Career Advice

242 Pages·2008·1.63 MB·English

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THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY
Career Advice
for Life Scientists
Volumes I & II

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY
Career Advice
for Life Scientists
Volumes I & II
Editor
Elizabeth Marincola
Executive Director
Joan Goldberg
Director of Publications
W. Mark Leader
Editorial and Education Senior Manager
Thea Clarke
Reprinted with support from the
Office of Research on Women’s Health,
The National Institutes of Health
Cover photo by Christopher Pappas
(See Molecular Biology of the Cell19: 1837–1847.)
©2002, 2004, 2008 The American Society for Cell Biology

Table of Contents: Volume I
Introduction to
Career Advice for Life Scientists . . . . . . . 1
1. THE HEAD GAME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Impostor Phenomenon . . . . . . . 4
Saying “No” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Unwritten Rules for Advancing
Your Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2. TEACHING & LEARNING . . . . . . . . 15
The Scholarship of Teaching . . . . 16
Teaching Science in
High School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Getting the Most from Your
Graduate Experience. . . . . . . . . . 23
3. COMMUNICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Communicating Effectively in
Departmental Meetings . . . . . . . . 28
“And Our Next Speaker Is...” . . . 30
The Unicorn in the Garden
or Why Cell Biologists Should
Meet the Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4. MANAGEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
A Crash Course in
Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Designing Productive
Lab Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Some Tips on Successful
Negotiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5. LEADERSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Creative Mentoring Strategies. . . . 50
Crossing to the Other Side . . . . . 53
Dealing with Unstable Colleagues. 56
6. UNDERREPRESENTATION
IN SCIENCE CAREERS. . . . . . . . . . . 59
Affirmative Action for the Next
Generation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Increasing Representation of
People of Color in Science. . . . . . 64
7. TENURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
The Tenure Process Viewed
from the Top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Earning Tenure:
Ten Recommendations . . . . . . . . . 71
The Negative Tenure Decision . . . 75
8. PARENTHOOD & SCIENCE
CAREERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Juggling Career and Family . . . . . 80
Optimizing the
Family-Career Balance. . . . . . . . . 82
9. EXPLORING VENUES
FOR SCIENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Breaking into Biotech. . . . . . . . . . 86
Research at a Small Institution:
Not as Different as You Think . . . 89
10. WOMEN & SCIENCE
CAREERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Why Women Leave Science . . . . 96
Shaping the Future for Women
in Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
vi CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS
Table of Contents: Volume II
Introduction to
Career Advice for Life Scientists II . . . . . . . 109
1. THE LAB COMMUNITY. . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Confronting the
Social Context of Science . . . . . . . . 112
Conflict Management . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Two Cultures and the
Revolution in Biotechnology . . . . . . . 119
2. DEALING WITH EVERYTHING AT ONCE 123
Dual(ing) Academic Careers . . . . . . 124
Effective Time Management . . . . . . . 128
On Being a Scientist and Parent. . . . 132
How to “Get a Life”
in the Life Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
3. SCIENTIFIC CITIZENSHIP. . . . . . . . . . . 139
The Misconduct of Others: Prevention
Techniques for Researchers . . . . . . . 140
Making a Difference: The Three R’s
of Public Science Policy . . . . . . . . . 144
Great Expectations or
Realistic Expectations? . . . . . . . . . . 148
4. WRITING AND PUBLISHING. . . . . . . . 151
Me Write Pretty One Day: How
to Write a Good Scientific Paper . . . 152
How to Read and Respond
to a Journal Rejection Letter . . . . . . . 156
The Role of an Editor:
A Delicate Balancing Act. . . . . . . . . 161
What Happened to My Figures?! . . . 164
5. POSTDOC ISSUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
To Eurodoc or Not Eurodoc . . . . . . . 168
Making the Most of Your
Postdoctoral Experience . . . . . . . . . 172
Pursuing Science
across the Pacific Ocean . . . . . . . . 175
6. CAREER TRANSITION. . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
The Art of the Interview . . . . . . . . . . 180
Salary Negotiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
What Else Can I Do?: Exploring
Opportunities in Business
and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Late Career Opportunities
and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
7. GRANTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Study Section Service:
An Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Responding to the
NIH Summary Statement . . . . . . . . . 203
8. ACADEMIC CAREERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Teaching Is Good for Research. . . . . 208
Academic Careers without Tenure. . . 210
9. EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION . . . . . . . . . 215
Do’s and Don’t’s of
Poster Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
You Don’t Have to
Shout to Be Heard . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
ENDNOTES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
viii CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY
Career Advice for Life Scientists
Volume I
Volume Editor
Elizabeth Marincola
Production Manager
Stephanie Dean
WICBColumn Editors
Maureen Brandon, 1998–2001
Laura Williams, 1996–2000
Published with support from
the Office of Research
on Women’s Health,
The National Institutes of Health
©2002 The American Society for Cell Biology