Patricia Burchat Photo: Steve Gladfelter "A new lab rotation each quarter allows students to learn more about the research pursued by the group and gives a student the opportunity to test the 'culture' in the group before making a decision" The selection of a doctoral program: it's not quite marriage, but it's a long-term commitment that could turn into a lifetime relationship, perhaps impacting—...
Denise Koo Denise Koo Photo by James Gathany "Other advantages of working for the government include having job security and good retirement benefits." Collectively, the US government is the largest single employer in America, filling approximately 1.6 million full-time, permanent positions; however, in reality, the US government consists of several hundred smaller employers, each of which has it...
Credit: Photo illustration by Amy Hardcastle, image from istockphoto.com/andrewjohnson "Several forces are seemingly colluding, and these forces are building upon one another to create a good deal of synergistic pressure." Like it or not, each of us has only 168 hours a week to spend in whatever way we see fit, and most of us apply at least one-fourth of those hours—about half of our waking hours...
Over the course of a few months, the brilliant blue Linckia laevigata starfish can regrow its entire body from a solitary half-inch piece of its arm. Humans are not as gifted in this area of course, but the young field of regenerative medicine promises to solve a plethora of medical problems, making it a compelling career choice for any scientist who seeks to really "make a difference." In fact, ...
A recent estimate of the global vaccine business by Lehman Brothers predicts that the vaccine industry will grow at a rate of 18 percent a year to $30 billion by 2011—significantly faster than the average of 4.4 percent for the pharmaceutical industry overall. "Today we see more opportunity than ever to be gained from investing in vaccine research," says Keith Gottesdiener, vice president for vac...
Trees, tees, and Ph.D.s" is the phrase locals use to portray North Carolina's Research Triangle Park (RTP), an 8-mile by 2-mile area bordered by Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham. The area does, in fact, boast one of the highest per capita concentrations of Ph.D.s. Only the street-level concrete signs reveal the region's foremost function; the peaceful, tree-lined roads winding through rolling hil...
Tenure-track faculty members must not only think well, but they must also write well, speak well, and interact with people well. They should have a keen business sense and be adept in managing budgets, projects, and people. Paradoxically, they must be fiercely independent, yet able to collaborate well with others. They must be confident enough to know when they've found a scientific truth, but hu...
Any researcher or graduate student who has ever performed a lab experiment knows that achieving an accurate, reproducible result is often less of a science and more of an art—and certainly much more complex than some scant "methods" sections would lead one to believe. Numerous variables come into play that can influence the outcome of results: accurate measurements, temperatures, timing, and puri...
