Tag Archives: Career advice

Student Stories

Words from Dr.Frank Pugh: Things you need to know in graduate school.

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Dr. Frank Pugh

Have you ever wondered about a career in academia? Even though we see our supervisors serving as faculty everyday, do you really know what to expect and how to succeed in this field? The Huck Graduate Student Advisory Committee aims to navigate you through the uncertainty. Today we present an interview from Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Dr.Frank Pugh. He has been a professor for 25 years and holds multiple titles, including the Evan Pugh University Professor and the Willaman Chair in Molecular Biology. His insight into the career of a faculty member may shed some light onto this path for you.

1. What’s your educational background? Is there anything specific that prepared you for a faculty career?
I received my BS from Cornell, and my PhD from UW-Madison, then a postdoc at UC-Berkeley, before coming to Penn State 25 years ago. The key things that prepared me the most were effective communication in lab meeting presentations and writing papers. Also, going after the most exciting scientific problems was instilled in my postdoc years.

2. What are your current roles/responsibilities? How have these changed over time?
Many of the basic roles have not changed such as teaching, conducting research, and general administrative responsibilities of the University. They have changed over time in that teaching is now focused more on graduate students and postdocs, whereas in my earlier years it was mainly undergraduates. Also, of course the research has evolved a lot – chasing the most exciting questions!

3. Was this career path something you had always considered?
Sort of… I wanted to work in the biotech world after my PhD, but then thought I would be more competitive by completing academic postdoctoral training. After that my priorities changed… I was a bit older and developed a greater interest in financial stability and raising a family.

4. What skills have made you and others in your field successful? Were there any under-estimated skills that you would like to emphasize?
Key skills were understanding the chemistry part of biochemistry, and the biochemistry part of molecular biology. That helped me think through many problems in molecular biology with solid grounding. And this has not changed for me in 30 years, and it won’t change for you over the next 30 years. And I don’t mean a superficial understanding, I mean a deep understanding that goes far beyond what your fellow students understand.

5. How easy/difficult is it to balance work and personal/family life?
It is very difficult because work constantly pulls you in. It’s important to have a life partner that pulls you back out. The best of both worlds happen when you are itching to get in to lab in the morning, and itching get home in the evening.

6. What advice do you have, about anything, for current graduate students?
Everything takes 3X longer than you think. So if you want to graduate sooner rather than later, then stop reading this and get back to work! If you are still reading, then maybe a cutting-edge scientific career is not your passion. Everyone has to find the career that works for them. It may not be what you originally thought it should be.

Student Stories

Recap of “How to be Your Own Best Mentor” workshop with Dr. Carolee Bull

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IMGP5149In graduate school you have to be your own advocate; you have to be able to ‘mentor yourself’ to get what you want out of your degree. Dr. Carolee Bull, who recently joined the Penn State family as head of the Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology department, led a little over thirty graduate students and post-docs through her “How to be Your Own Best Mentor” workshop on Saturday, the 27th of February. I will admit that I was a bit nervous coming into this workshop, would the advice be overly simplified and cheesy? Or unrealistic (because, come on, you know there are certain people whose toes you just can’t step on)?

As it turns out, Dr. Bull cares deeply about helping others, especially students, learn how to live the life that is best for them, and her unique blend of approachability, enthusiasm, and candor make her an excellent leader for a workshop like this one. Her personal mission statement includes the concept of Ubuntu, meaning you do not diminish yourself by lifting others up, and it is obviously something she lives by. I love that idea, by the way. I think I need to incorporate it into my own personal mission statement.

Student DiscussionI did not have a personal mission statement before Saturday, and if you had asked me to craft one, I can only imagine the side-eye you would have received. But, as it turns out, personal mission statements aren’t reserved for the rich and famous, the self-important, and the philanthropists of this world. As I learned from Dr. Bull last Saturday, personal mission statements are a way to capture the pursuits, values, and aspirations closest to your heart and formalize them into a phrase that you can use to inform your life path. If you want to be able to mentor yourself and guide yourself through life, you have to understand your goals and motivations. Creating a personal mission statement is the first step.

