08.18.2015 - By Chris Jones interviews PhDs about graduate school and careers to provide advice to graduate students!
John always knew that he wanted to be a writer, but his journey from grad student to contributing correspondent for Science wasn’t always clear. Now, John has spent half of his adult life traveling or living abroad, writing about science stories around the world. Hear him describe his rough start to graduate school, how he graduated, and how he made the career transition to journalist.
Dr. John Bohannon is a Science contributing correspondent and writes for Wired and other magazines. His stories range from civilian casualties in Afghanistan, where he embedded with NATO forces in 2010, to the first experimental test of people's ability to distinguish paté from dog food. He runs the annual "Dance Your PhD" contest. He has a PhD in molecular biology from Oxford University.
Biggest Struggle
Not getting anything to work for the entire first year of his PhD
Worst Moment
Was having a lab mate actually find the mutation that he was looking for after he had given up on finding it
Best Moment
Finishing the PhD
Mindful Minutes Segment
Habit: Great conversations to work out stories and ideas
Book: The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Productivity Tool: Python
Best Advice: Get back to work (there was a point where he wasn't doing much science)
Hobbies: Brazilian jujitsu and yoga
Alternative PhD study: Something with computer programing
Contact
Website
Ted Talk
Dance Your PhD
Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music - Happy Rock