Hello PhD

You’ve studied hard, gotten good grades, and spent the last two years working in research labs on campus.  You’re feeling ready for that next, inevitable step: applying to graduate school.

In a perfect world, the next step would be easy.  You’d simply fill out an application, and submit it to every Genetics or Microbiology department in the country.  They’d review your application, and you could sort through your options based on which schools offered you an interview.

But of course, it’s not that simple.  Each school requires a different application form, and steep application fees can severely tax your meager bank account.

You need to do the hard work of screening up front, and only apply to a select group of programs where you can expect to be both successful and happy.

This can be overwhelming.  There are hundreds of graduate schools and thousands of individual programs and departments.  Where should you begin?

Luckily, Beth Bowman, PhD is here to help!  Dr. Bowman is the Assistant Director of Graduate Programs in Biomedical Sciences and Co-Director, Vanderbilt Summer Science Academy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.

She has advised hundreds of students in their graduate school search, both as a recruiter and mentor.  Plus, she went through the process on her own PhD journey. 

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Bowman about some of the harrowing decisions applicants must make before actually sitting down to fill out forms.

For instance, it’s important for applicants to think deeply and honestly about their reasons for pursuing a PhD in the first place.

Going for the right reasons

“I think there are a lot of really great reasons to apply to grad school, and I think there are some not-so-great reasons,” Dr. Bowman begins.

“The first thing that is important is knowing that you love research.”

She recommends having a natural curiosity about how things work, or a desire to solve the puzzles and problems that tend to arise in the lab.

There are a couple of common reasons applicants list that she says could set you up for problems down the road.  

“I hear commonly, ‘I want to give back to my community.’  But the type of biomedical research in our program is not going to give you the type of immediate feedback you want,” Dr. Bowman observes.

Josh adds, “I’ve seen students who really burn out or really feel they have mismatched expectations when they enter for that reason of wanting to help the community, and you really are far removed when you’re pipetting small volumes of liquid into other small volumes of liquid every day.  It’s easy to lose sight of how this is helping someone right now.”

Other reasons students give that deserve some introspection are applying because you want ‘the degree,’ or to ‘take the next step.’  Some students even apply because they want to earn a stipend.

“That should not be your main reason for getting a PhD,” Dr. Bowman says.  “Not only is that going to be a struggle for you, but I have to admit, when I interview students, I can tell and that comes through.  And we don’t admit those students because it’s not going to be a fun journey for you to get your PhD.”

Narrowing the field

Once you’re convinced that your motivations are aligned with the reality of graduate training,

Graduate training has many milestones, but a few stand stronger in memory due to their importance.

You may remember the day you passed your comprehensive exams, officially becoming a ‘PhD Candidate.’ Or maybe you’ll remember the day you saw a paper you co-authored published in your favorite journal. 

And of course, every PhD remembers their defense – presenting years worth of work to an audience and receiving the committees’ blessing to graduate.

After each event, it’s important to take a moment to celebrate the achievement before pushing toward the next goal.  Maybe that means gathering with friends, popping a bottle of bubbly, and remembering the road that brought you to this point.

Well, at least that’s what we do with a milestone.  This week, we celebrate 100 Episodes of Hello PhD with a few of the friends we’ve met along the way.

Make a Toast

We start the Episode with a half-bottle of Guy Larmandier Cramant Grand Cru  Brut Blanc de Blancs.  This champagne is bubbly and light, with a touch of sweetness.

Just like our banter. ::ba dum shish::

And then, the guests begin to arrive!

Emily Roberts, PhD

First, we’re joined by Emily Roberts from Personal Finance for PhDs.  She’s been a frequent guest on the show, and she shares her secret for the perfect deviled eggs: get someone else to peel them.

She also gives us some quick pointers on tracking your spending and creating a budget in graduate school, and why that’s so important. “Tracking your spending will actually help you change your behavior passively.” she says.  “Graduate students should keep an eye on their irregular expenses.”

Emily also told us about her new podcast covering personal finance – you can check it out here: http://pfforphds.com/podcast/

Next, we’re visited by Randy Ribaudo and Larry Petcovic, the minds and personalities behind SciPhD.  Randy and Larry travel the country teaching scientists how to develop and translate their skills into an industry setting.

Randy Ribaudo, PhD

“Scientists don’t necessarily take advantage of the incredible experiences they have in solving problems, managing risk and delivering reliable results, which is really what companies are looking for,” Randy reminded us.

