In a profession which is heavily dependent on funding, only the strongest survive. Funding in science resembles a patreon system where projects are commissioned if they suit the interests of a donor. Thus, success and longevity in science are multifactorial. Transition across multiple institutions reveals common traits of scientists who appear to thrive under these conditions:
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For those beginning postdoctoral work, the immediate perception may be that you might be able to continue with the same rate of progression as the final years of your PhD. To secure a postdoctoral fellowship, you likely developed technical and organizational aptitude required to establish a routine that facilitated acquisition of enough data to culminate in multiple manuscripts and a thesis. The independence garnered from this 5-7-year exercise has prepared you to begin independent research as a postdoctoral fellow. However, your postdoctoral fellowship should force you to gain independence to the point where you can mentor new trainees to contribute to science as you did during your PhD. This begins with you. The postdoctoral fellowship demands much more of your time towards planning and seeking out local expertise. In large labs, some fellows meet with their PI only several times per year, and yet they exit their fellowship 'trained'. This suggests that the training is largely autodidactic. This is certainly the basis for NIH 'early independence' programs. Thus, expect your fellowship to be a test of your proficiency to create something from nothing. You begin from an absolute standstill. In order to accelerate from that stand still, you need to get several affairs in order. I. Mentorship If you chose your PhD mentor correctly, you likely chose a lab with few postdocs that would dilute your PIs time. You likely met with your PI regularly, and had close technical support from a designated peer mentor such as a senior PhD student or a technician. You also experienced mentorship through advisory committees mandated by your department. Advisory committees are essential third party agents that holding all parties within the trainee-mentor relationship accountable. They're main purpose is to ensure that the environmental conditions for success are established and maintained to ensure progression within a defined time frame. During your postdoc, mentorship shifts. You are likely in a lab that is well funded and supports multiple postdocs. Opportunities for 'hand holding' are few to none. During postdoctoral research, PIs may not meet with you regularly because the purpose of a postdoctoral PI is to 'host' a fellow by providing opportunities and resources. As such, the PI may not be the primary source of mentorship and guidance. This does not mean that mentorship is dispensable at this stage. To the contrary, it is more essential than ever. To ensure mentorship exists, you must establish structure to your unstructured fellowship. This begins with your postdoctoral or trainee affairs office. Put the office to work for you. Use the office to establish 'mentorship through committee' to hold both you and your PI accountable to projects that can be completed within the span of a postdoctoral fellowship. II. Experimental progress To achieve 'lift off', go back to basics. Explicitly write out start-to-finish experiments. Often a full experiment demands utilization of multiple protocols. Write out every protocol, and assign the protocol a timeline along with milestones associated with a deadline. A scaffold for the routine of the productive bench scientist
Morning Before 9am
9pm - 12 pm
Afternoon 1:00pm - 4:00pm
4:00pm - 5:00pm
Evening 8:00pm - 10pm
Ensure everyday you complete a 'non-zero' contribution towards each goal. Daily micro-contributions cumulate more quickly then binge sessions of working and then neglecting. Advice from visiting Michigan PI
JK career advice
Short-term: i) on printed paper
Long-term: i) Within a paper file organizer (EndNote) Distinct from utilization within your own writing. Raw notes that can be returned to years after first reading paper. Can use EndNote 'research notes' section. Create summaries, edit as you go. This framework is simply meant to serve as a starting guide. With increased experience and repetition, refine a method that best suits your preferences and your audience.
