This tidbit of information comes from my experiences in a new translational group we have setup at Rutgers, called the Center for Innovative Ventures of Emerging Technologies (CIVET).

(Note: A civet is also a small mammal found around Asia, but those of us at Rutgers are of the walking homo-sapien variety.)

Three steps to translation:

1. Disclosure. All ideas should be disclosed to your respective patent office first. Please, please do this prior to making posters, submitting journal articles etc. Once you give a public disclosure there is no going back to protect your idea.
2. Perspective. As scientists, and I hate to admit this myself, we often look myopically at our ideas and inventions and think, “hell this is great – people are definitely going to buy this.”  To this note, try and find students or professors in the business school at your respective institutions to help you flesh out a business plan if you seriously want to try and translate your idea. This way you have the all important market assessment to see if your idea really is commercially viable.
3. Probability. Remember that 1 in 10 startups make it. Thus, given that you have the bandwidth, try to nurture multiple ideas/opportunities – all disclosed to your tech transfer department, of course (see #1). Collaborations with other scientists and professors are also very fruitful for this.

These rules may seem self evident, but little attention is often given to this in the academic environ, to the ultimate detriment of the researcher. I realize there is a lot more involved in starting a company, as I try to translate myself, but these are three salient points that an be easily implemented early in your research.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me too. Now go out and make the big money.

-Tim

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Dear Tim:

The Widget Company would like to inform you of the following job offer, as head of scientific development, working on the discovery of our next generation widgets….

The email then goes on to state your compensation and your start date. And that’s when the joy of your sweet new salary turns sour…

You become overwhelmed by all of the experiments and “fun” side projects that you still have to finish for your advisor.  Oh, and that little issue of setting a defense date…

I have had many colleagues ask for my advice on this seemingly tricky scenario.  Not to fret, I say in return, for some simple organizational strategies will aid you in this dilemma and let you return to dreaming about the big bucks you will soon be making.

The first step is to identify a realistic start date that is not too far away from the date listed in your offer package. By a realistic start date, I mean one that would allow you to at least harvest the last bits of data that you need in order to either finish your cap stone manuscript or the final chapter of your thesis. Propose this date to your advisor as well as the company – communication is key. Remember that you want to be as close as possible to a real date. Companies are willing to push this date back once, maybe even twice, but do not make a habit of changing it.

The second step is then to tie down your thesis defense date. While establishing a defense date pretty much requires an act of god and is exponentially complicated by the number of thesis committee members that you have, remember that if absolutely necessary, you can put this date off until after you have started work. While this makes your nights a bit tricky for the first few weeks of work, the approach should satiate both your advisor as well as your new employer. If you do follow this path, just make sure you have all of the data you need prior to starting your new job. Please note that no small percentage (~40%) of the people I have spoken with that landed jobs straight out of graduate school took this option. Of course, if you can get your defense out of the way prior to starting work, by all means do it.

The third step is, for those of you in PhD programs, to remember to get a signed form from your respective registrar’s office that states you have completed your PhD program. THIS IS ESSENTIAL FOR YOUR FIRST DAY OF WORK. I am not talking about your actual diploma, but a piece of paper with a raised seal that verifies completion of the doctorate program. Without this you will not be allowed to start work. Also keep in mind that there is a hill of paper work you have to knock out right at the end that is a prerequisite to getting this form. So a month or two before you defend, mosey on over to your graduate school office and get the ball rolling on this documentation.

You are moving on to your new digs soon and your advisor should be happy for you and want to help you finish up quickly. Of course, the world is not perfect and occasionally the stress of the situation will affect the boss as well. If you meet with a little resistance, try to err on the side of being respectful to your new company because you want to start your professional career off on the right foot.

Enjoy those brand new jobs!!!

-Tim

Tim Maguire is currently pursing his passion for scientific gab, contributing to numerous scientific blogs. He is also engaged in setting up social network sites and integrative communities for both non-profit organizations as well as universities. In his day job, Tim is pursuing in vitro microfluidic systems incorporating human hepatocytes for toxicology and drug metabolism studies. You can find additional writings and commentary from Tim on his blog at ScienceUnveiled.

You see, I was spoiled in my PhD and was given complete freedom over almost every aspect of the program. I should explain that I am not one for bosses and I do not particularly care to follow the norm, so this was perfect for me.  However, while teeing off on the 9th at Tamarack I realized in talking to my friend that this may not be an ideal situation for most.

