Archive
Summer internship at the Economist
Are you looking for potential opportunities to use your science knowledge outside of academia? How about an internship as journalist writing about science and technology? The Economist has a call out for applications to be a summer intern and to write about science and technology for 3 months. http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21569376-richard-casement-internship
Deadline to submit a cover letter and a writing sample is February 1st.
Wanna win some cash? Of you do! Apply to the IGPS today!
The Interdisciplinary Graduate and Professional Symposium (IGPS) http://gradstudies.ucdavis.edu/about/igps.html. is a chance for you to show off your research to the rest of campus, and to folks from industry. This is a great chance to present your work, make meaningful connections, and best of all – win some cash!
Prizes for the best:
$5000 – best talk
$1000 – best poster
$1000 – best visual or performing art
$2500 – best Student-run Session
And there will be more!
Apply before Feb 1st – be careful to read the detailed SmartSite instructions for uploading your application (must be completed in Adode Acrobat Reader, also label your Abstract as your Kerebros user name)
Good luck!
Concerned about the Job Market? Seeking a Career beyond Academia?
3 Workshops for Career Success!
(register at http://iccweb.ucdavis.edu/graduates/pathway.htm)
1) Interview Etiquette: Strategies for Success
Unsure about how to present yourself for an interview? This workshop will focus on points of etiquette that will make your interview flow smoothly and will leave your interviewer with a great impression of you! Topics will include greetings, attire, interviewing over a meal, networking at social events and much more.
Workshop Leader:
Joaquin Feliciano, PhD, Greek Life Coordinator, Student Housing, UC Davis
2) Negotiating Your First Position (Beyond Academia)
Join us for an informative discussion of the do’s and don’ts of negotiating your first position outside academia. Our workshop leader will offer expert advice on how to put your best foot forward and successfully negotiate your new position including information about salary and benefits negotiation. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn a skill vital to your career success.
Workshop Leader:
Robert Enzerink, MBA, Partner, The MarkeTech Group, Principal, MEDGroup
3) An Inside Look at an Interview (Beyond Academia)
Come watch an actual (mock) interview. Our workshop leader, Mary Johnson, will lead you through the interview process as she interviews a graduate student, for a position outside of academia. Dr. Johnson will lead the audience in a critique of the interview to enable you to determine for yourself what works or doesn’t work without actually being in the hot seat!
Mock Interviewer:
Mary G. Johnson, PhD, Human Resources Director at Haemonetics
Mock interviewee:
Cory T. Ellison, Harmer Lab Graduate Student, Plant Biology Graduate Group
All graduate students and postdocs are invited to these workshops which are part of the
Pathways Career Symposium
Saturday, January 28th, Wellman Hall
To register for the symposium (free) and for information on other workshops and panel discussions click on
http://iccweb.ucdavis.edu/graduates/pathway.htm
You can come to one workshop or attend as many as you’d like!
Sponsored by the Internship and Career Center and the Office of Graduate Studies
Research Independence
PI’s in the BMCDB graduate group can have radically different ideas about what their students should be doing and how much freedom their students should have. A successful graduate student should talk to a prospective advisor before joining his or her lab about how much research freedom they will have. Furthermore, once in a lab, students should listen to his or her advisor about how long potential projects may take and how risky they may be (they’ve been there and they know better than you).
In a recent article on naturejobs.com, Maryrose Franko of the HHMI says that students can benefit most from multiple projects that balance the needs of the lab with those of the student as well as riskier and safer projects. She adds that the riskier projects, if successful, more often lead to an independent research career.
Careers with Sandia National Laboratories
This blog has brought to your attention that alternative career options are very relevant to today’s graduates with a PhD. In that alley, Sandia National Labs is having a recruitment session. Read below.
Careers with Sandia National Laboratories for Advanced Degree Holders
Wednesday, November 2
Noon-1:30pm | Room 114 South Hall
For all interested M.S. and Ph.D. science, engineering, and computer science students and postdocs
- Learn about the excellent opportunities at Sandia National Laboratory
- Meet Technical Members of Staff and UCD Alums -
- Jack Skinner, PhD in Mechanical Engineering from UC Davis
- Mien Yip, PhD in Civil Engineering from UC Davis
Bring Your Resume! Don’t have a resume? Or have a resume that needs some work? Attend our Resume Writing Workshop for Grad Students and Postdocs in advance of the information session
Food and drinks will be provided.
Find more information at www.sandia.gov or at www.facebook.com/SandiaLabs
Sponsored by Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Career Services at the Internship and Career Center and the Office of Graduate Studies (Professional Development Series)
Masters in Science Communication Program at UCSC
Are you considering a career in science writing? Or do you want to become a good writer as part of your skill-set? Maybe you want to consider taking the Science Communication Program at UC Santa Cruz. This is a one year, intense course in science writing and many of their alumni have gone to great careers in the media, such as NPR or various news papers in LA, Detroit or Philly.
They also started their own blog The Crashing Edge, so can have a taste of the work they produce.
Go GREEN, go Costa Rica!
Have you ever thought about mixing Adventure with Culture? Social Responsibility with cutting edge Education?
