Kenny Gibbs is a scientist who studies other scientists.
After earning his PhD in Immunology from Stanford, he turned his attention to the broader topic of scientific careers and how PhDs choose and evolve in their work. Through surveys and interviews with postdocs and research scientists, Dr. Gibbs explores issues like career-interest formation and postdoc development.
Wouldn’t you like to ask someone like that for advice on your graduate training?
Reading papers is part of the job, but keeping up with the literature can feel overwhelming sometimes. If you’re developing a sense of dread for that stack of papers on your desk, it’s time to learn some shortcuts that will get you up to speed.
So the next time you need to give a lab meeting or seminar, just drop a couple of figures into the prettiest PowerPoint template you can find.
Make sure to take detailed bulleted notes so you won’t forget anything!
And if you’re feeling cheeky, add one of those cool boomerang animations with a star wipe to get the audience’s attention on slide 28. People love that!
Even if you’re not working on a paper or grant proposal today, you’ll probably communicate about science. You’ll send an email to a colleague, chat with your PI, or present a paper at lab meeting. In every case, you’re trying to convey an idea or change someone’s mind, and that’s why it’s so important to communicate clearly.
Write Right
Carol went on to win the Nobel Prize for her work on keeping chalk boards relevant in the 21st century.
This week, we invited David Shifrin of Filament Life Science Communication and the Science Writing Radio podcast to share his top four tips for what he calls “non-technical writing.” That includes those emails, conversations, and presentations you’re doing every day of the week.
Here are the tips he shared on the show:
Define your audience: Create each piece of content for an “audience of one” and don’t try to be all things to all people.
Define the problem: Focus, try to convey one main idea, and support it with every sentence.
Less is more: Use white space, don’t feel compelled to tell everything you know, and edit yourself ruthlessly.
Tell a story: Data is critical, but data only makes sense in the context of a story. Use emotion, story arc, the hero’s journey, etc. to engage your audience.
David has a 15-point checklist to improve your scientific communications available for download!
The ethanol took on mythic proportions this week. David sampled the Rompo Red Rye Ale from Jackelope Brewing Company in Nashville, TN. They describe a “rompo” as “a mythical beast with the head of a rabbit, the ears of a human, the front arms of a badger, and the rear legs of a bear.” Magically frightening!
Josh and Dan couldn’t find that locally, so they drank a beer with a head of hops, the ears of hops, the front arms made of even more hops, and the rear legs of a bear who died from an overdose of hops. It was the Freak of Nature Double IPA from Wicked Weed Brewing in… wait for it… Asheville, NC! It’s like Nashville, but headless. See what I did there?
