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028: Making Time for Kids When Everyone Else Stays Late

If you have kids, you’ve experienced “the time shift.”

Where you used to have hobbies, you now have a drive to soccer practice.  Where you used to have dinner out, you now have dinner, dishes, bath-time, stories, and bedtime, IN.

And where you used to stay late in the lab to finish an experiment, you now rush out at 5 to avoid the late fee at daycare.

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026: Career Advice from A Successful Scientist

When you’re worried about today’s experiments and tomorrow’s time points, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s really important for your career and your life.  Why not start the New Year with a new perspective?

Father Time
“How about setting down the pointy scythe, son. You’re making grandpa nervous.”

Looking Back and Moving Forward

In this episode, we consider the advice of Robert J. Sternberg, PhD,  a self-described geezer and well-respected academic.  He’s Professor of Human Development at Cornell University, and has co-authored over 1,500 publications.  He wrote an article for the Chronicle of Higher Education laying out his career advice for other academics.

His tips range from simple (“Save as much money as you can”) to subtle (“Be true to yourself”), but all of them are worth a few moments of consideration as we enter 2016.  Here’s the list, with more detail included in the article:

Career Advice From an Oldish Not-Quite Geezer

  1. Put your family first.
  2. Make your health a close second.
  3. Save as much money as you can.
  4. If you’re in the wrong place, get out.
  5. Stay away from jerks.
  6. If you’re not having fun, something’s wrong.
  7. Be true to yourself.
  8. Don’t tie up too much of your self-esteem in someone else’s evaluation of your work.
  9. Take stock periodically.
  10. Have a hobby. See the world. Or both.
  11. Help others.
  12. Take some risks.

Pop a Cork

Also in this episode, Josh and Dan pop some bubbly to celebrate the New Year and some exciting milestones for the Hello PhD podcast.  Thanks to all of you joining us on this journey, and we can’t wait to make science a friendlier, happier place in 2016!

025: Experiments and Exercise: 10 Creative Ways Scientists Stay Fit

You’re busy.  Experiments, lab meeting, journal club, classes – you barely have time to sleep, let alone make it to the gym to exercise.  We’ll tell you about 10 creative ways other grad students and postdocs stay physically fit, and how it’s boosting their productivity and self-confidence.

exercise

You don’t have time NOT to exercise

The research is clear: exercising is good for your mood, your productivity, and your health.  So why do so many of us believe we “don’t have time for it?”  To reap the benefits of exercise for people on a busy lab schedule, we asked the LabRats group on Reddit and other grad students and postdocs for advice on staying in shape.

Here are some of their tips:

  1. Bike to lab!
  2. Take a class at the university gym
  3. Take the stairs
  4. Learn a martial art
  5. Schedule workout time with your lab-mates to make it social
  6. Sign up for intramural sports on campus
  7. Check out cross-fit at a local gym or online
  8. Try the New York Times 7-minute workout or other apps
  9. Read papers while riding a stationary bike or elliptical machine
  10. Do squats while waiting for the centrifuge

Bottom line – find something you enjoy, and make it a priority.  You’ll feel more confident, and tie your sense of accomplishment to something more than today’s experiment.

 

Salted Caramel Everything

After all that exercise, it’s time to indulge as we sample a New Belgium Brewing/Ben & Jerry’s colla-BEER-ation (see what I did there?)  It’s the Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale, and it’s not as bad as you’d think.  The brewer’s sense of restraint is appreciated, as this still tastes like a beer and not a chocolate milk-shake.

We also celebrate the season this week with a reading of The Night Before CRISPRmas, and an etymological tale about the origin of Santa’s name.  Happy Holidays!

 

References

Exercise and workplace performance

Exercise and cognition

024: Leave with a Master’s, and your sanity

Stephanie dreamed of becoming a scientist when she was a girl. She managed to maintain excellent grades while working in research labs throughout her college career. With her flawless CV, it came as no surprise when she was accepted into a top-tier pharmacology PhD program.

Four years later, Stephanie walked into her PI’s office to tell him she wanted to leave.

quit2

 

Dreams in the Daylight

This week on the show, Stephanie tells her story. Four years into her graduate training, she realized she was miserable and couldn’t see how her situation would get better if she stayed. So she had some hard conversations: with herself, with her family, and ultimately, with her graduate mentor and labmates.

Reactions were mixed, but she was able to finish her Master’s thesis and leave on good terms. Then it was time to find a job and a way to pursue all of her other passions and goals.  She says it was the best decision she ever made.

Biomedical PhD programs have a completion rate near 50%, which means for every newly minted PhD, there’s a scientist with similar training but a different degree. Some leave with a master’s, and some much earlier, but it’s high time we talked about the many paths of graduate students, and how to support each individual’s choice.

 

Mmm, Coppery!

bad penny

This week we sampled Bad Penny Brown Ale from Big Boss Brewing Company. We’re still trying to decide whether the little people on the label are Penny’s murder victims.

And just in time for holiday giving, Stephanie makes some soap that WON’T give your loved ones cancer!  And isn’t that what the holidays are all about?  Check out RedMoutainGoodness.com and give the gift of goat!

goatsoap