The GREEN Educational Adventure Programs in Costa Rica offer a unique way to satisfy your intellectual curiosity while experiencing unforgettable adventures, gaining a cultural experience, and giving back to the community though socially responsible projects.
The Programs in Costa Rica are focused on Renewable Energy Education, Adventure, Culture, and Social Responsibility.
The 12-day trip gives students a chance to explore the topics of RENEWABLE ENERGY and SUSTAINABILITY through interactive lectures and exclusive hands-on site visits to functioning power plants, like wind farms and geothermal plants, and residential facilities, such as organic sustainable farms and green-centric housing developments. The benefits of the educational component are enhanced by the excitement of the adventure and cultural excursions that make Costa Rica the epicenter of EcoTourism and travel.
Students who attended this program in the past have cited it as “one of the best experiences of their life”. Some have returned to Costa Rica for summer internships in the renewable energy sector. Others applied their experiences to succeed in internships and jobs in the United States.
The Global Renewable Energy Education Network (GREEN) inspires University students to explore the fields of renewable energy and sustainability. In doing so, we aim to assemble motivated collegiate minds in engineering, business, policy, ecology, and other related fields, to spark a flame of though and passion centered around renewable energy, sustainable living, and improved societal standards. Our objective is to do so by pipe-lining these students into the GREEN industry through an intensive educational adventure program.
GREEN is happy to announce the launch of our 2012 Programs! Several programs will take place this year enrolling students from top Universities across the nation.
For more information, please see the “GREEN 2012 Program Package” attached. To Apply and see further details, such as the curriculum, itinerary and photos from past programs, visit our website at www.greenworknow.com.
Watch our 2012 Season Preview video to see what you can take part in this year.
Want to come with friends? Feel free to contact us for our group rates!
Spots on our Winter Program (January 4-15) are still available and registration for the Summer has begun. Please visit our website for more details and to apply!
–
Brady Halligan
Global Renewable Energy Education Network
Director of University Outreach
“An Educational Breakthrough in a Costa Rican Paradise”
Career Exploration Groups For Graduate Students
Graduate Student Career Exploration Group, meets Mondays 10-11:30 in the 2nd Floor North Hall Library:
This group is specifically for graduate students who want explore the fit of one or more career options of interest or expand their consideration of possible careers. Group members will integrate data from their personal strengths, work and family perspectives, and career assessments with occupational information. Group members are asked to increase their exposure to occupational information and opportunities over the course of the term. Please note total cost of assessments is $45 and expected time commitment for activities outside of the 1.5 hour, 6 session group time is approximately 1-2 hours per week.
You may decide whether you want to join the group at the “Orientation to the Career Exploration Groups”, on a first come, first served basis using a sign-in sheet (up to 8, perhaps 10). The orientation provides information about the assessments, the goals of the group, and description of our activities for the 6 sessions. Currently the Orientation date will be during the 3rd week of the term, at the same time/locations as the group meetings, or Oct 10th for Grad students. If you are interested in participating in this group, please contact ljgeiken@ucdavis.edu.
Congratulations with your PhD degree! Now what?
Being a graduate student in short means you will work long hours on a question that most people don’t know anything about nor care to know anything about. And we love doing it. But what happens after 5-6 years of trying to answer a ‘simple’ question, some publications and a dissertation?
The obvious choice is to do what your professor did: do a postdoc, get a tenure-track position at a university and become tenured faculty. Sounds simple and straightforward. There are some problems with this apprentice-like model of an academic career (a great editorial in EMBO J about this subject). What are the odds you will actually make it all the way?
National Science Foundation (NSF) released today some nice graphics of post-graduation trends for various fields, including Life Sciences. About 67% of us will probably do a post-doc according to this data. According to an article in the HHMI bulletin, only 37% of postdocs will become a tenure-track professor (no data on how many actually become tenured). This means that less than 25% of us will get a shot at becoming a tenured faculty. In other words, over 75% of us will ultimately do something else. With more and more PhDs being produced by universities across the US, this problem is only going to grow, as a recent edition of Nature pointed out.
So what other options are there besides following in the footsteps of your professor? Here at Davis there is a interdisciplinary group, called the Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology (DEB), where students get in contact with various aspects of biotechnology. If you are a student of the DEB, you also have to do a 3 month internship at a biotech company — a way of supplementing your PhD with a more diverse experience. During the academic year, every Friday they bring in a person from a biotech company to talk about the company and highlight what is available for current PhD students once they have their degree.
There are also jobs available for us outside academia and the biotech, such as becoming a science writer or a high-school/college teacher or become an editor at a journal or work for a government lab. With the skills you learn as a scientist, many doors are open: you only have to look for the doors to find them. To help with the looking, BMCDB students are organizing a new seminar series that will highlight various people who have taken on jobs in a non-academic and non-biotech (why duplicate what is already being provided) field. On every second Tuesday of the month during the Fall, Winter and Spring quarters we will have a Career Options Seminar. Soon we will update you with a list of the speakers. Exciting times (besides a slowing economy and a disfunctional congress).
bmcdb
