Denise’s Guidelines for Learning How to Become a Scientist and Scholar
Year 1:
Learn how to juggle: Although many students do not continue as active scientists
after graduate school, the Ph.D. degree is granted almost entirely based on one
criterion: the significance of your research project. Learning how to be a proficient
researcher is the primary reason for attending graduate school. Research must be
your priority and your passion.
Learn which balls can occasionally hit the ground: You will need to take courses and
be a teaching assistant during graduate school, however, these activities contribute
very little to the granting of your degree. You need to pass your courses and be an
adequate T.A. while being an excellent researcher.
Identify a general area of interest for the theses project.
READ, READ, READ, primary literature in your area of interest. You should read at
the very least one paper from the primary literature each week. (There won’t be a
test and you don’t need to memorize or even understand every detail, but you need
exposure). Learn how to identify the main points without reading the entire paper.
Identify the major topics of interest in your field of interest.
Write at least 2 proposals (NSF predoc + one other from a society such as American
Society of Mammalogists) on some aspect of this field. The proposed research needs
to be work that you would be passionate about doing. Apply regardless of existing
funding. One of the key aspects of being a scientist is describing your research in a
clear and convincing manner to obtain funding. This skill is one that takes practice to
achieve competence. Practice by repeatedly applying for at least two grants every
year. If you need suggestions, ask me.
Browse Science and Nature each week. At the minimum, read the titles of the articles
and browse the on line Career section that offers valuable advice about graduate
school.
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/career_stage/gradu
ate__1
Learn about scientific societies. Join a society in your subdiscipline. Yes it will cost
you ~$100 per year but you will receive a journal in your field (read at least all the
titles of the articles each month) and newsletters from your society. It’s an
investment in your career.
Take full advantage of the cumulative knowledge base in the lab. Establish a
professional relationship with all lab members. Invite each graduate student and post
doc in the lab to a one on one lunch. Ask them questions how their project is going
and how they developed their project. Ask them what advice they would give a first
year student. They are your mentors too!
Attend and participate in all lab meetings. Ask questions at lab meetings and offer
suggestions when you have them. Texting, reading the paper and sleeping are not
encouraged during lab meetings.
Meet with your advisor to discuss your project and ideas (every two weeks). If I
don’t remind you, remind me. If you do not yet have ideas come in with papers to
discuss. I can always provide you with ideas of papers.
Think about projects graphically. Draw figures of data that support and refute your
hypothesis.
Execute a pilot project in your first summer. This project may or may not turn out to
be your thesis project but it will get you started on a project and give you a chance to
wrestle with a data set.
Participate in the graduate recruiting effort and recruitment of post docs to the lab.
They could be your colleagues.
Attend at least one departmental seminar each week.
Learn how to communicate with other scientists: Meet with at least three outside
speakers per year. If it is too intimidating at first to have a one on one meeting,
schedule it with another graduate student.
Attend a national meeting. Make it a point to introduce yourself to at least 3
scientists you do not know. Have a “sound byte” that describes your project and use
it! Talk to other scientists. Posters sessions are the least intimidating. Ask the
presenter to “walk you thru the poster”.
Attend a lab meeting of a lab other than your own.
Attend the graduate student run journal club. Start one if there isn’t one.
Year 2
Repeat everything from Year 1.
Prepare your data collected from the summer in a seminar format to give at lab
meeting, FUSION (or TGIF) and a national meeting.
Read and comment on manuscripts of other lab members. If no one asks you to read
their papers, ask them if you can.
If a first year student, invites you to lunch—accept!
Finish your preliminary exams during your second semester.
Have a plan for data collection during summer two.
Don’t forget to have regular meetings with me.
Take seriously any opportunities to be a co-author on a paper. If your name is on the
paper, you need to contribute to the intellectual content of the paper to a greater
extent than just data collection. Meet with the other authors to discuss how else you
can contribute (ie preparing figures, data analysis, manuscript preparation). Ask
them to copy you on all correspondence to and from the journal (ie cover letters,
reviews, etc). Play an active role in any resubmissions. This is a great way to learn
what it takes to be the first author of a paper.
Judge a science fair.
Year 3
Repeat everything from Year 1-3.
Submit your prelim proposal for an NSF DDIG.
Start thinking about life after graduate school. Will you do a postdoc? Go into
industry? Prepare for a position at a liberal arts college (look for sabbatical
replacement positions or post docs that permit teaching training; get some experience
by giving lectures).
Invite and host a seminar speaker in your area that you may consider as a postdoctoral
advisor.
Outline the titles for the different chapters of your thesis.
Try to write one of the chapters of your thesis.
Year 4
Repeat all guidelines from previous years.
Finish one of the papers from your thesis and submit for publication.
Start writing parts of the other chapters (figures, methods, intro)
Complete the majority of your data collection by the end of the spring semester.
Clearly outline any small projects that need to be finished and set a timeline.
Find out the required dates from the thesis editor for finishing at the end of year 5 if
that is your goal.
Identify grants and mentors to apply for postdoctoral fellowships. Write grant
deadlines in your yr 5 calendar along with the thesis deadlines.
Year 5
Repeat activities from previous years.
Contact potential mentors and apply for postdoctoral fellowships.
Submit all the chapters of your dissertation for publication.
Defend your thesis!
Congratulations!