Larry adds, “In todays world, you are really also data analysts.  The data game is becoming bigger and bigger.  In many ways you have an advantage because you have experience already with working with data when you go into that first job.  A lot of folks don’t.”

To hear more tips for making it in industry, you can listen to Episode 079 or catch Randy and Larry in one of their on-site programs.

Mónica Feliú-Mójer, PhD

Next to the door is Mónica Feliú-Mójer from 

“I was observing that there was this growing mistrust in science, and I couldn’t really understand why. I think that people just don’t trust scientists anymore, or at least not as much as they used to.”

As a graduate student at the University of Connecticut, Sarah McAnulty was struck by the anti-science and pseudoscience she saw in the news and in friends who trusted their internet-inspired juice cleanse more than they trusted medical research.

“It’s discouraging to see them not trusting us as a group, so  I looked to see where people could access scientists in their daily lives.  It looks like most of the pop culture references they have for us are either evil or socially awkward.  And even when scientists have noble intentions, you end up with Jurassic Park!”

Changing Perceptions, Making Connections

Sarah looked for a way to change that perception by connecting real-life researchers with the general public.  But most science outreach formats attract participants who are already open to learning.

“If you’re blogging or on Twitter,” Sarah observed,  “you’re attracting a group of people who are interested in science in the first place.  Where in society do you have a basic cross section of the whole culture?

Then it hit her. “I thought school would be a good place to start.”

In that moment, Skype a Scientist was born.  The program connects active researchers with classrooms and other groups around the globe, allowing scientists to introduce the public to their work.  By ‘meeting’ a real-life scientist,  the session can repaint a student’s mental image of a scientist from stodgy old man in a dusty laboratory to a more exiting reality: a person who may look a lot like them.

“Now we got to libraries and book clubs and knitting groups – anyone who wants to sign up can do that.”

In its very first year, Skype a Scientist connected 400 scientists with 800 classrooms.  This year, they’re aiming to reach 10,000 classrooms, and they’re well on their way.

“In the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of energy and [scientists] don’t really know what to do with it,” Sarah observed. “They want to help, but they’re not really sure what to do.”

“Skype a Scientist is the easiest thing you could do to give back and communicate with nonscientists,” she says.  “You don’t need to totally establish a new outreach event from the ground up. You just sign up and it’s pretty much done for you.  It takes an hour of your time and a couple of emails.”

Asked about the most surprising or rewarding part of the program, Sarah noted, “Helping scientists show their personality while talking about science is something that I’ve found super rewarding.  The amount of effort that I put in and seeing the result that comes back, there’s a higher reward per unit energy that comes out of this kind of work.”

And perhaps that’s the real magic behind Skype a Scientist: revealing the personalities behind the papers, and demonstrating that a career in science can be exciting, inclusive, and impactful.

Get Involved

If you are a scientist who would like to share your work, simply go to SkypeAScientist.com and click the “Sign Up as a Scientists” button.

If you’re not sure you’re ready and would like to see other scientists in action, check out a Skype a Scientist Live session. Sarah will talk about her work with squid on September 4th, 2018, or check out other live sessions covering topics ...

It’s no secret that graduate school and postdoctoral training are some of the most intellectually and emotionally challenging periods you will face in your career. Experiments fail, grant deadlines loom, and PIs push you to work long hours to publish or perish.

That’s why many trainees wait to start a family.  Time is precious, and the idea of staying up all night to record your experimental time-points is daunting enough.  Who has time to stay up all night calming a crying baby before rushing back to the lab?

Many students know they want to have kids ‘some day,’ and the six to ten-year grad-school-postdoc training period looms large.  They just don’t want to wait that long to start a family.

But is it possible to have kids WHILE you’re in grad school?

We asked an expert!

This week, we talk with Vivianne, who had her first child when she was a first-year graduate student!

Vivianne shares some helpful tips for making family life work with lab life.  It’s not easy, but she argues that there’s really no better time to start a family; if you want kids, you can make it work.

First, she says it’s important to identify and coordinate your support system for the lab.  Talk with colleagues, peers, and undergrads about who can maintain your cell cultures or mouse colony during your maternity or paternity leave. It’s possible to keep your research project moving forward, even if you’re not there holding the pipette.

