POST DOC PANEL EVENT!

Upcoming Event:

Post Doc Panel!

When: April 10th, 2014 (Thursday)
           4pm - Panel discussion (All are invited)
           5:15 - breakout session with pizza (CMB students only)
Where: Genetics/Biotech Auditorium

Please bring any questions you might have about being a post doctoral scientist for our highly qualified panel of both academic and industrial post docs.

Panelists include:

Andy Dixon: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Promega
Dominique Lisiero: Postdoctoral Research Associate, UW-Madison (Shigeki Miyamoto Lab)
Ginger Pocock: Postdoctoral Research Associate, UW Morgridge Institute for Research
Marie Schwinn: Senior Research Scientist, Promega
Megan Spurgeon: Postdoctoral Research Associate, UW-Madison (Paul Lambert Lab)

We very much welcome all members of the UW Biological Sciences community for the panel discussion, but please note that the breakout session to follow is limited to graduate students in CMB.

In order to adequately prepare, we request that you register for this event.
Register here.

Versatile PhD website review

The following review is a very informative guest post by the highly regarded CMBer Adityarup (Rup) Chakravorty.

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A couple of months ago I was attending a talk by Dr. Alan Dove, the science journalist (you may be familiar with him in the context of the irrepressible podcast “This Week in Virology). He was talking about how more and more graduate students were pursuing “alternative” careers once they received their PhDs, and one thing he said struck me as being very logical, yet something that I had not thought about until then. He said, “The PhD was supposed to expand my options, not restrict them”, and that got me thinking harder about what career options I would have if I didn’t allow the doubt-clouds to obscure my job-search horizon. As I talked to people and trawled the internet for information about these “alternative” careers, I came across the website VersatilePhD.com. And it was good.  

Versatile PhD (just going to call it VPhD from now on) was started in 1999 by Dr. Paula Chambers while she was getting her PhD in Rhetoric and Composition at Ohio State University. Initially it was geared towards students in the humanities and social sciences, but eventually expanded to include the STEM fields as well. As of July of this year the website has a stated goal of being of value to academics from the STEM fields as well. VPhD is focused on what are called “non-traditional” career choices for someone getting a PhD. What that means is that academic careers are not really explored in this website; instead you get information on a plethora of other possible careers such as consulting, IP law and science writing. 

VPhD has both a “Free Community” and a “Premium Content Subscription Service”. Luckily, as students at UW-Madison we do not have to worry if a particular section is freely available or not. The University subscribes to this website and so we get access to all the premium content that we might need. You can go here, and then click on the University of Wisconsin-Madison link. You will need to log in using your Wisc-ID and password, and then register at the Versatile PhD website (the first time only). Then, you are in.

While there are many valuable resources at VPhD, I would like to focus on three that I found to be very useful. Coincidentally – or maybe not – these three resources are also highlighted at the VPhD website.

1. Hiring Success Stories

These stories are a unique feature of VPhD and I love them because they are an incredible opportunity to get a personal and inside look at successful job searches. Graduate students and post-docs who have been hired write about their experience during the job hunting process. The success stories range from a neuroscientist being hired as a Program Administrator at a cancer non-profit to a molecular biologist hired by a technology licensing firm, and many others. These individuals share what position they were in right after their defending their dissertation, how they zeroed in on what they wanted to do, what steps they took to get their current job and they even include their cover letters, resumes and/or CVs! This resource provides a huge amount of information and guidance for anyone who is debating pursuing a so-called “alternative” career within the STEM fields.

 

2. Career Autobiographies

These autobiographies are similar to the hiring success stories. The difference is that the people writing these are more established in their field, and there’s more of a “story” feel to them. These stories have been quite useful to me as they chart the many twists and turns people’s careers take as they grown and learn about what they value and want to do with their lives.

3. Archived Panel Discussions [Career Panels]

Ever so often VPhD will host an online career panel where premium members (aka us) can ask questions of individuals who are pursuing a career in a particular field. The most recent STEM career panel was one discussing science writing and communication as a career. This is a field that I am interested in, and while I cannot tell you exactly what was discussed (The privacy rules of the website prohibit that) I can tell you that the discussion was very informative and useful to me. In the past, VPhD has organized online panel discussions about career choices such as entrepreneurship, patent law and science policy. These discussions are then archived so they continue to be accessible to any premium member. It has been quite useful – and admittedly somewhat reassuring – for me to be able to learn how other graduate students and post-docs have been able to progress into career paths that they found fulfilling and enjoyable. 

In addition to these resources there are also forums where members can discuss various professional, financial, emotional, personal, you-name-it-onal, issues in a supportive, informative and somewhat private environment (This is a premium feature so it adds a layer of privacy to the discussions). There is also a “Jobs” section at the website. I would highly recommend this portal to any CMB student who may be considering a career outside academia.

