Transcript Communication Skills, Professional Development Sherry J Yennello Texas A&M University Easwar • I hired Easwar because he gave one of the best 10 min talks.

Communication Skills,
Professional Development
Sherry J Yennello
Texas A&M University
Easwar
• I hired Easwar because he gave one of
the best 10 min talks I have every
witnessed at an APS meeting
Jane
• I argued against putting Jane on the short
list for a faculty position and inviting her
for an interview because she gave one of
the worst seminars I had ever sat through.
Advice to Beginning Physics
Speakers
James Garland, Physics Today, July 1991
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Gauge your audience
Fit your talk into the allotted time
Use mathematics and equations sparingly
Be sensible about powerpoint
Practice your talk
Dress appropriately
Interact with your audience
Chronology of preparing for a recent talk
3-4 weeks prior to talk:
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Make list of major points
Draft proceedings
Circulate draft of proceedings for comments
Make a few data slides
Look though existing slides for useable ones
Generate new plots
Discuss my interpretation with others in group
Rewrite proceedings
Reread someone else's paper on relevant expt
Revisit outline of talk
t-8 days
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First run through of talk
Take lots of notes
t-7 days
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Make new slides as per runthrough
Scan relevant data from pubs
Look up info - makes some notes
Combine data into composite slide
Reread someone else's paper on relevant expt
Practice talk
t-5 days
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Generate one more way to look at the data
Pull together last few slides (two different intro slides, three copies of last data slide)
Leave for conference
Chronology of preparing for a recent talk cont
t-3 days
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Talk about our data and other data with other conference participants
Look through slides
t-2 days
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Realize that allotted time is shorter then originally thought - think about what to leave out
Double check that other paper
Practice talk
t-1 day
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Pay attention to related talks given by others - make comparison notes
Decide to go with the provocative title slide and conservative data slide
Practice talk - drop another transparency- timing just about OK
T day
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Session runs long - some people leave others want to
Acknowledge everyone want to leave
Relate to other talks as way of dropping intro info
Put summary slide up 2nd
Cover the key points
Finish early
Answer a few questions - agree to chat with others at length later
Process for writing a paper
• Decide the message of your paper
• What figures will tell that story
– Anything not part of that story is a distraction!
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Review primary literature
Write an introduction that lays groundwork for story
Write the experimental section
Write the results and discussion
– For each figure make sure you describe what data is being
presented and what the reader is expected to take away from it
• Write the summary
– Recap the story and how each piece of information presented
plays a role.
• Write the abstract and title
• Self-revise your paper
• Peer review
A successful physicist must be able
to…
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Give a talk to fellow physicists
Give a talk to a general audience
Write a research paper
Write an abstract
Write a proposal
Write a technical report
Have a conversation about science
Negotiate
Manage a group of people
Work within a team
Do some budgeting / cost analysis
Inspire others
Sell an idea
Critically analyze a problem and make a plan of action
Create new knowledge
Explain complicated issues to other people
Run a project
Know when to let go of a project
Resolve conflicts
PfLAGS
Preparing for Life After Graduate School
• A two-day workshop designed to
inform chemistry graduate students
and postdocs about their career
options after graduate school and how
to prepare for them.
Defining careers for PhD chemists
• What does it mean to work in industry? How employees are
evaluated, opportunities for promotion, the dual-ladder concept in
industry, and other issues are discussed. A comparison of industrial
jobs with academic (at both PhD granting universities and four-year
colleges) and government employment is included, as is a
discussion of postdoctoral research as it relates to your career
choice.
Nontechnical skills and knowledge
• Modules are included on writing persuasive memos; conducting or
receiving performance reviews; patents and intellectual property;
business economics and project selection; and ethics in research.
Working together on case studies illustrates the team approach to
problem solving.
Finding employment opportunities
• Modules focus on targeting the job market, the resume and cover
letter, and interviewing skills. Also included are academic research
proposals and the teaching philosophy statement needed in most
academic job searches.
Mock Interview and Resume Review
• To help students prepare for the real experience, mock interviews
and resume reviews are conducted following the workshop. Many
participants find this to be the workshop’s most valuable part.
A successful physicist must be able
to…
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Give a talk to fellow physicists
Give a talk to a general audience
Write a research paper
Write an abstract
Write a proposal
Write a technical report
Have a conversation about science
Negotiate
Manage a group of people
Work within a team
Do some budgeting / cost analysis
Inspire others
Sell an idea
Critically analyze a problem and make a plan of action
Create new knowledge
Explain complicated issues to other people
Run a project
Know when to let go of a project