Career Advice for Life Scientists Volumes I & II - National Institute of

242 Pages·2011·1.83 MB·English

Career Advice
for
Life
Scientists
Volumes I & II
Career Advice for Life Scientists Volumes I & II
T H E A M E R I C A N S O C I E T Y F O R C E L L B I O L O G Y
Career Advice

for Life Scientists

Volumes I & II
T H E A M E R I C A N S O C I E T Y F O R C E L L B I O L O G Y
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 Cell 19: 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
T H E A M E R I C A N S O C I E T Y F O R C E L L B I O L O G Y
Career Advice for Life Scientists
Volume I
Volume Editor
Elizabeth Marincola
Production Manager
Stephanie Dean
WICB Column 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