Hello PhD

Since the pandemic, we can honestly say that Josh and Dan “don’t get out much.” But we broke out of that rut to attend the annual conference for the American Society for Cell Biology – Cell Bio 2022 meeting in Washington, DC.

A scientific conference is a unique experience AND opportunity. Thousands of academics, researchers, students, and vendors are all in one place in order to ‘talk science.’

There’s so much potential to build relationships and drive breakthroughs, but there are also plenty of pitfalls. A meeting with this many people can be chaotic, overwhelming, and well, just plain exhausting.

So we got out the mobile recorder, dusted off the microphone, and asked attendees for their advice on navigating a large scientific conference with the best chance of success.

In Their Own Words

Over the course of two days, we asked ASCB 2022 participants to tell us their best advice for attending such a large conference. Here’s a summary of what we heard:

Never Always Talk to Strangers

The number one piece of advice we received was to talk to everyone. Introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you in the seminar. Engage the student standing in front of her poster. Chat with vendors about your research plans.

Many of us follow the unwritten rule that in public, you shouldn’t strike up a conversation with a stranger. Don’t make eye-contact on the subway, and don’t chat up the person in the middle seat on your airplane!

But at a scientific conference, those rules are suspended. Think about it: if all of these scientists just wanted the latest data or research, they could read the literature. When they attend a scientific conference, they’re looking for something more: human connections.

A human connection might turn into a collaboration, or future job opportunity. Talking about research might spark a new idea or a new approach to an old problem. These are interactions that simply can’t happen online.

So muster some courage, introduce yourself, and ask “Can you tell me about your research?” You never know where it will lead.

Get Comfortable

It might surprise a first-time attendee just how grueling a conference can be. You’re on your feet for much of the day, and the festivities can start at 8 AM and stretch well past midnight.

You need to be strategic about finding places to rest and take comfort during the day.

One great piece of advice: wear comfortable shoes. You’ll probably be walking to the conference from your hotel. When you arrive, you’ll migrate from one seminar room to another, possibly standing in the back if seats are limited. During poster sessions, you’ll make laps around the exhibition hall, again standing while you chat. Do your feet a favor and put comfort over style.

Many attendees focused on food. Keep snacks in your bag, take advantage of the coffee and snack spreads, and make advance plans for lunch and dinner. You won’t be able to talk coherently about your research if you’re hungry!

Finally, carve out some time to relax. Many scientists are introverts, and a scientific conference can be over-stimulating. Find an out-of-the-way nook to check your emails, or grab a seat in a quiet place next to the elevators. If the seminars and poster sessions have sapped your energy, consider skipping dinner with your lab-mates or drinks at the bar. Use that time to rest and refresh for the next day.

Impostor syndrome might make you feel all alone in the world, but ironically, many graduate students, postdocs, and faculty members experience the same feelings of inadequacy.

This week on the show, we interview Dr. Maureen Gannon, PhD, about the sources of impostor feelings and the practical steps you can take to work through them.

By every objective measure, Dr. Gannon’s career has been an unqualified success.  She went from private high school through a Masters degree with full scholarships, finishing her undergraduate training in just three years.  She completed a PhD at Cornell and is now a tenured faculty member at Vanderbilt University with appointments in several departments. She leads and chairs multiple organizations and committees, and is invited to speak internationally about her work.

And yet, for much of her training, Dr. Gannon didn’t feel successful.  She sometimes attributed her personal wins to outside forces or good luck. She wondered when others would discover her shortcomings as a scientist.

Then, she attended a workshop that put a name to the feelings: impostor phenomenon.  With the name came a realization that many of her peers were experiencing the same thing.

Now, she speaks to students, faculty, and professional groups about her experience of overcoming impostor syndrome and getting on with her career.

In this episode, Dr. Gannon shares some of the common triggers for impostor feelings and the steps you can take to work through them.

Here are the books and resources she recommends:

Take the test yourself: The Clance Impostor Scale

The Impostor Phenomenon: Overcoming the Fear That Haunts Your Success

The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It

Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life

Man vs. Machine

Science in the News brings us another reminder that computers are going to take our jobs.  This week, machine learning algorithms outperform human doctors on predicting which patients will suffer from heart disease.

