Career Paths

Fatos
Kopliku

New country, but (almost) same campus

I saw there were a couple of questions in my last blog related to my short story starting in Albania, continuing in Turkey and UK, and ending up in USA. I admit, only when I look back it seems a handful. Otherwise, I have the impression it is the most normal life occurrence. I think this is partiall...


Mandy
Kendrick

Help Save Chocolate… …and other interesting plant biology problems

Unless you are like my friend Sunny, who does not usually care for the taste of chocolate, then perhaps you can agree with me that it would be nice to save the cacao plant, which produces the cacao bean required for the production of chocolate.  The cacao crop in South America is currently unde...


Stephanie
Yeung

Can You Hear Me Now? Part 2

In a previous post, I mentioned a book, Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, that helped me get my voice heard and my actions respected. A reader asked me what I did exactly to “stand out and not be ignored anymore?” Since it has been eight years since I read the book, I could not remember ...


Maida
Taylor

Mentoring: The art of engaging students early and often in their careers

Does mentoring do anything?  What inspires students?  How do we engage and encourage young colleagues?  I have been asking these questions while organizing an obstetrics and gynecology “career” dinner for medical students at the University of California San Francisco. 


Stephanie
Yeung

Conquering Fears of Public Speaking

In my “How to Present Stylishly” post, I mentioned presentation tips and lessons I learned when I transitioned into a business career. A reader asked if I had any tips for dealing with the fear of public speaking. I shared with her tips I learned from Steven C. Toy (a great speaker himself) when...


Kate
Sleeth

Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling

Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend a talk given by Dr. Laura Hoopes.  She has recently published a book called “Breaking through the spiral ceiling” and gave both readings from it and a brief history of just how far female scientists have come in the last 50 years.  It was inte...


Maida
Taylor

I miss my old job...

Two weeks ago, I was flying from San Francisco to Newark to do an in-house training with a drug company sales force.  I was comfortably settled into my seat in first class (all those frequent flyer miles = upgrades), about to start eating the [not-too-bad] chicken dinner, when the call came out...


Xiaoli
Du

National Postdoc Appreciation Week

The past week is the third annual celebration of National Postdoc Appreciation Week. Time flies so fast! It is already my third experience in celebrating postdoc appreciation day/week. I still remember the first time I heard about National Postdoc Appreciation Day in 2009. Together with friends in t...


Wenny
Lin

Mentoring: Not one size fits all

A few weeks ago, I was invited to sit on a committee of postdoctoral fellows that evaluated nominees for the National Cancer Institute’s Outstanding Mentor Award. We were advised to select award winners who not only performed their expected mentoring duties but went over and beyond the normal expe...


Nathan
Fisher

How in the world did I end up here?

"How in the world did I end up here?"  Those were the words I muttered to myself as I lay prone under the bed in my containerized housing unit (CHU).  I was desperately trying to recall exactly how to fasten the body armor that seemed like overkill just a few short days ago, but now seemed...