- 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 ...
- Sell Your Specific Aims Using the PASTOR Method
I am often struck by the similarities between selling methods and grant writing. Of course, grant writing is selling, but scientists don’t usually think of themselves as salesmen. I recently read a blog post about the PASTOR method, which was conceived by a well-known copywriter ...
- 5 Things That Help Me Write
I remember a seminar that I organized when I was a postdoc. The speaker was a science communicator with a PhD in biomedical science, who also had published a novel. She started the seminar by asking the audience “Who considers themselves a writer?” A few hands went up. Next, ...
- Celebrating Team Wins
Favorite traditions for basking in the glory of a first-authored paper or awarded grant
Celebrating lab successes creates a culture of compassion, motivates lab members, and teaches the next generation of scientists to lead with kindness.
Accomplishments
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