Now, when the robots rise up to kill us, they’ll be able to make it look like ‘an accident.’

We also sample a tropical ethanol with the Big Wave Golden Ale from Kona Brewing. It’s not clear why this allegedly Hawaiian beer was featured on a cruise in the Caribbean, but it’s best not to argue.  Any port in a storm, as they say…

Meeting a new cohort of graduate students on your first day of class can be intimidating.  These are the brightest students from their undergraduate programs. Some of them have years of research experience, first-author publications, and a depth of knowledge that seems encyclopedic.

Feeling intimidated by your new colleagues is normal, but some of the people you meet will suffer a more insidious type of anxiety. Some students actually see themselves as charlatans who are just play-acting at a scientific career. So far, they feel, they’ve successfully bluffed their way through college, entrance exams, and interviews.

But they fear that at any moment, they will be discovered as frauds and rejected from the program.

This daily battle is the emotional reality for people suffering from “Imposter Syndrome.”

Imposter Syndrome, Up Close and Personal

First described by Pauline Rose Clance & Suzanne Imes in 1978, “Imposter Phenomenon” is the belief that despite one’s achievements and academic success, the sufferer doesn’t feel successful.  She believes she has ‘gotten lucky’ or ‘fooled everyone’ into believing she has talent, but at any moment the facade could come crashing down.

To cope, “imposters” often turn into workaholics, attempting to maintain their position through diligence and hard work. They set their sights on perfection, and then turn a self-critical eye on every outcome.

The constant cycle of unachievable goals, long work hours, and self deprecation leads to burnout, anxiety, and depression.

This week on the show, we explore the signs and symptoms of imposter syndrome and how it manifests in graduate school and beyond.  By talking candidly about this decidedly lonely struggle, we can remove the stigma and begin dealing with the effects on scientists at all stages of their careers.

Resources

Here are some imposter syndrome papers and assessments we mentioned in the show:

Impostor syndrome and burnout among American medical students: a pilot study

Validation of the Impostor Phenomenon among Managers

The dangers of feeling like a fake – Harvard Business Review

Clance Imposter Phenomenon Scale

Young Imposter Syndrome Quiz

Hands Off These Eggs

On a slightly lighter note, we hear the fascinating story of how one graduate student stayed up late to challenge everything we know about amphibian parenting:

Under a Flashlight, a Eureka Moment About Frogs

Patterns of parental care in Neotropical glassfrogs: fieldwork alters hypotheses of sex-role evolution

We often talk about the myriad factors you should consider when choosing a PhD program.

Location. Research. Stipend. Work culture. Livability. Peers. Prestige. The list of things to remember seems endless.

But way back in pre-history, we were just humble undergrads ourselves, feeling our way around and trying to make life-changing decisions with very little information.

This week on the show, Josh regales us with insights he learned from his own PhD journey. (Check out 178. I Didn’t Even Know “Research” Was a Thing! for the beginning of his tale.)

Just a year after learning that research existed, Josh applied to several PhD programs. He talks about the interview process, knowing how many applications is too many, and trusting your instincts.

We also discuss the power of prestige. Is it worth it to go to a big-name private university for your graduate training, or can you get a good education at a state school or small college?

No matter where you are on your training journey, it can be helpful to hear stories from others who walked the same path. We invite you to reminisce about your OWN life-changing choices, and maybe share them with a fellow traveller who could gain insight from your successes (and failures!).

The COVID-19 pandemic changed nearly every aspect of our lives. Schools and businesses shut down. Hospitals filled up. And many of us spent months alone or in familial ‘pods.’

But this dark period of global history had some bright spots, and many of them appeared in the scientific community. Rapid at-home testing became ubiquitous. mRNA vaccines were used to immunize millions against the worst outcomes. And funding flowed to scientists in virology, immunology, drug development, air quality and more.

As a society, we learned something else, though: science can save lives. More science, better science, and faster science can save more lives.

At the very heart of our pandemic response was the recognition that the only way out, was up. We had to research our way to prevention, treatments, vaccines, and cures. And anything that got in the way HAD to go.

One of the barriers to rapid discovery turned out to be science communication itself. Our antiquated system of publishing, developed in the age of the printing press, put too many blockades between the discovery and the dissemination.