1) Read the print copy of paper completely in order to understand the concepts according to the authors' narrative. Write the purpose of each paragraph next to that paragraph 2) Read the figures and legends only and write your own observations next to each panel. Determine whether alternative interpretations are possible or whether any experimental oversight or over-interpretation is present. 3) Make a powerpoint presentation with 1 figure per 1-2 slides. Usually slides are readily available from the journal. 4) Use the 'presenter notes' section to record summaries for every figure according to the following structure: i) General Question: ii) General Approach: Fig 1A: Western blot to determine protein levels across different treatment groups. Fig 1B: etc.. This structure allows you to present each figure according to the authors' progression of scientific questioning and logic. 5) Read the entire paper once more to ensure a strong grasp of the study 6) Read 1-2 reviews to illuminate required background. Notes: As with all papers, read aloud if you notice prolonged periods of reduced progress through the text Engage the figures with direct notes, markings, and questions In hockey, a player who can start and execute a play but cannot seem to score is said to have no 'finish'. He or she can do everything but complete their final objective. While my days of playing minor hockey have long past me, I have come to re-discover this phenomenon in the lab. I find it to be the norm rather than the exception that many scientists simply have no 'finish'. They are eager starters, but reluctant closers. I would never have considered that I could ever be one of these people. However, it took a very forward and blunt observation from my mentor to help me realize that I had in fact become one of these people. In my second year of graduate school, I stumbled upon my first bonafide novel discovery using one particular experimental platform. In response, my supervisor proposed a reasonable request: determine if the observation holds true using a different platform. As with the first approach, I would be the first student in the lab to determine how to design and execute the experiment. In light of this unfamiliarity, I sought to be very thorough and diligent with my planning. Weeks passed by. Eventually weeks turned to months, and still I had yet to initiate any action at my bench. In my mind, it was due diligence. My supervisor saw it for what it truly was: fear. I was subconsciously afraid to lose the only thing I had potentially discovered thus far. After I was made aware of this, I realized that it was in my best interest to collect as many different types of measurements as I possibly could concerning this particular aspect. After all, a bonafide observation exists independent of any evaluations we impose on the measurement. Naturally, I discovered that as I collected more novel observations, my fear of losing a potential discovery or conclusion diminished. A robust conclusion holds true regardless of how it is measured. If it does not, then that is simply the result. Do not dismiss the value of a negative result. This is still information. Negative results are inevitable in your experimental endeavors. The sooner you collect a negative result, the sooner you can respond to it. Fear of a negative result breeds inaction. Inaction stagnates progress, and leaves you lingering in the status quo. Escape the status quo. Don't just be a starter. Show some finish. Be a closer.
In keeping with the theme of the last post, this post will deal with an issue that is quite topical for me at the moment. I am currently overseeing the completion revisions for my first first-author manuscript. With any revision period, time is both the ally and the enemy. Revisions mark a conditional consideration on behalf of the journal on condition that their requests are satisfied within a given time frame. The time limit is essential here. Scientific impact is marked by novelty. The time limit minimizes the risk of another group submitting work that establishes the same conclusions.While the time limit minimizes this risk, it does not eliminate it. Therefore, it is in your best interest as an author to plan to finish well in advance of any time limit. Below is my current approach to revisions:
Best-selling author and Harvard professor Malcom Gladwell states that the key to his book writing is 80% organization and 20% writing. This is true of writing a manuscript, and completing revisions. The revision plan establishes a unifying call to action that the team can return to in order to maintain the course. Over this time, your personal character flaws will serve as your most challenging obstacles. Work to maintain a healthy daily routine. Routine establishes consistency that serves as the corner stone of productivity. Ensure sufficient sleep is obtained to maximize daily productivity. Go home, and prepare your own food. This is no time to 'buy time' through purchasing ready-made meals. These meals will never provide the maximum nutritional value required for optimal performance. Build on the healthy routines that brought you to this point, they will serve you well towards ensuring completion. Describe feeling
A critical component to a successful graduate career is maximizing your productivity each day.A critical component to this point is understanding how to maximize your productivity on days when you do not feel physically or mentally optimal. Occasionally, feeling less than optimal is unavoidable. For example, you may be in the process of getting sick. Perhaps you missed a night of sleep. For whatever reason, you will encounter it. If you encounter this frequently, this indicates that your diet, sleep, and exercise habits are lacking, and these must be attended to first in order to be productive in your professional life.
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February 2018
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