Skill Building

Kate
Sleeth

WIST 2011 – Exploding Bras; and Hard Hats!

On Saturday the 14th of May, I had the pleasure of attending the Women in Science and Technology conference held at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla.  The title of the conference was, Embrace Change: Opportunities in the New Decade.  I have never been to a more inspiri...


Kate
Sleeth

WIST 2011 – The Art of negotiation

At the Women in Science and Technology conference, the final workshop I attended was given by Linda Baracs, a professor of law, ethics and negotiation at the University of San Diego.  Her workshop was entitled, He Said, She Said: The Art of Negotiation.  Linda gave an exceptional workshop,...


Cynthia
Lawley

Getting Along

I had a long conversation yesterday about the things I wish I knew straight out of graduate school with a friend who was struggling communicating with his boss.  He was caught up in needing to be right and feeling criticized in a way he perceived as unfair.  After our talk, I was struck by how muc...


Wenny
Lin

Career and professional development at the NIH

As a graduate student, I thought being a postdoc was a rather bad deal. On top of the bad pay, no retirement benefits, and the countless hours in the lab, postdocs must sometimes rely on their antiquated, anchored-in-academia mentors for career advice. When I arrived at the NIH, I learned that the p...


Clement
Weinberger

Flying By The Seat of Your Pants

What’s that? It means deciding on a course of action as you go along, using your own initiative and perceptions rather than a pre-determined plan. From what I’ve been told, the description “fly by the seat of your pants” fell into popular use after Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan flew from ...


Kate
Sleeth

Mentoring

Each and every one of us has been mentored.  We have probably experienced both good and bad mentoring and may have even had the opportunity to attempt it ourselves.  Most academics do not receive formal training on how to teach or mentor effectively, and yet they are expected to do just th...


Maida
Taylor

Do You Have a Love /Hate Relationship With PowerPoint?

How much do you rely on Powerpoint?  How much does your team rely on PowerPoint for training and education, promotion, etc?  The more important question is do you really need PowerPoint at all.  I have been pondering this question for the past 10 years (as if I have nothing better to ...


Ping
Xiao

Manage Yourself To Achieve Your Career Goals in Industry

What have you done for yourself lately? This is not a question about getting a massage or spending a weekend relaxing in the country. It is a question to jolt you into paying attention to your own professional development. With so much thought and energy rightly focused on the global financial crisi...


Peggy
McKee

Advice for New Graduates (and Others) During a Tough Job Market

What do you suppose the biggest obstacle for new graduates in a tough job market (or any job market) is?  Experience—or, rather, the lack of experience.  That’s a significant question for employers.  They take a risk when they hire anyone, but it feels like a huge risk if the cand...


Randall
Ribaudo

Scientific Applications Specialist: A Great Transition Job from Academia to Industry

One of the most unsettling aspects of taking the plunge into industry careers is the fear of having to “give up” your science and everything you worked so hard for.  I had those same fears when I finally decided to leave my position as a Principle Investigator in the NCI for my first job on...