In many undergrad STEM courses, high-stakes exams — such as mid-terms and finals — determine as much as 60-70% of the student’s overall grade. However, this emphasis on tests may be inadvertently putting some students at a disadvantage. Read more
There’s a difference between mentoring and doling out to-do lists. This is something I’ve learned over the past year, my first as a mentor. Mentoring undergrads became part of my job only recently – in the past, research came first. Most advisors value research outcomes over mentoring, and departments certainly place more value on publications. Before this past year, I was used to just a single undergrad working in my lab, and I thought of them as worker bees, not as future colleagues. Read more
When I was looking for a PhD lab I had a pretty clear idea of the techniques I wanted to learn and master, and, essentially, I thought that was everything I needed to worry about. But the right PhD training is crucial to establish a good foundation for what comes next – either a job in industry, a postdoc in academia, or something away from the bench. Choosing the right lab is important, and there are considerations beyond gaining specific technical skills that need to be mulled over before making a decision. If I were to start another PhD, this is what I would look for: … Read more
A recent cancer research symposium displayed a familiar asymmetry. 90% of the attendees were PhD students or postdocs sitting obsequiously in the rear and asking 10% of the questions. 10% of the attendees were front-sitting faculty providing 90% of the inquiries. Read more
For many researchers, writing a paper is the daunting task that must be undertaken once they have completed the ‘real work’ of performing experiments and collecting data. But as Nature Plants’ Chris Surridge puts it: “Publication… is the way you get to tell the world what you’ve done and what you think it means.” … Read more
As postdocs with a combined 20 years of experience in neuroscience research, we’ve attended hundreds of talks and delivered dozens of presentations. We’ve realized it is imperative to perform your best every time you present — whether at a weekly meeting or at a job interview. Read more
As I reported in a Nature feature published this week, I found more online courses that were being developed than were actually in place. Resources to help scientists do more robust research are set to expand quickly. For example, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences has a competitive program that awards funds to institutions to enhance graduate student training; of 15 such supplements awarded in 2015, a dozen involved data analysis, statistics, or experimental rigor. You can find more here, and that is only a fraction of what is available. Some courses are still being developed and piloted to select students; others are being offered only to those in a particular department or training grant. If you find one that interests you, it can’t hurt to ask. Read more
Nanotechnology requires expertise from a range of fields, but students often have difficulties thinking about research in an interdisciplinary manner. In the November issue of In the classroom, Philip S. Lukeman (St. John’s University, New York) and Stefan Howorka (University College, London) outline a three phase training programme to help improve a student’s interdisciplinary skills. The approach is based around the widely used idea of a ‘journal club’, but is set in the context of a group’s interdisciplinary research and can be tailored to any specific topic. Experience with the training programme in Howorka’s own research group suggests that it can help students in a variety of ways, and can also benefit research teams as a whole. Read more
Contributor Elizabeth Silva … Read more
