Career Paths

Wenny
Lin

Retirement benefits in the federal government

Recently, The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that on average, federal government employees are underpaid by 26.3% compared with similar non-federal jobs. This “pay gap” has widened over the last couple years while federal salaries were frozen.With such a large difference in pay, I wondered,...


Virginie
Adam

Feed my mind!

As a goodbye present after my PhD defense, a friend of mine gave me a very interesting book: Science, a history. It’s a fascinating account of the birth of the scientific method, with a portrayal of the charismatic protagonists who made scientific discoveries that advanced human knowledge.


Kate
Sleeth

Following Directions

I was recently involved in the review process of the Summer Academy applications for my institution.  We accept around 50 scholars each summer for 10-12 week programs which consist of both high school and undergraduate students.  This is the first time I have been involved with this proces...


Kate
Sleeth

Letter to my Younger Self

I submitted an article to the Science club for girls website earlier this year.  The website states “Women who share a love of science, engineering and technology, who are in different stages of their careers, share with their “young selves” words of encouragement, glimpses into the futur...


Clement
Weinberger

To postdoc - or not?

OK, I've made "postdoc" into a verb. Sorry about that, but the question remains "does one need to do one?”  The key to considering a postdoc as an optional first step rather than a logical or expected first step is in deciding what your long term goals are before you decide on a postdoc. I’...


Gaia
Vasiliver-Shamis

What’s your type?

Hello, my name is Gaia and I’m an INTJ. Now let me introduce myself in a more conventional manner: I graduated from NYU School of Medicine in 2009 with a PhD in Immunology and then continued for a post-doc position at the NIH. After a year or so, I became a Program Manager at the NIH.


Maida
Taylor

A big fat problem: new obesity drugs mean new regulatory jobs

In mid July 2012, the Food and Drug Administration approved two new diet pills.  No drugs in the class have been approved in the past 13 years.  There has been (pardon the pun)  an enormous groundswell of demand for anti-obesity drugs, both from medical professionals and from the publ...


Liang
Zhang

Is reading research papers a chore? Here’s some time saving tips.

I presented a webinar this Wednesday on how to get a Ph.D. in as few years as possible.  I myself graduated after only 3 years in my thesis lab.  One of the things that really saved me time was the way I searched, organized and read research papers.  I’ll share some of these tips in...


Maida
Taylor

They love me…they love me not: why you did not get the job

How long is it now?  How many months of searching Monster, Biospace,  Bio Careers, LinkedIn and other sites looking for a job?  Six months, nine months, a year?  How many screening interviews, HR  conversations,  talks with CEOs, COOs, CFOs,  VPs?  Two intervi...


Clement
Weinberger

Do you have a reference for that?

When was the last time someone asked you that question? I guess it's the researchers' equivalent to the otherwise common questions of "how do you know?” or “who told you that?” So what did you answer? My usual choices for a response are "yes," "no'" and "do I need one?" Context is important...