In many cases, students like an organized graduate program to be oriented with as soon as they set foot into their chosen place of learning. I can completely understand this because there are so many hurdles that we have to endure in a PhD program – finding an advisor, obtaining funding, passing qualifiers, selecting a research topic, etc.. It makes me dizzy just thinking about it.

The point my friend offered up was that the rate of people leaving a PhD program early is quite high. Incredibly, some of the departments he investigated lost more than 60% of their new students. His theory is that if there was a welcome mat or, in other words, a more nurturing environment at least through the first year, people may become situated faster and have a higher probability of completing the PhD. As this idea rolled around in my mind, I thought about the various challenges facing new students.  I also considered potential policy changes that a department could enact to make the transition to grad school a happier, more relaxed experience.

To help new students, programs could:

1. Provide a faculty funding metric. Based on the funding record for each professor, the metric would estimate the probability of maintaining funding for your entire graduate career in a given lab.
2. Provide a faculty publication metric. Based on the average number and quality of papers per student, the metric would estimate the probability of publishing various numbers of papers in a given lab
3. Establish a collaborative network. Even if it’s just five people going out each week to a bar, this is simply a necessity.
4. Get rid of qualifiers. I know some departments use this as a filter to weed out students who should not be in a PhD program. This is just a waste of time for everyone and introduces another form of anxiety. Do away with it. The students who shouldn’t be in a PhD program usually weed themselves out.
5. Provide an academic advisor that helps students pick their electives. It is often the electives that provide exposure to diverse sets of topics and techniques, any one of which may prove useful in your own project. Thus, if you are aligned with electives that interest you, the probability of doing a killer research project only increases.
6. Make a faculty member beat the idea of getting fellowships into students’ heads. That way people can avoid the hell that is TAing. You can only grade papers and listen to undergrads grovel for points for so long…(Sorry, I know there are a few people out there that found being a TA rewarding).

To me, these seem like fairly easy fixes. Hopefully, departments will take a gander at this and consider what changes they can make to improve their own graduate programs.

Tim

Tim Maguire is currently pursing his passion for scientific gab, contributing to numerous scientific blogs. He is also engaged in setting up social network sites and integrative communities for both non-profit organizations as well as universities. In his day job, Tim is pursuing in vitro microfluidic systems incorporating human hepatocytes for toxicology and drug metabolism studies. You can find additional writings and commentary from Tim on his blog at ScienceUnveiled.

1. They went to industry

2. They went to academia

3. They went back for more schooling (MBA, MD…)

4. They started a family

However, this superficial categorization focuses on a snapshot of an individual at one point in their career.  It neglects the more interesting trends that emerge when you begin to compare people’s behavior over time. While a multitude of patterns can arise from this analysis, there is one trajectory in particular that my colleague and I identified and found most interesting. We have termed this phenomenon being stuck in “The Shadow of the Ph.D.”.

Individuals struggling under The Shadow still seem blurred by their Ph.D. experience and have trouble establishing a course for their professional life following the completion of their doctorate. While these individuals may be productive in whatever role they find themselves in, they seem to be lacking an overall guiding light, and thus are easily lead astray.

A former colleague of mine, who to this day still is dwarfed by The Shadow, has hopped around from industrial institutions to academic institutions and still has not found their niche. Although this could be viewed as “expanding one’s professional tool kit”, the nomadic career path is not without consequences.  In fact, the lack of professional focus in this individual has resulted in an increasingly depressed and negative mentality, which has in turn affected their ability to interact productively in a collaborative setting.

The good news is, The Shadow doesn’t have to fall on you.  To offer some advice a mentor of mine gave me in the past:

1. Know where you have been
2. Know where you are
3. Know where you want to go

This may sound like common sense but taking a step back to focus on the bigger picture has helped many scientists, myself included, organize their professional lives.  This little mantra forces us to evaluate our previous life experiences, our goals and our readiness for the upcoming challenges we will face. For those about to complete a Ph.D., it also helps as a screen to identify the jobs that will be most fulfilling to you.

Often times in grad school it may seem like the sun will never come out.  But when it does, just be sure not to get stuck in The Shadow!

Good luck!

Tim

Tim Maguire is currently pursing his passion for scientific gab, contributing to numerous scientific blogs. He is also engaged in setting up social network sites and integrative communities for both non-profit organizations as well as universities. In his day job, Tim is pursuing in vitro microfluidic systems incorporating human hepatocytes for toxicology and drug metabolism studies. You can find additional writings and commentary from Tim on his blog at ScienceUnveiled.