A few generations ago, you could probably graduate from a PhD program and immediately land yourself a junior faculty position at a nearby university. But as grad school enrollment grew, a new quasi-professional job-description emerged in the nebulous middle ground between student and professor. Lacking a better name, we just called them ‘postdocs’. It was an academic adolescence that implied they were ready to leave the nest, but not quite ready to fly freely. Over time,...

Josh and Dan traveled to Washington DC for the Society for Neuroscience Conference 2023. We chatted with students, postdocs, and faculty about everything from grad school applications to industry jobs to work-life-balance. And we recorded this special update from the hall of posters and vendors. Here are a few photos from our vantage point at the Promega booth. There really were posters and vendors as far as the eye could see in both directions!

Karla already has a successful career. After completing her training, she’s worked as a pelvic-floor physical therapist for over ten years! Her patients love her, and she loves serving them. But no matter how skilled she becomes at her craft, there’s still a limit to how many people she can help. A PT, working in a clinic, can see only so many patients per day if she wants to give each one the time they deserve. That’s one reason Karla decided to go back to school to earn a PhD....

Graduate training has many milestones, but a few stand stronger in memory due to their importance. You may remember the day you passed your comprehensive exams, officially becoming a ‘PhD Candidate.’ Or maybe you’ll remember the day you saw a paper you co-authored published in your favorite journal.  And of course, every PhD remembers their defense – presenting years worth of work to an audience and receiving the committees’ blessing to graduate. After each event, it’s...

This week, we answer a listener’s question about whether he should pursue schooling beyond a Master’s degree. Plus – once your formal education is complete, how can you continue to focus on learning? What steps should we take to become life-long learners? Adam writes: I have been given an exciting opportunity to continue my education and pursue a PhD, working with the professor who sponsored my masters research project. It would require moving across the country...

Just The Abstract is a new series where we explore a topic in a short, focused episode that’s easy to share. This week, we find out why most science PhD programs stopped requiring the GRE, and whether they’ll demote your application if you fail to provide a score. We take our inspiration this week from a thread in the r/gradschool subredit. knightshade017 writes: I’m currently at a point where I’m applying to PhD programs in behavioral neuroscience, brain and...

Here’s a controversial idea: what if graduate school finished on a predictable schedule the way (checks notes) every other academic training program does! Since kindergarten, your education has had fixed milestones. You knew it would take 12 years to graduate from high school, 4 for college, and 2 for a Master’s or an Associate’s Degree. Even medical school takes a predictable 4 years, with an additional 3-6 for residency and fellowship, depending on the field. So why...

This week, we’re opening the mailbag once again to answer YOUR burning questions! Change of Plans We start with Allen, who was awarded a grant based on a research proposal he submitted BEFORE joining the lab. When he finished the summer rotation, it didn’t turn out the way he expected. I have now been asked to write a report about how I used the grant for the grant committee. While I did learn some practical biology skills through this internship, and by that...

Wherever scientists gather, there is sure to be a poster session. You may see them at major scientific symposia, as well as your university’s departmental retreat. To keep things interesting, a lot of conference organizers will host a poster competition. Entrants will have a chance to present their poster to a judge, who will score each one on the scientific content, clarity, and style. Some poster contests offer cash awards, but either way, it makes a great line on your...

The scientific poster is an academic oddity. Where else do thousands of people gather around hundreds of large-format printouts to talk about esoteric subjects!? Posters might be the most common form of scientific communication on the planet. In your career, you will probably present more posters than talks or journal articles. And nearly anyone can create a poster – from an undergraduate on a summer rotation to a tenured professor. So it’s a good idea to hone your skills at...

It’s no secret that biomedical research relies heavily on animal models. Our mammalian cousins share so many common genes and pathways that we can often make breakthrough advances in human medicine through the use of animal proxies. But animal research is neither easy nor fun. Experiments are expensive, time consuming, and it’s often dirty, smelly work. Many scientists balk at the ethical implications of making animals suffer for human health, and no matter your views, the work imposes...

Dr. Jimena Giudice has all the traits of a promising new faculty member. Through her training and early career, she has earned more than a dozen grants and awards. She’s co-authored two dozen papers. And she has trained students and postdocs, gaining a reputation as a highly effective mentor. You’d expect that Dr. Giudice’s undeniable success was the natural result of an early immersion in science and a dogged adherence to the well-worn path through college, grad school, and...

