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Tag: mentorship

186. Scientists Share Their Goals and Strategies for Attending a Scientific Conference

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Since the pandemic, we can honestly say that Josh and Dan “don’t get out much.” But we broke out of that rut to attend the annual conference for the American Society for Cell Biology – Cell Bio 2022 meeting in Washington, DC.

A scientific conference is a unique experience AND opportunity. Thousands of academics, researchers, students, and vendors are all in one place in order to ‘talk science.’

There’s so much potential to build relationships and drive breakthroughs, but there are also plenty of pitfalls. A meeting with this many people can be chaotic, overwhelming, and well, just plain exhausting.

So we got out the mobile recorder, dusted off the microphone, and asked attendees for their advice on navigating a large scientific conference with the best chance of success.

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159. Cultivating Resilience w/ Adina Glickman

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Imagine a tennis ball dropped on cement – it immediately bounces back to your hand.

Now imagine dropping that same ball on a sandy beach.

The bounce of a tennis ball on pavement is a form of resilience, but it’s important to note that resilience is not just an inherent property of the ball.

Context matters just as much.

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157. The Three Mentors You Need

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Most graduate students look on their research advisors as a mentor – hoping for guidance on science, career, and life in general.

But even a superstar PI can’t provide that kind of comprehensive mentorship for all students all the time, and those stellar advisors are rare indeed.

That’s why EVERY student needs to think about identifying and building relationships with three distinct types of mentor through graduate school and beyond.

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145. Ten Tips from Hindsight: A PhD’s guide to a PhD

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How many times have you said “I wish I had known!” or “Why didn’t they teach us this in school?”

If you’re a graduate student, you’ve probably said it a lot.

For some reason, from the moment you write your first application to the moment you get your hood and mortarboard, you’ll be re-learning what thousands of students have learned before you.

You’ll be treading a well-worn path, but for some reason, you won’t get a map.

Why don’t successful graduates take the time to help their successors along? Well, partly because they immediately get busy on the next stage of their career.

And partly because they may feel they’ve barely escaped the gauntlet of graduate school intact. “What advice could I give?” they muse. “I almost didn’t make it myself!”

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137. Tools for Finding a Research Mentor

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There are two conflicting truths for many early-career graduate students:

  1. The mentor you choose is vitally important, and can impact your ability to complete a PhD and your career trajectory years into the future.
  2. Many students choose a mentor based on feelings, hunches, and hearsay.

Truth 1 should be self-evident by now. A mentor trains you, helps you develop a research program, and ultimately has a say in when and how you graduate.

Later, they will also write you letters of recommendation and speak with the search committee that may consider you for a faculty position.

Toxic mentor relationships have driven countless students away from science altogether, and healthy mentor relationships have acted as a springboard for fruitful research careers.

But what about Truth 2?

Given the importance of choosing a mentor, why do so many students ‘rely on their gut’ when making this life-altering decision?

This week, we talk with a scientist who has developed the tools and framework for making that choice more rigorous, and hopefully, more successful.

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