A result that started at the lab bench might undergo weeks or months of authorship, submittal, peer review, and publication. And even then, those research papers may be hampered by a 12-month embargo on their release to the public, languishing behind journal paywalls and accessible only to those few libraries that can afford the subscription fees.

Pandemic response coordinators worked tirelessly to tear down those barriers. They lifted the embargoes on COVID-19 research, and digitized the articles and data for worldwide distribution.

A new policy from the White House will extend that rapid-response thinking beyond COVID to the rest of the scientific world.

In August 2022, a directive from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy declared an end to the journal paywall. This memo establishes a timeline for ALL research funded by the US federal government to be made freely accessible to the public the moment it is published.

It does this not to punish legacy journals, but to improve the speed and dissemination of scientific research, to encourage equity of access, and to increase public trust in the scientific process.

This week, we talk with Heather Joseph, Executive Director of the open access advocacy organization SPARC. She tells us how this policy evolved, and what it means for the future of scientific publishing.

“Hey, I won’t be able to make it over for movies tonight.  I’ve got to finish these timepoints…  Yeah, I know it’s the third time this week, but I promise I’ll leave a early tomorrow…  Okay, sorry.  Goodnight.”

Gary ends the phone call and sighs.  This is not the first time he’s had to cancel a date to finish up an experiment.   He’s starting to detect some resentment in his girlfriend’s voice.

As the minutes tick by on his timer, Gary sees lights flip off in the adjacent laboratory bays.  Even the postdocs have gone home.  Looks like it’ll be another long, lonely night – just him and an incubator full of cells.

He’s scrolling through his phone to find a playlist that can keep him awake for the next few hours when there’s a faint clink of glass somewhere in the darkened part of the lab.

He finds the playlist just as he hears a faint tap, tap, tap coming from the same direction.

“Maybe one of the postdocs left a cage of mice here by accident,” he thinks.  He pops out his ear buds and listens again… tap… tap… tap…

But the sound is too rhythmic to be mice. 

“They really need to fix that faucet.  That thing has been leaking for weeks.”

Tap… tap… tappity tappity tap.  Whatever is dripping seems to be coming faster now.

“Is someone there?” Gary asks, feeling stupid for the uncanny tightness now rising in his chest.  Tap… tappity tap tap… 

The sound that was just dripping is now streaming, a thin drizzle falling onto the soapstone bench.

Gary stands, and keeping his eyes toward the source of the sound, creeps carefully toward the light switch.  That’s when a nauseating wave of stench hits his nostrils.

His pupils constrict as he reaches the switch and the lights flash across a viscous puddle slowly growing larger on the bench to his right.  The pool has spilled over the edge, dripping foul, sticky liquid onto the floor. 

The odor is unmistakable and overpowering. He tears up, each breath a painful struggle to get enough air.

His eyes slowly follow the vile stream to its source…

“Dammit!  Who spilled that bottle of β-mercaptoethanol and didn’t clean it up!?”

Little Lab of Horrors

Life in grad school may not have many horror-movie freak-outs, but there are plenty of harrowing and traumatic experiences to thrill even the most stoic scientist.

In celebration of Halloween, we asked our listeners about their lab and grad school horror stories!

We heard chilling tales of fires, floods, and freezers on the fritz.  There are stories of dissertations delayed, pilfering PIs, and even explosions! Eeeek!

When you tune in, be sure to sample our new favorite pumpkin ale from Rogue Brewing.  It’s the Limited Edition Pumpkin Patch Ale, made from pumpkins they grow themselves!  

And here are a few of the resources we mentioned in the show:

* Caminos en Ciencia podcast*

This week, we open the mailbag to answer your questions! We hear from a new grad student who has some old responsibilities, and learn about how to earn your Master’s degree while enrolled in a PhD program!

Under My Umbrella (ella ella)

Our first email comes from Cindy, who wants some clarification on a previous episode where we talked about how many applicants had applied to a particular PhD program.

Awhile ago, one of you mentioned the number of applications to spots at your university. I was discussing this with my brother in law who is a Biochemist cancer research scientist. Anyway, I was certain you said you received 1,800 applications for 300 spaces in your program. He thinks you meant that number is for all of the graduate school (all programs). So I just wonder if you could clarify.

