Advice for Scientists

Marielena
Mata

Teamwork: Lessons from Baseball

After 28 years, in 2008 the Phillies finally clinched the World Series and with it, my attention for the sport.  Mind you, I have been watching baseball since I can remember.  Having grown up in Venezuela (the second highest source of players for Major League Baseball, thank you very much!...


Peggy
McKee

To Relocate or Not To Relocate? That Is the Job Search Question!

Whether or not to relocate is a question that’s very likely to come up in your job search—especially given our current economic shakeup.  The job just may not be where you are.  But for many people, it seems like a huge risk to pick your life up and move.  It’s a fact that reloc...


Xiaoli
Du

Keep Curiosity in Science

Most of us who work in biology related fields are engaged in natural science. What is Science? The word “Science” comes from Latin scientia, which means knowledge. “It is an enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the world” (...


Sarah
Pick

Leveraging “LinkedIn” for Life Scientists (Part 1)

There is a dynamic online community in life sciences that includes US federal labs (NIH, FDA, etc), grant agencies, and potential collaborators around the globe. Whether you are happily employed or actively job searching, your online networking is becoming as important as face-to-face meetings, and,...


Jason
Sherwin

Cursing and Creativity

The theme of this posting is ‘cursing and creativity.’  As you know, there is a tremendous amount of creativity needed in the sciences. Of course, professional practitioners can (and have gotten by for years) with minimal displays of creativity. This is true in any profession. But the real ...


Kate
Sleeth

ISFJ!

Over the past few years I have heard people comment, “I am Type A, so you know what that means...” and apparently that should excuse whatever it is that they just said or did.  My basic understanding of this concept is that Type A individuals are high strung, while type B are more laid back...


William
Johnson

Science Experts Let Your Voices Be Heard

Lately, much has been made of the issues in Japan dealing with nuclear power generation and safety.  Meanwhile, approximately 20% of United States power generation portfolio is composed of nuclear sources.  In deciding where you stand on nuclear energy, it is very important to keep things ...


Jason
Sherwin

Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: Sometimes They Just Screw Up

The theme of this posting is ‘sometimes they just screw up.’  It’s about the students – or otherwise, underlings - who will at some point in your career work for you. They will be doing the things you’ve done, or the things you don’t want to do. But they are expected to do it just a...


Sarah
Pick

The Science of Comedy

The American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held their annual meeting, and one of the most popular sessions might have been Brian Malow’s talk on “The Science of Comedy: Communicating with Humor.” It was held twice (one of the few repeated sessions) and there was standing-room-o...


Jason
Sherwin

Moving Around and Following One’s Nose

I’ve gotten some requests on this blog to go a little more into my research. Don’t worry! It’s coming. But, for now, I want to focus on a “career-related” issue, since this is a bio career related blog. In particular, this entry is a response to an article that recently appeared in the Wal...