For the fifth year, the lab held its annual Career Development Week (CDW). It was a big success, with lots of progress made on individualized career exploration, preparation, and development activities. There are two main components of our plan. First, lab members complete Career Development Activities from a big list (you can see this year’s version, with some new additions, HERE). As a fun twist and to encourage students to explore broadly, we add points to each activity and students compete for the CarDev Cup (shown in the photo at the bottom of the post) filled with goodies.
We also have Zoom meetings with Ph.D. holding professionals with careers that our trainees are interested in. Our guests this year were:
Dr. Lucila Scimone, Staff Scientist in the Reddien Laboratory, Whitehead/MIT/HHMI and fellow planarian enthusiast. Lucila discussed how her position allowed her to stay at the bench, engaged in the thinking process in a way that allows great freedom, flexibility, autonomy, and fun.
Dr. Erin Davies, Investigator at the National Cancer Institute (NCI/NIH) and flatworm friend. Erin talked to us about some of the differences between working as an investigator through a government position vs. a university setting. She shared some of the unique perks of this job and also what it’s like to navigate political events like government shut downs. She also gave us some great information on postdoctoral and post-bacc experiences at NIH.
Dr. Ryo Tamura, postdoctoral fellow in the Looger laboratory (UCSD). Rio was a Ph.D. student at UGA. He talked about the circuitous path he took to his current position. As a newer postdoc, he also shared a lot about the application/interview process. We also discussed what it’s like to transition from Ph.D. to postdoc, including changing models/questions/environments.
Dr. Antonia De Maio, scientific editor Cell Reports. Antonia gave us huge insight into her career path and her day-to-day experiences as an editor. One thing she said that was impactful was “I am a scientist. I am and will always be.” which was great for students to hear. She also talked about what she looked for in papers - that they have high potential, be thorough, reproducible, and sound.
Dr. Zlata Gvozdenov, research scientist in industry. Zlata is a colleague of mine from UIUC. She emphasized that “science is science” and shared that the skills developed in academia—collaboration, soft skills, quality science, communication, honesty—are exactly what is needed for industry jobs. She reassured trainees that they “have the skills already” for these jobs.
Dr. Adrienne Samani, former Clinical Trials Manager at Medpace and current Medical Science Liaison at ITF Therapeutics, where her focus is currently on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Adrienne also shared the adaptability of her Ph.D. and how it prepared her for both positions (skills like multi-tasking, problem solving, and information gathering). We learned a lot about how Clinical Trials Managers interface with other positions within a company like Medpace. She shared that she switched to MSL because she could use her scientific expertise and communication skills better in this new position.
We had a great week and students completed at least 214 career development activities for a total of 723 points. Shew! The winner of this year’s CarDev cup was Kendall Clay. Highlights were:
CONGRATULTIONS, KENDALL!
Creating spreadsheets of potential postdoc positions.
Informational interviews.
Writing thank you notes and reconnecting with prior mentors.
Storyboarding projects.
Completing values inventory.
Frustrating points included looking up labs and finding out-of-date websites and troubles with confusing job titles (particularly in industry).
The whole group did a fantastic job, with lots of growth and courage in exploring and doing hard things!