DAVID G. JENSEN, A WRITER AND SPEAKER ON CAREER ISSUES WORLDWIDE, IS THE FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF CAREERTRAX INC., A BIOTECHNOLOGY AND PHARMACEUTICAL CONSULTING FIRM LOCATED IN SEDONA, ARIZONA. PREVIOUS COLUMNS In the last couple of months, Tooling Up has presented a wide variety of marketing tips optimized for the scientific job seeker. My previous two articles (see related links) discus...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX Imagine a job fair with 50 high-tech companies competing to recruit one of the handful of properly qualified scientists who bothered to show up. Sounds like a pie-in-the-sky dream, doesn't it? But according to Victor Markovitz, vice president of bioinformatics systems at Gene Logic Inc., this actually happened at a recent biotech fair. And it is more or less typical of t...
Leslie Gordon, a scientist and mother of a child with a premature aging syndrome, is doing everything she can to find a cure for the disorder. On 10 October 2002, physicians Leslie Gordon and Scott Berns were heading out to celebrate their ninth wedding anniversary. Then the phone rang. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and Maria Erik...
Dear MentorDoctor, We have very few minority students in our science programs. In addition, we have difficulty retaining those who do come. I think one way to deal with this issue is for our science faculty to develop more effective mentoring techniques when advising the students. How can I encourage my colleagues to see the urgency of this problem? --Nia Jones answer.gif Dear Nia, Thanks for you...
Editor's note: In June, Next Wave's CareerDoctor suggested that Teresa Tang attend a workshop on becoming a clinical research associate (CRA); here, Teresa reports on her experiences at the event. Why not get some personal career advice by e-mailing the CareerDoctor today? Most recruitment adverts for clinical research associates (CRAs) read something like this: "Life sciences or nursing degree, ...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INDUSTRIAL AND ACADEMIC POSITIONS IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY THE PROS AND CONS OF DOING AN INDUSTRIAL POSTDOC THE WAVE OF THE PRESENT All Ph.D. candidates face the same stressful question during the last stretch of the already-stressful-enough writing of their thesis: Should I do a postdoc or move on into the job market? Some choo...
Tooling Up, Dave Jensen DAVE IS THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OFSEARCH MASTERS INTERNATIONAL IN SEDONA, ARIZONA PREVIOUS COLUMNS It's the single most common interview question there is--and yet it really isn't a question. It's also a phrase that can come at you unexpectedly, most often when you are thinking about something else. Perhaps you've just shared a cab ride with another conference attendee who h...
John R. La Montagne, deputy director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism in his native Mexico City on 2 November 2004 at the age of 61. (See the NIH press release.) The longtime Alexandria, Virginia, resident dedicated his life to fighting disease, particularly influenza. For nearly ...
A new analysis of data collected by the Research Corporation (see related story) shows a small gender gap in research productivity at predominately undergraduate colleges. The analysis, conducted by the Research Corporation and based on data collected for the study Academic Excellence: The Sourcebook, shows that women at all levels lag men slightly in the publication of peer-reviewed journal arti...
Ecologists on a Mission to Save the World At Home on the Range Role Model for Ecology's Generation X A Reluctant Warrior Citizen-Scientist Guru For months, David Wilcove peppered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) with letters protesting the agency's plans to save the threatened Utah prairie dog. Wilcove, a conservation biologist, and his colleagues at Environmental Defense in Washington, D...
Imre Miklós Szilágyi Imre Miklós Szilágyi Imre Szilágyi sees his religious faith and his research efforts as two complementary aspects of his life. In some ways, Imre Miklós Szilágyi is not a typical early-career scientist. One thing that makes him atypical is a rich portfolio of early accomplishments. Last November, when he was still in the final year of his Ph.D., the rectors of Hungary's unive...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX As long as there are people with good ideas, there will be a need for patent professionals. And with the recent unveiling of the human genome sequence--to say nothing of the new drugs that are being tested every day--those working in the patent field are busier than ever. "Work just finds us!" exclaims Frederick Gibb, senior partner at McGinn and Gibb, a Washington, D.C....
Editor's note: In his first article, Benjamin Hemmens explained his decision to turn his back on postdoctoral research. Here he describes what he left it for. For the last 3 years I've been working in the language services industry here in Graz, in southeast Austria; initially working for a local language school, for the last year I have been completely self-employed. My career transition began w...
BACK TO THE FEATURE INTRODUCTION Gareth Griffiths and Dominic James came in 'second place' at last year's Young Entrepreneurs Scheme competition, set up by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council in the U.K. They describe the process, and explain why entering the competition was an extremely rewarding experience. The YES (Young Entrepreneurs Scheme) has been set up by the Biote...
David Bomzer DAVID IS A HUMAN RESOURCE EXECUTIVE IN THE AREAS OF TALENT RETENTION, ACQUISITION & DEVELOPMENT PREVIOUS COLUMNS Cover letters are not technically required when applying for a job, but you should approach them as if they were. A cover letter is the chance to create a one-page marketing brochure aimed at convincing the reader to hire you. It differs from a résumé in that, whereas a ré...
British biomedical scientists who carry out research using animals welcomed a 'sea change' in the attitude of policy-makers and the public to their work last week. Eighteen months ago more than 100 researchers sent an open letter to Science Minister Lord Sainsbury warning that increasing bureaucracy in the granting of project licences was hampering their ability to do research in the UK. High-pro...
The Situation of Researchers In Person: Research in France 4 July 2008 Understanding the peculiarities of the French public research system is critical to the success of foreign scientists coming into the country. Different Prospects 27 October 2006 Graduates of French universities have more limited prospects than do graduates of Grandes Ecoles when it comes to basic and industrial research. Crac...
Scientists working in plant biology enjoy a profusion of professional opportunities. Science's Next Wave talks with some young academic scientists from around the world--the discipline's primary producers, if you will--to find out what makes them thrive.
BACK TO THE FEATURE INDEX Getting My Feet Wet... On the afternoon of my first full day in Japan, a group of us decided to explore the world of the Japanese public bath. We had been advised to make sure we were thoroughly clean before entering the baths. To be certain we had achieved the necessary level of cleanliness, it was suggested we watch other bathers to determine when we had washed long en...