IMGP5144We did a lot of brainstorming during the workshop; don’t worry, we had plenty of coffee and treats to sustain us. Dr. Bull led us as we each individually listed the things that we love most in life and the things that drive us. I listed thirty-eight things, not one of which is performing colorimetric analyses (shhh, don’t tell my advisers). Later, we collectively brainstormed what qualities make a good mentor and performed self-assessments to identify which qualities we have yet to possess. I loved the framework Dr. Bull introduced us to: as graduate students, we are in training for our next career position, be that post-doc or otherwise. And throughout our professional career, we can think of each position as a training opportunity for the next position we aspire to attain. Therefore the question we should be asking of ourselves is, “What do I need to learn in the position I’m in to get me to the next level?”

That’s the crux of what ‘mentoring yourself’ is: figuring out what it is that you want, identifying the skills needed to be successful, and of those, identifying which you still need to develop so you can focus on honing those skills. The logic in consciously enumerating your goals is obvious. You will be more efficient at attaining your goals if you know what those goals are and what you need to do to get there. Dr. Carolee Bull will be hosting several more “How to be Your Own Best Mentor” workshops this summer. They are the first in a series in mentorship workshops that will aid in your career, goal-setting, and managerial skills.

Student Stories

Review of the Huck Graduate Student Assessment System

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If you’re a Huck graduate student reading this post, then you may have seem some e-mails floating around over the last couple of weeks regarding participation in the Huck Graduate Student Assessment System. Whether you have heard about this assessment system before reading this blog post or not, you may be thinking… what is this assessment system and why should I care? If so, read on!

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences in coordination with the Industrial/Organizational Psychology program have been working on this assessment system since Fall 2014, with pilots of the program being conducted throughout the summer and fall of 2015. In addition to being one of the students to help pilot the program, I also spoke with Jeffrey Lovelace, who designed this assessment program, on several occasions to offer advice on its design from a graduate student perspective. As such, I thought I would write up a post about what exactly this assessment system entails and why I think it’s such a beneficial process to go through.

The purpose of this blog post is to give an overview of the assessment system. For more details and to contact those running this assessment system, please visit their website here. Additionally, you may contact Jeffrey Lovelace (jbl942@psu.edu) for more information or to sign up!

What is the Huck Graduate Student Assessment System?

As part of the assessment, graduate students participate in a series of exercises to evaluate their skills and abilities on essential job-related tasks related to interpersonal skills, including  leadership, team building, and communication. Students receive feedback that provides critical insight into their personal strengths and developmental opportunities so that they can better prepare for the job market and future success. Companies around the world use similar assessment systems to hire and further develop top talent in their organizations!

What sort of interpersonal skills does the Huck Graduate Student Assessment System test?

Source: www.walkerandersen.com

There are six main competencies focused on in this assessment system:

1. Making decisions and initiating action
2. Supporting and cooperating
3. Presenting and communicating information
4. Planning and organizing
5. Adapting to and coping with pressure
6. Achieving goals and objectives

For more information on what these competencies entail, visit here.

If I sign up for this assessment system, what do I have to do?

The Huck Graduate Student Assessment System takes place in three phases:

Information collection is Phase 1, which involves filling out a survey online, submitting your CV/resume, and writing individual goals, which includes two short-term goals and two long-term goals.

The interactive assessment is Phase 2 and is a one-hour meeting with you and at least two assessors in which you will: (1) take part in a semi-structured interview, (2) a 5-7 minute presentation on your research geared towards a broad audience, and (3) a third exercise that takes ~5 minutes and remains confidential until the student is at the end of Phase 2.

Phase 3 is an hour-long feedback meeting that occurs within 10 days of your interactive assessment. At this feedback meeting, the student receives an individual feedback summary (~25 pages long) about his/her strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, the student is provided with resources to focus on future development.

For a more detailed explanation of these three phases, please visit here.

This sounds like a lot of work… is this going to take up a lot of my time? I am a busy graduate student after all.

To be completely honest, this process doesn’t take that long at all, and is definitely worth it with how much you get out of it in the end! Phase 2 and Phase 3 are each hour-long scheduled meetings, so Phase 1 is the only variable time. Also, the personnel running the assessment system are extremely accommodating and will work with you to fit in the assessment with your schedule.