We sure can! When Josh mentioned a PhD program he worked with, they did in fact receive over a thousand applications. They then offered interviews to about 300 applicants, and made offers to about 200 – all with the hope that 100 would actually enroll!

Those numbers are obviously rough estimates, but the applicant pool was large because it’s a type of ‘umbrella program.’ In this case, 14 different biomedical departments at one University host students who are able to do lab rotations in any one of their labs in the first year. So this isn’t one program with hundreds of spaces – it’s a group of smaller programs that operate together for efficiency and flexibility.

Hope that helps!

Master’s Degree En Route

Next up is Veronica, who shares a helpful tip about how to earn a Master’s degree on your way to a PhD, and why you might want to do that.

Just listened to the TA/teaching one and wanted to give some response. First, the “Master’s degree en route” to PhD is a super important point that you bring up. For myself, I enrolled straight in a PhD position without getting a masters first. I had no idea about the option of “MS en route” until I told one of my committee members that I wanted to teach, and she told me I should really work on finding out if my department does an “MS en route” which it turns out is the practice of awarding a MS after a PhD student has defended. For me, this was a great relief during that critical time in my PhD when I was considering quitting. I did not end up quitting, but knowing I coil quit and get SOMETHING from my experience was critical, and even helped me not quit just from stress.Fast forward a few years, I am now finishing my PhD this semester but I was able to apply for a tenure track teaching position at a nearby community college. If I hadn’t submitted the request for my MS en route from my department, I would not have been eligible to apply for this position until my PhD was awarded! I am sure this is true for many positions that require a MS, and for a lot of research fellowships. This is something not a lot of students know about, I would have never known about it, but it is now critical for me that I got that MS!

This is a big deal – having that Master’s degree not only allows you to apply for teaching positions, as we learned from Dr. Alaina Talboy, but it also gives you peace of mind when that PhD still feels out of reach.

The requirements vary by University and department, but typically you’ll need to meet coursework requirements and pass...

Lab rotations are a pretty sweet deal – you get the chance to work in a lab for a few weeks to see how it fits. Do you like the people? The project? The advisor? If not, try another lab and see if that one is a better fit.

But at the end of 3-4 rotations, you ultimately have to make a choice, and you’ll live with that decision for the next 3-5 years!

This week, we offer a checklist of ‘Things to Consider’ when making your decision, and a warning that many students prioritize the wrong features!

Lab Rotations – A Curse of Opportunity

First year grad student Megan writes:

Hi! You may have already recorded a podcast on this topic, but I wanted to suggest doing one on “choosing a lab/mentor” during rotations. I am starting my rotations in October, and I am feeling nervous about making a wise choice. Loving the podcast!

Most students think about just one thing when it comes to choosing a lab rotation: does the science look cool?

While it’s important to find a topic that motivates you, it’s certainly not everything. Remember, your goal in graduate school is to get out of graduate school with a degree! There are ways to optimize that outcome even if the research topic isn’t what you’d like to spend the rest of your life exploring.

Aside from the compelling research questions, we encourage students to consider two other themes: the lab culture, and the research advisor.

Make a List, and Check it Twice

Here are some topics to think through as you embark on your rotations. It’s a good idea to keep physical notes (paper or electronic) about your experience, because it’s all too easy to forget Lab 1 after you’ve finished Lab 3.

* Science fit* Lab environment / culture fit* Lab size* Lab dynamic (fast paced or slow and steady?)* Lab schedule* Social and outgoing or people keep to themselves?* Are you able to comfortably be yourself?* Do keep in mind that labs are transient… people are coming and going all the time. Over the course of a 5 year PhD, the people in the lab at the end might be very different than the people there when you join.* Mentor fit* Early career vs. later career* Big name? Hot field? Will they be traveling a lot?* Are they generally available? Do you want them to be?* Hands-off or micromanager?* Do they build you up or tear you down?* How do they handle conflict in the lab?* How quickly do they answer your emails?* Have a conversation about your career aspirations w/ them during the rotation – how did that go?* Boss vs. mentor

Hopefully, as you answer these questions, you’ll identify the right lab for you. And remember, a good mentor is more important than exciting science. You’re in graduate school for training, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities later to explore other research topics.

