Dear Dora,
I have a great relationship with my boss, but others in lab aren’t so fortunate. Now, many of them expect me to use my relationship for their benefit (ask him to move group meeting, ask him for a new vacuum pump, etc.). I’ve worked hard to foster the relationship and am not crazy about the idea of doing the labs’ bidding. However, I feel like I’m in a bit of a pickle.
- Anna, Postdoctoral Fellow
These days, it’s hard to ignore Washington. With increasingly partisan bickering and near record low congressional approval ratings, it’s clear to see how politics in the workplace (especially when it’s politics itself!) can affect job performance. But as a career, how does science rate- are internal politics preventing real progress?
We know the little things matter in science. In fact, we spend much of our time troubleshooting laboratory techniques to find out exactly which little thing is ruining our experiments. It goes without saying that when working with an instrument as sensitive as a mass spectrometer, subtle differences in sample preparation or instrument tuning may dramatically affect the quality of the results. So when things go wrong, we’re not implying you should put every step under a microscope- but here’s what you may find if you do.
We’re three weeks into Search for Research but it doesn’t end until May 7th, so if you’re wondering if it’s too late to get involved, wonder no more! Follow these simple steps and you’ll be on your way to winning a BenchFly Microgrant in no time (translation: do this to win cash money!).
The Slate Rock and Gravel Company was way ahead of their time. They realized that although they had a big labor force, their work was limited by the number of Dino-cranes. However, by splitting the workforce into multiple shifts, they would be able to mine the quarry much faster than if they relied solely on a single shift by Fred Flintstone. What if one day our P.I.s came to the same realization…
With the American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco next week, large-format printers around the world are working overtime to get all of the posters ready to go. While you’re printing things out, we’ve prepared one more sheet that we think will help deal with one of the biggest problems facing meeting attendees…
Thanks for all of the great questions! We’re addressing three questions each month, so If you don’t see your question this time, keep an eye out for our future issues where it will likely show up! Send your questions to DearDora@benchfly.com.
Dora Farkas is the author “The Smart Way to Your Ph.D.:200 Secrets from 100 Graduates,” and the founder of PhDNet, an online community for graduate students and PhDs. You will find links to her book, monthly newsletters, and discussion board on her site.
It seems that over the course of a graduate degree, not only the grad student, but also his or her environment changes opinion about the decision to go to grad school more often than Madonna reinvents herself. It is hard enough struggling with the question of “what am I doing here” while we watch our friends from undergrad buy homes, cars, travel the world and perhaps even have kids. In the mean time, we live in our sweats and continue to eat Kraft dinner.
What happens when you put a scientist, mathematician, classical guitarist, playwright, organist, actress, teacher, vocalist and two MIT graduate degrees together in a blender? You get the remarkably talented Olson/De Cari duo. (Yes, duo as in only two people have accomplished all of that…) Combining their love of science and music, the husband and wife team launched the Science/Music Commissioning Project which seeks to advance public understanding and appreciation of science through original music compositions.
Many foreign students and postdocs come to the US to perform their graduate education or postdoctoral research. The move is usually part of a larger career path the individual has mapped out for themselves. But what happens when that plan falls apart and the passion to pursue the original plan fades? Time to make a Plan B. Here’s one story.
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