Source: http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/

The survey in Phase 1 won’t take you long at all (~25 minutes), and depending on what stage you are at in graduate school, you might already have the other two requirements (CV and goals list) of Phase 1 done!  Whether you are a first-year or sixth-year graduate student, I’m sure you have a CV or resume of some sort already written to use for this assessment. Also, if you are an older student or are a student who has completed myIDP, then the goals list shouldn’t be too hard, either.

The creators of this assessment program put a lot of thought into how to structure this so that students would use components of documents they already had or would eventually need anyway. So, even if you have to start from scratch with a CV and/or goals list, its not like you will never need these documents for anything else in the future!

Why should I do this? Isn’t my science enough to land me a job?

Multiple studies have shown that there has been a bit of a PhD surplus in the last few years as well as fewer jobs and more unemployment (check this article). That doesn’t mean we all need to freak out about not finding jobs, because studies also show that PhDs will eventually find a good job, it might just take a little bit more time than expected. But how can you help to shorten that time? Flaunt your interpersonal skills!

Don’t get me wrong, you need to have the scientific background and skills to get the kinds of jobs a PhD is sought for, but being able to communicate your ideas (verbally and written), having strong leadership skills, being able to problem solve, and being able to work in a team are also highly sought after by employers.

Source: http://www.ascb.org/where-will-a-biology-phd-take-you/

What did participants like best about the assessment system?

First, my thoughts…

While you might think that you are already pretty knowledgable of your strengths and weaknesses, an outside assessment system can help you to hone in on what you are actually really good at but also maybe not so good at. These assessment systems have helped many people realize that what they thought they were really bad at, they’re actually pretty good at, and vice versa.

Phase 2 of the assessment system also includes a short presentation of your research designed for a general audience as well as a semi-structured interview with the kinds of behavioral questions you’ll face in almost any job interview. Getting real practice for both of these activities through the assessment as well as getting direct feedback were both things that I really valued in taking part in this assessment system.

My favorite part about this assessment system is that not only does it identify your strengths and weaknesses in an individualized, detailed summary that the assessors go through with you, but it also then provides you with specific developmental opportunities to work on these skills. These developmental opportunities are broken down by the competencies mentioned earlier and include classes at Penn State you can take, extracurricular activities you can participate in, and reading and webcast materials.

Thoughts from other participants…

“I liked that the system was very interactive and allowed me to show the skill set that I have acquired during my undergraduate studies.”

“I liked the fact that minute details were assessed and taken into account. I felt as if the whole process was tailored precisely to me.”

“The system provided a platform for critical feedback from non-employers, and it really helped in picking out and identifying my strengths and weaknesses.”

“The system did not just assess the potential of students but also provided suggestions and solutions on how to improve oneself in deficient areas.”

Have you participated in the assessment system? Leave a comment below with your thoughts on the whole process!

Career Feature

Spring 2016: Career and Professional Events

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Hoping to learn more about careers post graduation? Interested in building your professional skills?

The Huck Graduate Student Advisory Committee (HGSAC) aims to provide students with professional development opportunities and to promote exposure to all science careers, inside and outside of academia. We are a new organization that also collaborates extensively with other student organizations. A few of our goals for this semester include implementing a peer editing website, a meeting with the CEO of a life sciences recruitment firm, and joint happy hours with other GSAs. We’d love to hear about your events and offer assistance in increasing attendance — contact PSU.HGSAC@gmail.com.

I’ve complied a few of the HGSAC’s events for this semester and those from other organizations as well. For up to date information and to check out even more career and professional development related events, go here!

 

FEBRUARY

Saturday, February 27, 10am-1pm or 2:30-5:30pm: “How to be your own best mentor” workshop

Dr. Carolee Bull, Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology Department Head

Develop your own mission statement, make self assessments, and learn how to improve on your most needed skills.

 

MARCH

Friday, March 4, 1-2pm: HGSAC Seminar, Dr. Melissa Ho

Managing Director, Africa for Millennium Challenge Corporation

Learn about Melissa’s career history and the advice she has for graduate students, starting from her Ph.D. at Penn State in Plant Physiology to her previous post at USAID’s Bureau for Food Security as a Senior Policy Advisor.

 

Friday, March 4, 11am: BMMB Seminar, Dr. Kevin Lynch

Vice President, Scientific Assessment at AbbVie

Kevin leads the Business Development team at Abbvie, and as such, he is knowledgeable in topics such as venture investment, academic collaborations, licensing and acquisitions. He received his Ph.D. from Penn State in Molecular Virology… we are in similar boats as he once was!

