This newsletter is typically distributed the last Thursday of the month and contains a variety of resources, links, and reflections on graduate-level career & professional development, higher education, and an occasional detour into neuroscience topics, the area I formally trained in as a graduate student and postdoc.
Missed the inaugural newsletter from January 2021?
Winning isn't everything. In fact, it is sometimes not within our control. Rather than focusing on an external scorecard to determine our success we must commit to realizing internal and personal growth through hard work and commitment.
A great piece by Adriana Bankston that speaks to the need for Congress to ensure robust funding support for the scientific workforce and the career and professional development of graduate students and postdocs in particular.
An insightful read focused on academic administrators trying to focus their efforts on what really matters in their roles.
Resources & Programs
Worth Promoting
Vanderbilt Beyond the Lab Informational Interviews
Vanderbilt School of Medicine's Office of Biomedical Research Education and Training (BRET) has been conducting informational interviews with Ph.D. and postdoc alumni working in a variety of fields and roles for over 10 years. There are now over 100 interviews that cover the career transitions, experiences, and advice of a diverse group of professionals current graduate students and postdocs may benefit from.
Some of the interviews are available on YouTube and the rest as podcast episodes. Their landing page for the series allows one to easily find videos of professionals based on their occupational field from clinical research to data science, entrepreneurship to faculty careers.
National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) Programming & Resources
The NPA's SmartSkills program returns in 2023 featuring webinars on a variety of topics related to postdocs' career and professional development and well-being.
And check out the NPA's Resource Library for more guides and resources including a guide to the postdoc timeline, mentoring, and more.
Early Bird Registration for the 2024 NPA Annual Conference closes on December 15th. Join us in Seattle, March 15 & 16, at a meeting dedicated to postdoc support and development.
As we close the month of Thanksgiving in the US, I share this piece on the importance of giving thanks and focusing on what we have rather than what we lack.
Committing to others, including organizations or causes we care about can be difficult. Engaging in a shared challenge with others, however, leads to a sense of meaning and purpose that is hard to replicate.
