Learning to Be a Beginner


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Nature recently published an opinion piece about the things budding 21st century scientists need in their training (https://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7560-371a). Of the seven people who contributed to the article, four emphasized the need for scientists to learn non-scientific professional and leadership skills, the sort that are not often seen in a traditional academic-research environment. Atsushi Sunami, one of the contributors, says that his Tokyo-based institute is setting up faculty cross-appointments with industry, largely to help their trainees get hands-on non-academic experience. They’d like their graduates to be desirable to companies, not just in a faculty search.