 

Saturday, March 5, 9am-5pm: Graduate Student and Post-Doctoral Career Day

Penn State Hershey College of Medicine

Featuring careers in Science Communication and Education, Research, Government and Regulation, Business Development and Consulting, and Science Policy. There will be food provided!

Transportation is also provided. Please RSVP here.

 

Friday, March 25: HGSAC Seminar, Dr. Josh Yoder

Medical Science Liaison at Sanofi Pasteur

A Medical Science Liaisons work in various capacities in the pharmaceutical, biotech, or other health care industries. They work to ensure products are used effectively, are scientific experts within the company, and can work with physicians. Learn about Josh’s journey before and after his postdoc at Penn State Hershey. His past employers include Thermalin Diabetes, I’m sure he has some advice for us!

 

Monday, March 28: Postdoc panel, hosted by the MCIBS GSA

Featuring postdocs, Dr. Robert McGinty (PSU), Dr. Lauren Chaby (Michigan), and Dr. Sarah Carnahan Craig (PSU)

Get advice from how to get a postdoc to how to leave a postdoc. This will be an informal event with food!

 

APRIL

Tuesday, April 12, 1-8pm: Novel Ecosystems Research Symposium

“An afternoon with Penn State Ecologists”

A great way to learn more about ecology in a fun setting with food, drinks and a poster reception.

 

Friday, April 22: BMMB Seminar, Dr. Jim Hershey

Director of Pharmacology at Merck

Jim leads research activities by setting program strategy to maximize growth opportunities in drug discovery. He has a long history at Merck and I’m sure is knowledgeable about the process of moving up in a company. Come learn about the Pennsylvania industry scene!

 

Monday, April 25: HGSAC Seminar, Lauren Celano

Lauren is the Founder and CEO of Propel Careers, and works to build relationships with life science students and companies. She would have some great insight on the career process after getting your PhD, as I’m sure she has helped others through it.

 

MAY

Friday, May 13 to Monday, May 16: Plant Biology Symposium

“Plant Stress-Omics in a Changing Climate”

Learn about the new ways Big Data is improving the plant biology field. Submit an abstract for a poster if you’d like.

 

Friday, May 20 & Saturday, May 21: Life Science Symposium

100 Life Science Building (Berg auditorium)

This symposium will include research talks, poster presentations and group activities to enhance the collaboration and communication between life science labs at Penn State. It’s free! There will be food, science and good company. Featuring two keynotes, including Dr. Jim Pawelczyk, a former NASA astronaut and current Penn State professor and Dr. Jonathan Sleeman, Director of the National Wildlife Health Center at U.S. Geological Survey.

 

Tuesday, May 24 & Wednesday, May 25 “Living with our Viromes” Symposium

Viral microbes, emerging viruses and vaccines are just a few topics that will be covered at this annual symposium.

 

 

Science presentation and job seeking skills assessment (anytime)

Want to improve for that conference talk or job interview? This is the time!

Contact Jeffrey Lovelace (jbl942@psu.edu)

 

Career Feature

Recap on Lunch with Jennifer Doudna

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Navigating through grad school can be a daunting process in itself.  While you might find yourself busy with your research projects and teaching duties, making time to figure out how to make the best of your time as a graduate student, and how to make yourself an ideal candidate for your future career, is essential.  The Huck Graduate Student Advisory Committee (HGSAC) aims to help you along with this process, by providing career and professional development resources, and by letting graduate students meet with professionals in various STEM fields.

Dr. Jennifer Doudna came to Penn State and delivered to a full house.
Dr. Jennifer Doudna came to Penn State to deliver a seminar on the CRISPR/Cas9 system.

Last semester, Dr. Jennifer Doudna came to Penn State and gave a seminar on the CRISPR/Cas 9 system. She was gracious enough to also have lunch with graduate students for a Q & A session (co-hosted by the HGSAC and BMB department). Below are her (paraphrased) responses to our student questions.

Career advice or questions:

Which experience or opportunity during your education or early career contributed most to your success?

There were two main experiences that I think contributed the most. I grew up in Hawaii, and when I first read “The Double Helix”, that was the first “spark” that got me interested in science. Then, in the 10th grade, there was a program where they had a scientist talk to students, including a biochemist working on cancer cell research, and that helped reinforce my interest.