A lot of aspiring trainees are ‘taking a gap year’ before applying to graduate school. Typically, they use that time to build skills and make connections that will bolster their applications.

This postbaccalaureate, or ‘postbac’, experience can vary pretty widely – from a course-heavy Master’s degree to a research-focused industry internship.

There are also a multitude of scholarships, fellowships, and grants to support whatever training you might need.

This week, we explore these postbac opportunities with Elizabeth Somsen, who recently finished her training as a Fulbright Scholar and wrote a user-friendly guide to postbacs.

Too Many Postbac Options

Elizabeth Somsen knew that PhD training was in her future, so she spent all four years of undergrad working in a lab. That boosted her resume and gave her confidence that she did, indeed, want to pursue a career in research.

As graduation approached, she started to think about her next steps.

Should she apply to grad school immediately? Should she take a year off to continue working in the lab to gain more experience? How about a Master’s degree in public health to round out her training before earning a PhD?

And what about the study-abroad experiences like the Fulbright or Rhodes Scholarships, or postbac programs like the NIH’s Postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA)?

Like many students, Elizabeth had more options than time to pursue them. She decided to apply directly to grad school, and just in case she couldn’t find a position, she’d have full-time work and an application to the Fulbright program as backup plans.

Later that fall, after being accepted to a graduate program, she got an email from the US Department of State – she’d been accepted as a Fulbright scholar to study for 9 months in Turkey!

It was a wonderful experience (she deferred her graduate program for a year) and she has real-world advice to share on how to choose a postbac experience that fits your career goals.

She also takes the time to de-mystify the application process for the Fulbright and other scholarships. There are resources right on your campus that can help, and her strategies will give you a much higher chance of success.

To hear more from Elizabeth, you can read her article “So you want to do a postbac – a guide from a STEM perspective” on Github or find her on Twitter @lizsomsen!

You’re in graduate school, so you’re probably pretty smart. You’ve learned a lot of material over the years, and managed to apply that knowledge in tests, papers, and projects.

But ‘knowing a lot’ doesn’t mean you’re ready to teach others. Becoming an educator takes time, dedication and attention.

This week, we talk with Dr. Alaina Talboy about the skill of teaching others, and how you can apply that in careers outside the classroom.

We’re joined once again by Dr. Alaina Talboy, author of What I Wish I Knew: A Field Guide for Thriving in Graduate Studies. We last talked with her about why you should never refer to yourself as a ‘graduate student‘, and how to find teaching opportunities during your graduate training.

This week, we look more closely at the philosophy of education, and how you can develop your personal teaching style.

Develop Your Teaching Style

Looking back on her first teaching experience, Dr. Talboy recognizes she was not ready for the classroom.

“When I went into to teach my first session, I sucked at public speaking,” she recalls.

“I read from the slides, I was inflexible, and I didn’t really know what it meant to be an educator. And I will fully own that I was atrocious as a teacher that first year. I had a lot of issues I had to work through.”

Thankfully, she recognized the need for improvement. She sought out mentors who could help, and started to think carefully about her own unique teaching philosophy.

“I had a conversation with my teaching advisor and asked: ‘Does this get easier’? Because I was worried it would never get easier. And I would never really get an understanding of what it meant to be an educator.”

Her mentor’s response shaped Dr. Talboy’s approach. “She told me, ‘Think about the professors that you really like: what is it that you liked about them? And then at the same time, think about the professors you hated and what did you hate about their classes?”

That reflection led to a motivating insight: “I realized I was doing the stuff that I hated!” she says. It came from a place of fear and inexperience, but no matter the source, it was hindering her ability to reach her students.

So she started to think once again about those classes and professors that she admired. What were they doing that was so engaging? Was it just interesting subject matter? A good sense of humor? Their oratory skills?

Over the next weeks and months, Dr. Talboy began to emulate her best professors – modeling her teaching on theirs. She ‘tried on’ their styles, and found out which ones fit.

She learned that she didn’t have the comedic timing to be like her ‘funny’ professors, but she did have a passion for neuroscience and ‘geeking out’ that could draw students into her enthusiasm.

“And that is the way that I find I am actually connecting with my students because I get very passionate,” she says. “I get very animated.