Career Paths

Marielena
Mata

Letter to Andre

Just a few weeks ago, my little brother defended his Ph.D. thesis (OK, so he is not so little and technically he is not my brother).  I wanted to write him a note with some words of wisdom, but decided to actually share that letter with all of you, who perhaps might find value in the learnings ...


Xiaobang
Hu

A Bit About Me

Hello, everyone! I am very glad to have this opportunity to join Bio Careers and interact with so many great people here. I never have written a blog before, so I think the easiest way for me to get started is to give a brief self-introduction. My name is Xiaobang. In Chinese, Xiaobang means, “Kno...


Ping
Xiao

3 tips for a successful job search for a Ph.D.

We are our own inner architects. As a PhD, it is not hard to understand an equilateral triangle base is the least requirement for a stable frame, and the broader that triangle is, the higher the building could be.  Skill, Interest and Value are the three sides of triangle, which are necessary f...


Wenny
Lin

Foreign postdocs at the NIH

During my first meeting with the planning committee for the 2011 NIH Career Symposium, I learned that more than 60% of the postdoc fellows at the NIH are non-US citizens or residents. Briefly judging from the accents heard around the room that day, I estimated that possibly 75% of the planning commi...


Xiaoli
Du

From Beijing to Washington: dream and reality

“Hi, my name is Serena, nice to meet you!” I feel this was a kind of introduction of myself a long time ago, which sounds formal and exotic to me.  “Oh, nice to meet you! What is your Chinese name? My name is Richard.” “My Chinese name is Xiao-Li. Sorry if it is hard to pronounce, jus...


Sarah
Pick

Interviewing Skills for a Scientist

The key to a successful job interview is to apply the same analytic skills process as you do for your research.  A potential employer is interested in your broader expertise – excellent writing and communication skills, leadership skills (ability to create a vision and set goals), and project...


Jason
Sherwin

When can we consider “significance” significant?

Statistical significance is one of those things that comes up quite often in medical research. Many people are fond of p-values, i.e. probabilities that the results could have been obtained by chance, being less than 5%. There are many types of tests for validating experimental findings that use thi...


Matthew
Hight

Finding the Right Career Path

I can’t think of a witty one-liner to start off my first blog entry, so I’ll just skip that part and jump right into things. I received my BS degree in chemistry and, like most undergraduates, was unsure of what to do after college. I was unsure of the job market and of what career path I wa...


Wenny
Lin

Scientists and social media – are we behind the curve?

In the October 2010 issue of The Scientist, Associate Editor Richard Grants noted in his editorial that “only a fraction of researchers in the UK make frequent use of social media tools.” I suspect that is also the case here in the US.


Mike
Chang

THE MASTER PLAN

In my past blogs, I had lamented on the lack of career planning as I was going through my education. At this stage in life, I recognized the deficiency and immediately proceeded to over-compensate on the solution.  I made a significant decision during my apprenticeship at UC Irvine. I had d...