How do you think the interactions with your previous advisers (Dr. Szostak and Dr. Cech) benefit your academic career?

With my first advisor, I learned that you need to be proactive. As a first year, my advisor asked me about this idea, and he actually trusted me to make decisions on the science, even as a novice–that made a big impression on me to have early success.

During my post doc, Tom Cech was insightful about making the best of your data and interpreting your results, which also benefited my career.

Could you recommend some ways to find a lab for a promising postdoc experience? Should the lab of a very well-known PI be preferred, or the lab of a new PI in a promising topic?

Whether the PI is well known or new, you should pursue what you are interested in first, and then consider the personality and environment of the lab, make sure it’s a stimulating environment.

Could you provide some insights on what helped you with first being a professor?

It was more like a fly by the seat of your pants experience. You have to be willing to do every job in your lab, initially. That means even fixing leaky faucets. It’s a great idea if you can hire a technician right away to help set up. This person would be able to help you initiate the culture you want in your lab. Science is about people working together.

Dr. Jennifer Doudna with HGSAC members during the Q & A lunch session.

Graduate student/research advice:

Do you have any advice for women who want to pursue an academic career?

Don’t put yourself down, try for positions even if you do not think you are likely to get them, and make sure you choose a supportive life partner.

How do you complete a project efficiently?

Delegate, rely on students and postdocs, and make sure that there are subgroups of the lab so that everyone is teaching one another. Then, meet regularly, and constantly ask the questions of “are we working on the most important question? Is there new literature?”

What kind of qualities do you look for in a candidate?

Honestly I think my job is to figure out what the students are best suited for. We need scientists trained in all sorts of methodologies, and my job is to help them figure out what they should focus on.

Work/life balance and gender adversity:

What have you found to be the most effective way to balance work/life?

Pick the right life partner. If you want to have kids, involve them in your work–bring them to your conferences and trips!

Have you been faced with any adversity as a woman in science? If so, how did you overcome it and do you have any tips or advice for graduate students in general?

I’ve generally worked with males and females who were very encouraging. I think it’s important to have a personality that can deal with delayed gratification.

CRISPR/Cas9 questions:

Did you have a moment where you had to consider the ethical considerations with CRISPR, like human genome editing?

There was an evolution in my way of thinking. Initially, there was so much excitement that this was possible, then it became clear it would work in any cells including embryos and germ cell line. It was when they genetically modified monkeys that it seemed like a profound topic to discuss this in the community. I have gotten involved in the call for a public discussion about gene editing, especially in the germ line. Tomorrow, I will be attending a summit at the International Academy of Science, for a global discussion of the matter. We need a transparent discussion about this, to not do that would be irresponsible.

How did you balance the research on new biotechnology and industrial development of a technique?

We’re still focusing on biology and the underlying molecular mechanisms-understanding this enables you to do many other things. By working on fundamental mechanisms, we can learn more about how to refine this process of gene editing, gene disruption and gene replacement. It’s not a transition but rather a natural progression.

What is your prediction of how CRISPR/Cas9 will be used 10 years from now?

Transcriptional control and live-cell imaging will be further developed. Eventually, this will be a tool in your molecular toolbox, like PCR.  Its’ an enabling technology, I am excited with the science that will be done with this.

Did you celebrate when you realized what you had with CRISPR?

There was definitely this moment of joy when I realized what we had.

Other questions:

Have you ever considered working in industry?

Yes, I worked at companies in Boston but I chose academia because I found it was the best way to pursue “pure” science. I worked for Genentech for a few months then came back because I wanted to have an applied direction to research. As the VP of research, there’s actually a lot more administrative and management duties than I expected. I missed actually doing the science. That’s why I went back into academia.

What do you think about the future of high-risk science funding?  With decreased funding, how do you move forward?

We need to have a mechanism to enable scientists to be creative and explorative. Remember, a grant is not a contract.  Once you have the money, you should have some freedom to pursue “risky” science. You will likely be rewarded. Your judgement should come in here as to whether or not you think it will succeed. You can bootstrap ideas. In general, I think you don’t need huge resources to do good science.

 

For more information on future career and professional development events and seminars, visit our website here!