You’ll also want to arrange a support system for yourself at home.  Babies are a LOT of work (in case that wasn’t clear…) and many grad students and postdocs are living in a new city, away from friends and family who could help. Lean on your partner, neighbors, friends, and any family members you can convince to stay with you for a month or two after the baby arrives.

When you DO make it back into the lab after some time away, you’ll need to adapt your work habits to a new schedule.  Vivianne notes that many scientists have the sense that “I need to do it all myself if I want it done correctly.”  That’s fine if you’re able to spend 14 hours a day in the lab, but new parents should learn to delegate aspects of their research project to colleagues.

That means training an undergrad on how to run your gels or trading off with a peer to split cell cultures on alternate days.  And if your lab can afford it, utilize core facilities on campus for routine assays.

And while you may have been able to ‘wing it’ when deciding on your next experiment before you had kids, you’ll need to plan each day in advance when you have to rush to daycare at 5PM.  Vivianne recommends planning a week ahead.

If you know what’s coming up next Thursday, you can get to work right away.  That’s especially helpful if you didn’t get much sleep Wednesday night and your mind is still hazy.

All of this advice applies equally to new moms OR dads (or really, any science trainee!), but pregnant women have other concerns if they’re working in biomedical or chemistry lab settings.

First, identify which experiments, rooms, and chemicals you’ll need to avoid while pregnant.  Laboratories may expose you to toxins or infection that are relatively harmless to an adult, but damaging to a developing fetus.  When in doubt, ask for more information.

It’s not going to be easy raising kids and having a full-time job in science, but it can be extremely rewarding.  Just make sure you ask for help, and define success in your own terms.

For ethanol this week, we rip open the Bota Box 2016 Malbec.  Tasty Malbec flavor at grad-school prices (and volumes!)

Sure, scientific conferences are not a competitive sport, but the sheer volume of information, introductions, and events can leave you feeling like you just lost a round of rugby.

This week, we share some sage advice for making your next conference the best one yet.

Listener Matthew writes:

I have a topic that I think would be interesting for graduate students of all years to hear more about: how to be effective at conferences. I usually make it to one or two conferences a year, and the first time I went I had no idea what to do, where to go, how to plan to see what I should be seeing let alone finding time to properly network. For students who have an absent PI this can be daunting particularly if you are presenting papers and posters as well.

Matthew is exactly right – a scientific conference is often an overwhelming place.  There are myriad talks, hundreds of posters, and vendors packed wall to wall in a room the size of an airplane hanger.

We took to Twitter to ask other scientists how they approach the opportunities and obstacles of a scientific conference.

Hey #sciencetwitter – what tips do you have for making the most of a scientific conference? (Specifically, advice for students.) #PhDchat

— Joshua Hall (@jdhallphd) July 21, 2018

 

Here’s what they said…

Before You Go

Set Some Goals

Step one is to think about why you want to attend this conference, and that may change with your career stage and current projects.

Some attendees will be looking to begin a collaboration.  Some will hope to find a postdoc position. And some may just want to learn more about the latest technologies in the vendor showroom.  Whatever your reason, jot down a few ideas about what you’d like to achieve.

Set a conference goal! When I go in with a defined goal (i.e. Ask a question in a session, Give a good talk, Hand out 5 business cards, Meet with collaborator) I find that I feel more accomplished and do more work than if I have a vague idea like “Network.”

— Alex Dainis (@AlexDainis) July 21, 2018

Make a Plan

Since it’s literally impossible to see everything, your first order of business should be to make a plan.

Take a few minutes to reach out to colleagues you’d like to meet while attending the conference.  Set up a time and place to meet for coffee or lunch before you arrive so you’re guaranteed to make the connection. At a large conference, you can’t expect to ‘run into’ your collaborators by accident.

If you’re applying for grad school and are interested in a PI, see if they’ll be there to chat. Making those connections is key and they’re usually very enthusiastic!

— Griffin (@octopaqueen) July 21, 2018

Ultimately, conference organizers will release a schedule with poster and presentation titles.  Fire up your trusty highlighter and mark the must-see events.  Prioritizing these events will help you ensure you get the most important content.  You can fill in the remaining time with meetings, posters, or quiet reflection.

Many Twitter responses encouraged attendees to step outside of their comfort zones when choosing talks and posters.

Do at least one session in a topic that you find sort of interesting but isn’t your current specialty. Fields evolve so fast today that if you stay in the game you will eventually need to change topic.

