Education

Christine
Zafra

The Art of Picking a Lab: The Pre-Application Stage

Over the past 10 years, I have talked with numerous graduate students that are in the process of selecting a laboratory to conduct their research. One thing that has stood out during those conversations is the lack of homework that students do when selecting a laboratory. With the average time to a ...


Nathan
Vanderford

PhDs Are Everything

Over 50% of PhDs work outside academia (Science and Engineering Indicators 2012) which means that many PhDs are indeed working in a variety of different jobs, and most importantly, this means that the majority of PhDs are not pursuing tenure track faculty positions. Despite this, a perpetuating stig...


Nicholas
Mitchell

Better the devil you know than the devil you don't

Even though jobs, relationships, and cities make you unhappy or uncomfortable, you stay in them because of loss aversion. Loss aversion keeps you where you are, because the fear of losing what you have is greater than the reward associated with pursuing what you want. Don’t worry– we all do it.&...


Christine
Zafra

Join me on my blogging adventure as I embark on my career journey!

Hello! My name is Heather, and I am currently a postdoctoral fellow. As I was thinking about beginning this blog, one question kept popping into my head “What makes me qualified to give career advice?” And what I realized is that I am not any different from the scientist sitting next to you. ...


Sandlin
Seguin

Becoming An Expert In Things I Enjoy

As a graduate student, I worked really hard to do the things that graduate students are supposed to do. I went to the seminars. I read the journal club papers. I did well in my classes. And I will admit that I was often pretty jealous of other people who weren’t so regimented about those things, b...


Jared
Young

Blogging about careers at liberal arts colleges

Hi, I’m Jared Young, and welcome to my blog at BioCareers. I’ll be writing about various aspects of careers in biology education. Since 2006 I’ve been a Professor on the tenure track at Mills College, a small women’s liberal arts college in Oakland, CA.


Jared
Young

Parsing PUIs (1) – Requirements for tenure

When contemplating a Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) career, take note that the nature of your job can vary considerably depending on the institution. This is part of a series of blogs that list some salient features of an institution that can affect your work.   Today’s focus - ...


Jared
Young

Parsing PUIs (2) – Degrees granted at your institution

When contemplating a career in a Primarily Undergraduate Instition (PUI), take note that the nature of your job can vary considerably depending on the institution. This is part of a series of blogs that list some salient features of an institution that can affect your work.   Today’s focus �...


Jared
Young

Parsing Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) (3) – Institution size and reputation

When contemplating a PUI career, take note that the nature of your job can vary considerably depending on the institution. This is part of a series of blogs that list some salient features of an institution that can affect your work.   Today’s focus – Institution size and reputation ...


Jared
Young

Parsing PUIs (4) – Student skill level and teaching

When contemplating a Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) career, take note that the nature of your job can vary considerably depending on the institution. This is part of a series of blogs that list some salient features of an institution that can affect your work. Today’s focus – Studen...