. No matter how small, we must recognize the milestones along the way as a tool to energize the process. It is also equally important to intentionally pause and take time to celebrate often while working towa...
- Advice from a Sixth Year PhD Student
The advice that follows is generalizable across many graduate institutions and programs: finding mentors and networks to navigate the program, "following the science," and having connections outside graduate school.
Another graduate school year begins! That makes me a 6th year ?...
- More Friendly Advice: When Rejection Isn’t Really Rejection
When rejection isn’t really rejection – more friendly advice from your NIH grant reviewer
I know you’ve heard it, too – “Not Discussed” means you should toss that idea in the black hole of bad research ideas never to be spoken of again. But how many clever, impactful, innovati...
- Fighting Rejection, Reggae-Style: Three Little Reviewers
Thought I’d start this one off with a nod to Bob Marley, since a little reggae always soothes my FL girl soul. When I had my first baby, I realized I knew very few lullabies. So “Three Little Birds” it was. Baby loved it, and so did I.
Fighting Rejection Lesson #1: Don’t worry. ...