This week, we open the mailbag to answer listener questions about getting extra research experience as an undergrad, and making a difficult choice between Master’s programs. Stay with us! Could Great be Perfect? Our first letter comes from Owen. He’s a freshman who found a research lab he loves, and is doing some amazing work. He knows already that he wants to pursue a PhD, and he’s making progress on the experience and publications he’ll need to get...

When you think about your day, which events and activities feel the most fulfilling? Which tasks do you tolerate, but would rather avoid? Maybe your experiments feel like a drag, but you get a lot of satisfaction out of crafting an abstract for your latest research article. Or perhaps you love training new students in lab techniques, even if you don’t love processing samples yourself. If you find your joy in communicating science more than working at the bench, you may want to...

A few months ago, Emma Hinkle was organizing her lab notebooks as she prepared to start a career. She had completed her graduate training, earned a PhD, and had a job lined up that started on Monday. In those few moments of quiet between her years of graduate school and the career to come, she reflected on the challenges she faced, and how they had changed her as a scientist and a person. “The five years I spent in grad school have definitely felt long, but as I...

It’s time to open the listener mailbag to answer your question about the human side of science, and life in the lab! This week: the importance of lunch, blending art with science, and the dream of a lab-based sitcom. We didn’t have to dig very deep into to the mailbag this week because we heard from an undergraduate listener Monika. She asked a series of questions that covered so much ground, we devote the entire episode to her! Her first question is about disordered...

 I feel a little disheartened because I’ve been rejected from many of the places I applied to and haven’t heard back from a number of others. Is it worth it to hold out hope for the ones that haven’t sent out updates?  I have been rejected from 5 schools and am expecting 3 more rejections soon enough without any invitations for interview. I’ve had my time in regret and disappointment and I’m now thinking about what to do next.  Should I just give up at the thought of me...

Think about your favorite action movie that kept you on the edge your seat. Did it look certain that the hero would fall, only to emerge at the very last moment to save the day? Now picture a great movie trilogy or TV series. Did each episode introduce a dangerous cliffhanger at the end, enticing you to watch the next installment to see how the tension would resolve? Those filmmakers know something about storytelling – crafting a narrative arc that brings the audience along for an...

We get asked all the time about strategies for more effective time management during graduate school. Not surprisingly, some of our most popular past episodes deal with time management. While we have covered a lot of ground over the years on this evergreen topic, there’s a new expert on the scene who seems to know a whole lot about… well, almost everything! Therefore, we welcome to the show the AI chatbot sensation, ChatGPT, to determine if there’s anything this new technology has up its...

Scientific conferences are a great way to meet other scientists and share your research. Perhaps your advisor got lucky and was invited to give a talk. If your research doesn’t get time on stage, how can you make connections and tell others about your project? The poster session is your ticket to fame and glory. Nearly anyone – from tenured faculty to summer undergraduate – can submit a proposal and tack up a poster. That unlocks a world of opportunity to share your science,...

Since the pandemic, we can honestly say that Josh and Dan “don’t get out much.” But we broke out of that rut to attend the annual conference for the American Society for Cell Biology – Cell Bio 2022 meeting in Washington, DC. A scientific conference is a unique experience AND opportunity. Thousands of academics, researchers, students, and vendors are all in one place in order to ‘talk science.’ There’s so much potential to build relationships and drive breakthroughs, but there...

Impostor syndrome might make you feel all alone in the world, but ironically, many graduate students, postdocs, and faculty members experience the same feelings of inadequacy. This week on the show, we interview Dr. Maureen Gannon, PhD, about the sources of impostor feelings and the practical steps you can take to work through them. By every objective measure, Dr. Gannon’s career has been an unqualified success.  She went from private high school through a Masters degree...

Meeting a new cohort of graduate students on your first day of class can be intimidating.  These are the brightest students from their undergraduate programs. Some of them have years of research experience, first-author publications, and a depth of knowledge that seems encyclopedic. Feeling intimidated by your new colleagues is normal, but some of the people you meet will suffer a more insidious type of anxiety. Some students actually see themselves as charlatans who are just...

We often talk about the myriad factors you should consider when choosing a PhD program. Location. Research. Stipend. Work culture. Livability. Peers. Prestige. The list of things to remember seems endless. But way back in pre-history, we were just humble undergrads ourselves, feeling our way around and trying to make life-changing decisions with very little information. This week on the show, Josh regales us with insights he learned from his own PhD journey. (Check out...