The best thing about the Hello PhD podcast is our amazing audience of grad students, postdocs, and career scientists. We get emails, tweets, and website comments full of thoughtful questions and insightful observations.

And though we try to read and respond to each message, not every question makes it into the show. Sometimes, we can reply with just a few words of encouragement, or a link to a prior episode.

But this week, we wanted to dig into the mailbag and offer a rapid-fire response to some of the burning questions you’ve sent over the last few months.

Listener Letters

Preparing the Next Generation

Our first email comes from Megan at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana.  She’s running a summer workshop to help undergraduate students prepare for grad school. 

This year, she’ll emphasize the subtle importance of choosing a good mentor, and how it can make, or break, your PhD training.

Smaller Schools

Our next email is from a listener who is worried that finishing a PhD at a smaller school with a lower ‘ranking’ will hold her back when seeking a job.

We discuss the very real bias some people have in favor of Ivy League schools and prestigious, top-tier research universities, and how she can optimize her chances of getting a job.  It comes down to working hard and publishing in her field of study, as well as forming a strong network early in her training.

This listener may not have a PhD from a school with a shiny reputation, but she will have a PhD, and she can develop her reputation as a leader in the field.

Learning New Tricks

Our next question comes from Christina, who is considering going back to graduate school after already spending years in another career.

Do you have any advice to offer older PhD candidates or those thinking about pursuing a PhD as a career changer?

We harken way back to Episode 010: Are you too old to go back to school? where we spoke with Dr. Robin Chamberland about her experience going back to grad school in her thirties.  Spoiler alert: she’s a faculty member now, and has wonderful insights to share about her journey.

Extra-curricular

Catherine inquired about joining clubs and taking up extra-curricular interests during grad school.  She notes that many students either feel too guilty to take time out of the lab, or they try to hide it from their advisor.

We firmly believe in the value of mental health and taking care of your needs as a student.  That means making time for exercise, socializing, and career development.

This does not make you a slacker, it makes you a better human being and may improve your science!

Finding Community

Bektur wrote to find out the best way to connect with other researchers when one is studying in a remote part of the world.

Could you please recommend any possible ways to keep in touch with other researchers for PhD students living/studying in remote locations? For instance I am currently studying in a very remote town in Japan and there are only a handful of PhD students at my university.

I know for a fact that you have to constantly interact with other professionals in your field (and other closely related fields too) in order to keep your memory and skills fresh, but I was wondering if there’s a public platform or a discussion board for that.

We believe in the power of Twitter for the scientific community, and we did a full episode on just this topic! Check out Episode 069: Five Ways Scientists SHOULD Be Using Twitter for more on that subject.

We also recently learned about a Slack channel devo...

A PhD takes years to complete, so it’s no surprise that your situation may change during that time.  Your PI may move to a different University, your spouse may take a job in another town, or you may need to move back home to care for ailing parents.

In these situations, you’re forced to make a difficult choice: “Should I stay with my lab and finish my work, or find a way to finish this PhD remotely?”

That’s exactly the question we got from “Walker” this week.  He and his wife desperately want to move to a new city, but he also wants to finish his degree.

Walker wrote:

I am currently in my third year of a PhD program in Computer Science and Engineering at a fairly prestigious university in the Midwest for graduate school.

My wife and I are both quite unhappy here. The weather is awful 11 months of the year, neither of us really feels safe here, and my wife can’t find any jobs here where she can actually apply her degree. I’m done with courses, my research is going alright, and I’m hoping to propose my thesis before the end of this year.

At this point, I have fulfilled my residence requirement, so I could possibly (with the ‘blessing’ of my adviser) complete my thesis as a non-resident meaning my wife and I could live wherever we want. I was hoping that you guys might be able to shed some light on the pros and cons to going non-res.

Walker’s case seems pretty clear-cut: he needs to get out of there! But for others thinking about finishing a PhD remotely, we have some important considerations to process in making your decision.

Is Remote Work Right for My Situation?

While there are some lifestyle and mental health benefits from living in a new place you love, it will almost certainly make your PhD research harder in other ways.  Communicating with your advisor will be more cumbersome and less frequent.  You’ll lose the support network of fellow grad students and access to libraries, seminars, and hallway conversations with other researchers.

That’s why it’s so important to plan ahead.  Here’s a checklist to work through as you decide “Is this right for me?”

* Are your goals well defined?

* Do your advisor and committee approve of your research plan?

