Hello Phd

There are two conflicting truths for many early-career graduate students: The mentor you choose is vitally important, and can impact your ability to complete a PhD and your career trajectory years into the future. Many students choose a mentor based on feelings, hunches, and hearsay. Truth 1 should be self-evident by now. A mentor trains […] The post 137. Tools for Finding a Research Mentor appeared first on Hello PhD.

As protesters march in the streets, you’ll hear calls to “Defund” or “Disband the Police.” These advocates argue that tweaks and training programs will never be enough to meaningfully alter the course of modern police departments, some of which can trace their origins to slave patrols in the South. You simply can’t get there, from […] The post 136. Rebuilding an Inclusive Academia with Dr. Ashalla Freeman appeared first on Hello PhD.

Have you ever lamented the fact that there isn’t some kind of instruction book to help you navigate your scientific training? Wouldn’t it be nice if someone explained how to choose a mentor, or what it means to give a ‘job talk?’ And is there any advice for how to deal with that negative peer-reviewer, […] The post 135. The Science Training Toolbox with Dr. Andres De Los Reyes. Plus, Antiracism for Academia appeared first on Hello PhD.

COVID-19 is a wildfire burning its way around the planet. Its impacts are devastating to nearly every aspect of our modern lives: loved ones lost, economies destroyed, and plans put on hold indefinitely. But like a fire, it’s also shedding light, illuminating the hidden corners of our society and our routines that we may not […] The post 134. Lessons from the Quarantine appeared first on Hello PhD.

Four hundred years ago, Galileo Galilei knelt before a group of Cardinals of the Catholic Church and was forced to recant his heretical belief that the Earth revolves around the sun. “This must have been horrific for him,” says Dr. Mario Livio, author of a new biography titled Galileo and the Science Deniers. “To basically […] The post 133. Galileo and the Science Deniers – with Dr. Mario Livio appeared first on Hello PhD.

First, the good news: you’re not alone! About 1/3 of adults under age 30 carry some level of student loan debt. Unfortunately, if you’re earning a post-graduate degree, you may owe nearly twice as much as your friends who stopped with a Bachelor’s degree. This week on the show, we take a 360º look at […] The post 132. Make a Plan to Repay Your Student Loan appeared first on Hello PhD.

It’s finally here! The day you’ve been preparing for for the last five years! Your experiments are finished, papers published, and your dissertation has been typed, referenced, printed, and distributed. Now, it’s time to stand proudly before your committee and a room full of peers to defend your work and be dubbed a Doctor of […] The post 131. How to Host a Dissertation Defense On Zoom appeared first on Hello PhD.

It has quickly become a new way of life – working from home, avoiding restaurants and gyms, and ‘social distancing’ from coworkers, friends, and even family. The upending of normal routines happened so quickly, and the days have become so blurred together, that it’s hard to keep track of just how long we’ve been confined […] The post 130. Coronavirus, and Life Outside the Lab appeared first on Hello PhD.

 I feel a little disheartened because I’ve been rejected from many of the places I applied to and haven’t heard back from a number of others. Is it worth it to hold out hope for the ones that haven’t sent out updates?  I have been rejected from 5 schools and am expecting 3 more rejections […] The post 129. Grad School Rejection: Why it Happens and How to Get Accepted appeared first on Hello PhD.

It’s 6 AM and you wake up as the crickets grow quiet and dawn illuminates your tent. After cooking breakfast over a campfire, you load a backpack and hike seven miles into a canyon. That’s when the science begins… Camp, Sample… When people think of science, they often conjure images of lab coats, chalk boards, […] The post 128. Field Work: Science in the Great Outdoors appeared first on Hello PhD.

It’s a well worn analogy, but an apt one: grad school is a mental and emotional marathon, not a sprint. This week, we answer listener mail from ‘runners’ at different stages of the race! This episode is Part 2 of our conversation with Susanna Harris of PhDBalance.com. You can listen to the first episode here: […] The post 127. Listener Mailbag: How Do You Stay Motivated in Grad School? appeared first on Hello PhD.

It’s that time again – the virtual mail bag is overflowing, so we invited Susanna Harris of PhDBalance.com to help us answer YOUR emails, Tweets, and messages. Bringing the Heat We start with a few burning questions about applications and interviews. The first question comes from a listener who was promised a strong letter of […] The post 126. Listener Mailbag – Ghost PIs, Dress Codes, and Mental Health with Susanna Harris appeared first on Hello PhD.

See our previous episodes in this series: 101: HelloPhD Guide to Grad School Applications – Knowing When, and Where, to Apply with Dr. Beth Bowman 102: HelloPhD Guide to Grad School Applications – Crafting the Perfect Personal Statement with Dr. Brian Rybarczyk With most jobs, you’ll need to submit a polished resume along with a […] The post 106. HelloPhD Guide to Grad School Applications – Acing Your Interview with Dr. Beth Bowman (R) appeared first on Hello PhD.

Most PhD students attend traditional academic institutions of higher educations. It’s the world of classes, campuses, and mortarboards you probably think of when you think about a University. But there’s a less-traveled path to a PhD that may actually hold some benefits for certain students, including those coming back to school after working for awhile, […] The post 125. Demystifying the Research Institute appeared first on Hello PhD.

We’re bringing you this bonus episode to encourage our listeners to submit their artwork to the Promega Art Contest for Creative Scientists. This isn’t for everyone – it’s just for listeners of Hello PhD! The deadline is nearly here (December 1st, 2019), but you can still visit the contest page to submit a digital image […] The post 124. An Art Contest JUST For Hello PhD Listeners appeared first on Hello PhD.

In a world where it’s “Publish or Perish,” you’d expect “publish” to be the more favorable option. But, if you’ve ever spent a year or more performing experiments, crafting figures, writing a manuscript, finding a friendly editor and arguing with reviewers, that “perish” option might just sound pretty sweet right about now…. It’s no secret […] The post 123. Anatomy of a Micropublication feat. Nate Jacobs of Flashpub appeared first on Hello PhD.

Please recount your life story, all of your future plans, and why this graduate program is uniquely suited to fulfill those dreams.  Limit your answer to 140 characters. Okay, okay, the typical “Personal Statement” prompt on your grad school application is probably not that outrageous, but they CAN feel both cryptic and overwhelming. Here’s a […] The post 102. HelloPhD Guide to Grad School Applications – Crafting the Perfect Personal Statement (R) appeared first on Hello PhD.

Dr. Jimena Giudice has all the traits of a promising new faculty member. Through her training and early career, she has earned more than a dozen grants and awards. She’s co-authored two dozen papers. And she has trained students and postdocs, gaining a reputation as a highly effective mentor. You’d expect that Dr. Giudice’s undeniable […] The post 122. Tenure Tracker – The Life Non-Linear with Dr. Jimena Giudice appeared first on Hello PhD.

You’ve gotten this far, which means you have probably read the episode title by now. And that means you have questions. So… many… questions…. Let’s answer a few of them right up front. First, if you want to enter graduate school at age seventeen, you should probably start college around age eleven. That’s what this […] The post 121. A Teenager Goes to Grad School feat. Julia Nepper, PhD appeared first on Hello PhD.

As a researcher, you may brag about the open, collegial way that scientists share their findings in lab meetings, poster sessions, and journal articles. But if you dig beneath the surface, you’ll find a darker tendency built into our habits and institutions that actually cover up a lot of what we learn. For example, you […] The post 120. Advancing Open Science with Dr. Jon Tennant appeared first on Hello PhD.