Dear Dora,
Recently my PI asked me to review a paper from my graduate lab- is that allowed?
-EM, postdoc
Flyceum: Your Science. Your Career.
We’re following in the tradition of open discussions among scientists that has resulted in important advances in both science and society.
Could You Be the Worst Labmate in the World?
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The bad news: like any work environment, labs are not exempt from employing the occasional pain-in-the-a–. The good news: given the nature of the career path, even the worst of labmates will be moving on to annoy a new group of people in a few years. The great news: even if you’re that stick-in-the-mud in your lab, it’s never too late to change your ways.
Innovation: Concept to Commercialization
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So you’ve had your eureka moment and you’ve done the rough math to figure out that your innovation is probably worth pursuing. Now what?
Curry: Now Good for Detecting Explosions, Not Just Causing Them
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Growing up, curry night was always one of my favorite family dinners. Mum would throw together an Indian chicken jalfrezi with rice and poppadums and mango chutney. Delicious! But little did I know that hidden in that curry was a multi-talented chemical.
Is It 2-Week or 2-Hour Notice? Telling the Boss You’re Leaving
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Dear Dora,
I’ve been a postdoc for 2.5 years and I’ve been casually looking for jobs on the side and a company just made an offer I really don’t think I can pass up, but they need me to start as soon as possible and there’s not much room for pushing the start date back. My PI has no idea. I know it’s going to be ugly – how should I tell the boss I’m leaving?
– Sneaky, Postdoc
Graduate School by the Numbers: Aftermath of the Decision
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If I needed a sign that I had chosen the right program – and my guilt pangs were a sure indication that I did – the Dean of the School of Biological Sciences at Super-Fancy Program called me personally to award me a fellowship (just for being a “top recruit”!). Now, I can afford a moving truck and food to stock our new closet-sized home.
Three things overwhelmed the aftermath of the decision-making process:
12 Reasons to Establish a Collaboration (or Not)
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As it turns out, we scientists are a very collaborative bunch! Well at least according to our recent article, There is No ‘I’ in Research, where researchers overwhelmingly opted for sharing the biline with others in order to complete projects faster than going it alone. But speed is just one reason we may consider working with collaborators, so to dig deeper into the reasons we seek out collaborations we’ve listed several potential benefits of working with others. If we can understand what drives collaboration, it may be possible to help support and enable more of them in the future.
Networking Etiquette: Opening Lines to Avoid
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We know. The word ‘networking’ may be about as pleasant to a scientist as the words ‘rejected’, ‘denied’, or ‘triaged’. For many of us, the idea of networking seems like a giant waste of time- something that’s just keeping us from setting up another experiment, reading a paper, or going home. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Particularly in today’s economy where jobs are predominantly landed through personal contacts, building relationships with colleagues in a diverse range of fields has never been more important. However, networking can be a bit of an art, so be sure to avoid these opening lines to ensure your NETworking doesn’t turn into NOTworking…
Vote for Your Favorite Scientist Homepage
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Today the flavors.me + BenchFly Scientist Homepage Challenge enters the final stage to determine which websites will receive a full year of premium services from the great folks over at flavors. To support your favorites, vote for them below before March 23, 2011- the top five sites you like the most will be declared winners. (And we’re not talking the Charlie Sheen kind of ‘winner’…) Of course, by creating fantastic homepages the entrants made it tough to decide between them. So to get the ball rolling, we turned to a few expert judges from academia and industry to see what criteria they value in a great website.
So You Thought Eating Poop Was Bad For You?
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Yesterday I got a package in the mail: My mum had sent me a red nose. I can imagine you are thinking “sweet!” or “what?” or “why?” or a combination of all these emotions, so I will respond to them all. Yes, it is awesome, and I proceeded to wear it as I drove around town running errands. It is a squishy red clown nose with a smiley face on it that gently pinches onto your own boring nose and makes it look sillier.