* Is your advisor or committee likely to change their minds?

* How long will it take to finish?

* Will you need local resources? (Lab equipment, core facilities, libraries, expertise, etc.)

* Is your personality a good match for remote work?

Question 6 is vitally important and perhaps difficult to answer if you haven’t ‘worked from home’ very often.  If you’re the type of person who relies on external motivation and deadlines to finish a project, working remotely will be a challenge.  Likewise, if you’re prone to feeling lonely or isolated, it may be tough.

But even these barriers may be overcome if you have a plan…

Remote Work, the Right Way

Finishing any project the size and scale of a PhD is all about motivation, project management, and persistence.  Here are some things to consider when organizing the days, months, and years it will take to complete your PhD.

Environment

Figure out the best work environment to suit your needs.

Some people are happy and productive with a laptop on the couch, while others need a space where they won’t be distracted by chores, kids, or the TV.

Consider dedicating a space in your home where you eliminate distractions.  Or try working from a coffee shop, library, or c0-working space in your community.

And of course, be sure to employ time-management techniques like the Pomodoro Timer and the

We got an email from a first-year student who seems to love everything about grad school… except the tests.  He’s wondering: Do grades matter?

Dear Josh and Daniel,

I am a first year chemical engineering PhD student and am currently working through a class-filled semester. For two of my classes, my midterm grades were much less than desirable for me. Now, I’m not the quickest when it comes to math, so a lower score in classes like transport compared to other students has been the norm, but these scores are even lower than what I usually expect.

Nerves have been a typical part of my exam state of mind, but past experience has shown I can usually overcome them. I feel like I understand the concepts, and my homework and quiz grades for the class would seem to indicate that. However, the tests have gotten the best of me both times.

I have to maintain a certain GPA and while I don’t know what the final grades will be yet, I feel like I should be doing better.

I guess my real question is, are class grades indicative of whether or not a PhD is right for me?

I have a master’s and have done research for more than 3 years, so I feel that the actual research portion of the program will not be the issue. And every time I get to talk research with my lab group and new advisor, I love it. For now, it just seems like my grades aren’t indicating that I’m a good enough student for the program, and I really don’t want that to be the case. I plan on talking to my advisor about it all soon as well as older grad students.

Thanks for listening and thanks for your show,

Sincerely,

Zachary

We unpack Zachary’s email and recognize that he seems to love everything that matters about a career in science – understanding the concepts, a passion for the research question, and an ability to collaborate with peers. Ultimately, we think Zachary is in the right place, and that test grades probably don’t predict whether he’ll be successful in science.

That said, his issue seems to surround the tests themselves, and the nervous feelings he has to manage during exam time.  To improve his scores, he can speak with the professor about setting up an alternative testing strategy.  That sometimes means receiving more time, or being allowed to finish the exam in a less distracting location.

His professors are probably more concerned about ensuring Zachary learns the content than they are about the room in which he takes the exam.

A Drink A Day

Science in the News is just a bit late this week.  We’re discussing a very expensive, 10-year study into the health benefits of light-to-moderate drinking funded by the NIH.

As interesting as that sounds, the plot thickened when the New York Times reported that the money to fund this alcohol study was provided by some of the largest players in the alcohol industry! That raised questions of scientific bias, and resulted in the director of the NIH halting the study in March 2018 pending review. 

It’s a story about the sometimes tangled interests of scientists, corporations, and society at large.

And just because it’s relevant, we also sample a novel and somewhat unorthodox brew.  It’s the Wisconsin Brewing Company RE: FRESH Radler – a surprising mix of grapefruit soda and beer that tastes WAY better than it sounds. It’s doubly exciting because it was created in partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Department of Food Science.

And don’t worry,

Susanna was experiencing insomnia that began to interfere with her work and life.  She visited the campus health clinic, and they referred her to mental health resources on campus.

There, the doctor recommended medication for depression and anxiety, and therapy to work through the issues that were interfering with her sleep.

“We’re actually really worried that you’re severely depressed,” the doctor explained.   Susanna’s reply: “No, I’m just in grad school!”

There’s no question that graduate training is stressful.  Rotations, qualifying exams, committee meetings, and the constant struggle to make experiments work can push every student toward the boiling point.

But lurking under Susanna’s protest is a dangerous assumption many of us share.  We believe that anxiety, depression, sleeplessness and other symptoms of mental illness are a required and normal side effect of graduate training.

