Transcript Successful navigation through grad school in science

Successful navigation through grad
school in science
• Start, progress, and end with the big
picture in mind
– Why did you choose to study {your topic here}
– What will you do with your degree?
– Where would you like to be in 10 years?
• Step back frequently and take in the big
view
– Are you on course? If not, how to correct?
Getting a scientific degree is not
only difficult, it is uncommon
• Of 4000 students followed through from 9th
grade, 5 men and 1 woman will receive
Ph.D. in natural sciences or engineering
(OTA 1985).
• The ESA WAMIE 2006 report: 8.8%
minorities, 26% women.
• WHY ARE SCIENTISTS SO RARE?
Formal graduate education
• A series of structured exercises that teach
you skills, develop mastery of your field,
allow you to carry out technical work under
supervision of your advisors
• Critical thinking skills nurtured
• Over time the props are taken away and
more responsibility is placed on you to
formulate problems, evaluate, execute,
and defend them.
Formal graduate education
• SHOULD build self confidence
• SHOULD build independence
• Students who fail are often lacking in
confidence and independence. Why?
Informal graduate education
• Frequent conversations with faculty advisors
• Opportunities to present and defend research
results in regular and productive group meetings
• Evaluate and criticize the work of peers
• Formulate and carry out tasks of increasing
importance
• Involves a community, including playmates
• Participate in debates about scientific and
technical issues with advisors and peers
• Discuss future career plans
Informal graduate education
“Failure or success in graduate school, as in
most other essentially social endeavors, is
a self-reinforcing spiral. If you make an
extra effort to be outgoing, competent, and
professional, most likely you will get
positive feedback from your professors
and fellow students, enabling you to
continue doing well.”
Peters, p 287, 1997
Your should expect your advisor to:
• Help formulate reasonable research plan
• Point you toward resources (people,
literature, opportunities, money)
• Help you build a helpful committee
• Introduce you to potential employers,
colleagues
• Provide opportunities for you to present
your work, and prepare you to do it well
• Pass on his/her intellectual tradition
Your advisor expects you to:
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Dive into the science!
Finish your degree and publish it
Make yourself known and useful
Be careful, not careless, with your science
Interact often and constructively with other
members of your group
• Work hard
• Represent him/her well; make them proud
You should expect of yourself:
• For M.S.:
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Learn critical thinking skills
Publish at least one paper
Make professional contacts
Attend conferences
Be goal oriented
• For a Ph.D.:
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Publish papers
Go to professional meetings and conferences
Get on committees
Be goal oriented
Good presentation skills are
absolutely essential
1. Your seminar is a performance. It needs
to be carefully planned and thoroughly
rehearsed. Remember, you are telling
story.
2. Present yourself confidently. Act as
though you have enjoyed doing your
research and that your results are
exciting to you.
Good presentation skills are
absolutely essential (2)
3. Respect your audience. They are spending
valuable time to hear you. They want to
understand what you have to say, even if your
specialty is not theirs. They do not want to be
“snowed,” nor do they want to be treated as
“experts” in a field where they really are not.
4. Do not waste your time with filler (including
outlines, slides that announce topics). Make
sure each slide pushes your story forward. If
your talk is a bit too short, NO ONE will object.
Adapted from Feibelman 1993
Good presentation skills are
absolutely essential (3)
5. Make your visual aids pleasing: not too
cluttered, a minimum of flying things and
gimmicks.
6. Jill’s rules of thumb:
– ~1 minute/slide
– 30-40 slides for an hour presentation (allows
time for questions)