This week we’re excited to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Dear Dora column! We’ve been extremely fortunate to have worked with Dr. Dora Farkas and are thrilled she’s been a part of BenchFly from the early days. We sat down with Dora to find out if there was any advice she’d like to take back, if her own grad school experience was a breeze and if there are particular challenges that she sees facing students and postdocs in the coming years.
Had Kenny Rogers been an academic, the refrain to his legendary song, The Gambler, may have turned out differently as The Grant Writer: “You’ve got to know when to write ‘em, know when to spite ‘em / Know when to walk away, know when to run / You never count your funding, till it’s written in your ledger / They’ll be time enough for counting, when the deadline’s done.” Of course, that version of the song probably wouldn’t have vaulted Kenny to the wild success that ultimately gave us Kenny Rogers Roasters – and that’s a lose-lose for everyone.
As kids, a trip to the zoo is like steroids for our imagination. We walk around in wonder and awe of the incredible animals – Where did they come from? Do they ever sleep? Why does that one seem so cranky? What’s that smell?!
And then we become graduate students and it all makes sense…
Following-up on What Makes a Great Graduate Student?, we asked our panel of experts about specific actions we could take to set ourselves up for a successful graduate career. The PIs help set our expectations for how many years we should plan to be in school, how much initiative we should take and what to expect if we decide to leave the bench.
If we could jump in Michael J. Fox’s Delorian and travel back to 1950 to share the list of major scientific discoveries to come over the next 60 years, we’d sound crazier than new grad students who think they’re going to graduate within three years. Since Watson and Crick first published their helical model for the structure of DNA in 1953, the pace of biochemical research has been astounding. We sequence entire genomes, we clone live organisms and we have multiple drugs on the market to help old men get erections. Ah, modern science.
Dear Dora,
How many postdoctoral fellowships do most people apply for when starting their postdoc?
- Dom, grad student
Nobody starts graduate school thinking, “I’d like to be average. I’ll be happy just blending into the background and having to remind my PI of my name on my graduation day.” We all want to do our best, become a great graduate student and ultimately blossom into great scientists. Yet, there’s often one little wrinkle in executing the plan – what exactly is a great graduate student and how do we become one?
Ben Franklin famously declared that two things in life were guaranteed – death and taxes. For scientists, Ben may have updated it to “death, taxes and the qualifying exam.” Although graduate programs vary with regard to degree requirements, the qualifying exam seems to be one hurdle they’ve all agreed to include.
A healthy, on-the-go breakfast is a challenge anywhere, let alone the Food Desert. I love biscotti, and had been searching for a recipe that yielded the light, crispy cookies I like best but they eluded me. Finally, one day, I asked the owner of a local upscale Italian bakery – she smiled and said, in her lilting accent “you know, it’s only cake!” Of course – biscotti (Italian for twice-cooked) is really toasted cake, and the lightest cake there is is angel food cake, based on healthy, protein rich, fat-free egg whites!
(In honor of the beginning of the academic year, we’re revisiting our Graduate School Survival Guide Series that was previously posted.)
All over the country this week a new crop of eager young scientists begin their journey of discovery. Graduate school is a great time of learning and exploration, but it can also be stressful – especially the beginning. Perhaps the hardest part about the transition to grad school is the uncertainty involved. When will I graduate? Who should I work for? What’s expected of me? Can I drink the lab ethanol?
Loading ...With a Free Account You Can:
Just enter your name and
email address to get started