And we’re not wrong.  A recent study published in Nature Biotechnology (summary here) found roughly 40% of graduate trainees measured in the ‘moderate to severe’ range for depression and anxiety.  The authors  surveyed over 2,200 trainees in 26 countries, in fields ranging from the humanities to the biological and physical sciences.

In contrast, moderate-to-severe depression affects just 6% of the general population when measured with the same inventory.

“Our results show that graduate students are more than six times as likely to experience depression and anxiety as compared to the general population,” the study says.

These alarming numbers reveal a latent mental health crisis brewing in our classrooms, labs and libraries. But what can we do about it?

Searching for Solutions

The study’s authors highlight the fact that poor work-life balance was a contributor to student mental illness.  They also noted breakdowns in the mentor-trainee relationship that exacerbated the issue.  Finally, they highlight the uniquely challenging circumstances of transgender students, gender non-conforming students and women, who are “significantly more likely to experience anxiety and depression than their male graduate student counterparts.”

They suggest a menu of changes to graduate training, including increasing access to mental health resources, training mentors, and modifying the culture of research to improve work-life balance.

But those solutions will likely take years to understand and implement. What’s to be done for students who are suffering today?

Susanna Harris had read the statistics, and she knew there must be other scientists around her that wrestled with the same feelings she had, but where were they?  “You can’t see mental illness on somebody – it’s not a stock photo of a girl wiping away tears,” she notes.

So she decided she’d go first – to tell her story in a public way so that others who were also struggling could find comfort, acceptance, and inspiration for their own journeys.

She launched a social media community on Instagram under the handle @Ph_D_epression.  Students and scientists post an image of themselves, along with a personal story describing their experience with mental health.

“Our goal is that PhDs and students feel comfortable discussing and seeking help for mental and emotional health in the same way as they do for maintaining physical health. We want to disrupt the cycle of secrecy and shame through sharing and discussing personal struggles with mental health issues.”

As contributors share their stories, they receive back a flood of comments offering suppor...

“Things are not progressing as they should. You’re having a hard time focusing on the research, and we know that you don’t want to be in academia anyway.  Do you want to quit?”

The question landed like a punch, and Mónica’s committee meeting took a turn she hadn’t expected. She was in the fourth year of her PhD training at Harvard, and her committee had just asked her if she wanted to leave the program.

“That was incredibly devastating to have these four people that you respect, and that their main role is supposed to be supporting you and helping you, and to have them ask you, “Do you want to leave?” It was devastating. But I somehow found the strength to say, ‘I don’t want to quit!'”

Mónica Feliú-Mójer finished her PhD and went on to a dream job doing science outreach and communication, but that committee meeting was a turning point.

Her story holds a valuable lesson for any graduate student considering a career outside of the academic tenure track.

Many students begin graduate school expecting to land in a tenure-track faculty position.  But often, they see their own advisor slaving over grant applications and departmental politics, and decide that an ‘alternative career’ is a better option.

Dr. Feliú-Mójer realized a passion for science communication BEFORE she even applied to graduate school, and once enrolled, she poured herself into the extra-curricular experiences that fed that passion.  She worked with organizations like Ciencia Puerto Rico, and worked long into the night honing her writing skills.

“While I was enjoying that experimental part, what really brought me immense joy was all of this communication and outreach that I was doing,” she remembers. But graduation requires a dissertation, and she realized her research was taking second place.

“There was a point in graduate school where things were not looking great.  I wasn’t happy, I didn’t feel like I was making progress, I didn’t feel like I had the support I needed to succeed in the lab. And so, I wasn’t motivated, and I decided to pour all of my energy into my outreach and my science communication.  And that really affected my productivity, to the level that I was a fourth-year grad student and my dissertation advisory committee asked me if I wanted to quit the PhD program.”

Feliú-Mójer examined her motivations and had tough conversations with her mentors. She went back to her committee with the confidence to finish what she started.

“I knew that I needed to make an adjustment and that I needed to focus, so I said ‘No, I’m not quitting. And yes, I do need a PhD to do what I want to do.  So I am committing right here and now to finish, and I hope you will work with me to accomplish that.'”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Dr. Feliú-Mójer spends her time mentoring students and sharing science with a wide audience through her work with Ciencia Puerto Rico and iBiology. This week on the show, she shares her inspiring story about following your passion, pushing through the trials of graduate school, and leveraging your network to land your dream job.

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