In an era of reduced funding, it's not enough for a young researcher to be a good scientist. He or she also needs "street smarts" to, for example, find an influential¹ mentor², dress professionally, network during scientific meetings and be able to describe a research project in the time it takes to ride an elevator. These are among the techniques taught at a "Street Smarts for Science" workshop offered at the annual Society for Leukocyte Biology meeting, and described in the November issue of the journal Nature Immunology.

 

What students learn in the workshops can help them "navigate³ educational and professional waters to find success in academia," Elizabeth J. Kovacs, PhD, and colleagues report. Kovacs, a professor at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, initiated⁴ the workshops and is senior author of the report published in Nature Immunology.

 

The proportion of PhDs who obtain tenured or tenure-track faculty⁵ positions has declined from 34 percent in 1993 to 26 percent in 2012, according to the National Institutes of Health.

 

"Worldwide fiscal⁶ constraints⁷ have trimmed government and private sources of research funding, which has created an increasingly competitive landscape for young scientists looking to succeed in academia," Kovacs and colleagues write. "Thus, students seeking tenure-track faculty positions must make efficient use of their training time and network with colleagues in their scientific discipline, including potential employers."

 

Here is a sampling of the career advice offered in the workshop and described in the report in Nature Immunology:

 

Find a mentor. Preferably, a mentor should be in a tenured position, or at least be around long enough to see the graduate student through the entire project. The mentor should exemplify what the young researcher wants to do professionally. Ideal mentors⁸ have "pull," meaning they are well-established and credible⁹, and thus can help in job searches -- especially in writing recommendations.

 

Self marketing¹⁰. In today's research environment, the ability to describe your research is as important -- if not more important -- than the research itself. "In many cases, brilliant scientists with potentially groundbreaking ideas fall short because they cannot communicate their ideas or the importance of their research to the appropriate audience."

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