- Overheard at Ground Level: Fresh Brewed Mentoring
Vanderbilt's Edge for Scholars hosts weekly Zoom office hours, called Ground Level, with senior mentors and leadership. Discussions range from advice for grant writing and publishing, study design, tenure/promotion, managing a lab, and more. We collected pearls from these discuss...
- What the F? Advice for Fellowship Applicants from Reviewers. Part 3
In the final post of this three part series, I share insight from a dozen faculty who review NRSA fellowship applications on the mentor’s role in the application, metrics used to assess the strength of an applicant, who to ask to write letters, and interacting with your PO post s...
- What the F? Advice for Fellowship Applicants from Reviewers. Part 2
In this three part series, I share advice received when I asked a dozen faculty from my institution who review fellowship applications what they look for in a strong application. Part 1 discussed when to submit and logistics around submitting an easily reviewable document. Part 3...
- What the F? Advice for Fellowship Applicants from Reviewers. Part 1
To craft the strongest fellowship application, know what review criteria are in place. A good place to start is Section V. Application Review Information of the program announcement for the technical definition of the review criteria. However, another great source of insight is t...
- Staying Mentally Well in Academia is a Balancing Act
The post is longer and more personal than my other posts. I hope to make a small contribution to encouraging discussions about mental health in academia.
Mental health issues have been part of my life as far as I can remember, both through my personal experiences and those...
- Choosing What to Do or Not to Do on the Job
Lives with daycare drop-offs, graduate students to monitor and department chairs to please can be hectic. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that we can actually do much more than we think we can - when our priorities are in-line. I am also amazed at how well things work ou...
- Build a Great Team: Help Your Staff Help You
Whether you have a few hours a week of a lab tech paid for by your startup funds or you've been running your own lab for years, a high functioning team can help you achieve your research goals. Senior research staff often have greater insight into the details of executing resea...
- What the F? Creating a Commons ID
Help! I’m submitting an NIH fellowship application and need a Commons ID. How do I get one?
Let’s start with what eRA Commons and a Commons ID are.
eRA Commons
The NIH describes eRA Commons as “an online interface where grant applicants, grantees and federal staff at NIH and...
- 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...