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(General disclaimer, neither CMB nor Rup are affiliated with VersatilePhD.com, this is done for the general good of grad student-kind). Thanks, Rup!

Clinical Directorships Panel recap and videos

Last Thursday afternoon, the directors of several Clinical Genetics Labs from across the nation took part in an incredibly useful informative panel regarding the responsibilities of running and being in a clinical genetics lab, training programs available and their content, funding, and other aspects associated with molecular genetics in a clinical/diagnostic lab.

For those unable to attend but interested in this as a career path, or curious what such a career might entail, the session was taped is available in the following links (please adjust the volume as necessary):

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Final/Closing


The CMB Professional Development Committee would like to express our appreciation to the speakers Drs. Christine Disteche, Michael Datto, Jennifer Laffin, Michael Chicka, and Linda Jeng for sharing their experience, expertise, and guidance, as well as more informally meeting with grad students for further consultation following the panel. Thank you!

Clinical Directorships Panel Event

UPCOMING EVENT:

Clinical Directorships Panel

When: August 1st, 2013 (Thursday)

            11:00am - Panel Discussion (All are Invited)

            Noon - Breakout Session with lunch (CMB Students Only)

Where: Biochemical Sciences Auditorium, Room 1211 BSB

Please bring questions regarding careers associated with clinical jobs, the hiring process, etc.  For general background regarding careers in Clinical Molecular Genetics, please see here.

Speakers

Michael Chicka, PhD (CMB'07): Prevention Genetics. Molecular Geneticist. Director of Sanger Sequencing

Michael Datto MD, PhD, FCAP: Duke University. Clinical Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory. Director

Linda Jeng, MD, PhD, FACMG: UCSF. Molecular Genetics & Diagnostics. Director

Christine M. Disteche, PhD: University of Washington. Cytogenetic & Genomics Laboratory

Jennifer Laffin, PhD, FACMG: UW-Madison. Cytogenetic Services Laboratory. Director.

Everyone from UW-Madison's Biosciences are invited to participate in the panel discussion, but again, the breakout session is limited to only CMBers.


To adequately prepare, we ask that you register.
REGISTER HERE.

Recap and videos from July 11 Research Institute Industry Event

The July 11 Private Research Industry Professional Development Event featured Micheal Yaffe of the California Institute from Regenerative Medicine. He gave a great seminar discussing how private research is funded, how an institute is organized, administered and operates using CIRM as a model, information regarding the various experiences and career paths of a few people in choosing a career at a research institute, plus an excellent overview of stem-cell related research as funded by CIRM. Dr. Yaffe also graciously met more informally with students following the event for further questions.

For those unable to attend, this seminar was recorded. The sound is a little low; please adjust the volume on your device as necessary.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Again, we would like to thank Dr. Yaffe for coming to speak to us!

Private Research Institute Speaker Update

Private Research Institutes Speaker event UPDATE

Due to last minute scheduling conflicts, Dr. Scott Hawley is no longer able to join us for the July 10th Professional Development event. However, Dr. Michael Yaffe will still be speaking at 2pm, and we will follow directly after with a reception.

General info:

CMB Professional Development Series: Private Research Institutes
Wednesday, July 10th, 2013
Biochemical Sciences Auditorium, Room 1211 BSB
2:00pm-Dr. Michael Yaffe, Associate Director, Research Activities, California institute of Regenerative Medicine
3:00pm-Dr. Scott Hawley, Investigator and American Cancer Society Research Professor, Stowers Institute for Medical Research and Dean, Stowers Graduate School  (Canceled)

Reception to follow in Room 1220 Biochemical Sciences Building (BSB)

All UW Biosciences-affiliated persons are welcome to join! Again, please register here if you haven't already.

Private Research Institutes Speakers Event

Upcoming event:

 Private Research Institutes Speaker Event

Wednesday, July 10th, 2013
UW-Madison Biochemical Sciences Auditorium, Room 1211 BSB

2:00pm- Dr. Michael Yaffe, Associate Director of Research Activities, California Institute of Regenerative Medicine
3:00pm- Dr. Scott Hawley, Investigator and American Cancer Society Research Professor, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, and Dean of the Stowers Graduate School

Dr. Yaffe and Dr. Hawley will each be giving a talk related to working at a private research institute, from the unique aspects of research, funding and teaching in private institutes to outreach and other niche opportunities available. There will be time for questions from the audience and a brief discussion following each speaker.

Reception to follow in Room 1220 Biochemical Sciences Building

All UW-Madison biosciences graduate students, faculty and staff are invited to participate in the event (in addition to CMB). Please register to help us best prepare for the event.

Register here.