Rock Your Research with Chris Jones

Sydney overcame lack of motivation and follow through to become the arctic policy lead for the US Department of State. Listen to her describe methods that helped her finish her PhD and land a career she loves.

Sydney is a foreign affairs officer at the US Department of State and a AAAS Fellow. She handles the arctic energy portfolio within the department.

• Follow through after becoming ABD.

• Giving a less than stellar group meeting presentation and having a fight with her adviser that lead to feelings of impostor syndrome.

• Fixing her broken piece of equipment that had not been working for 7 months.

• Habit: To do lists
• Book: The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• Productivity Tool: To do lists on paper
• Best Advice: From a graduating grad student: I did it and you will too.
• Hobbies: Hiking, running, being outside, and reading.
• Alternative PhD study: Lemur biologist

• Twitter

Raul Pacheco-Vega combined his passion for education and research to land a job that allowed him to live close to his family and friends. He shares his experience and advice for students on how to find work that you enjoy.

Raul is an assistant professor in the Public Administration Division of the Center for Economic Research and Teaching, CIDE, in Aguascalientes, Mexico. His primary research interest is in understanding the factors that contribute to cooperation in natural resource governance. He is also the associate editor of the Journal of Environmental Sciences and Studies and is the founder of the Twitter #scholarsunday. You can learn more about Raul on his blog.

• Being able to focus and trying to do to many things.

• Breaking up with his boyfriend. Being in a good place emotionally is very important.

• Dissertation defense and getting great feedback from his adviser.

• Habit: Daily writing habit and procrastinating on purpose
• Book: Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success by Wendy Laura Belcher
• Productivity Tool: Reference managers currently using Mendeley. Also uses Evernote and Google calendar.
• Best Advice: (1) Wake up every morning and start writing (2) Everyday read something at the beginning of the day to get your brain going (3) Take at least 1 day off a week (4) Focus on making your dissertation done because the best dissertation is a done dissertation (5) To be a good academic but also a good human being.
• Hobbies: Volleyball, dancing, tennis, playing piano, and going to concerts
• Alternative PhD study: Chemical Engineer

• Twitter
• Raul's Blog
• Happy PhD
• Jenifer Polk Interview and website
• Lisa Munro
• Higher Ed jobs Twitter
• Jobs AC UK Twitter

Jessica struggled with overcame imposter syndrom to get land a prestigious postdoc at the USGS. Listen to how she did it and her method for managing work life balance.

Jessica is a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow at the U.S. Geological Survey, researching stratovolcano hydrorothermal systems and how they affect volcano stability. She received her PhD in Geology from the University of Buffalo. Learn more about Jessica on her blog.

• Impostor syndrome.

• Having a really bad first committee meeting.

• Being able to provide equipment to researchers in Guatemala by connecting them with a non-profit.

• Habit: Documentation
• Book: Who's Afraid of Marie Curie?: The Challenges Facing Women in Science and Technology by Linley Erin Hall
• Productivity Tool: Google Calendar
• Best Advice: Not taking criticism personally
• Hobbies: Playing Violin, hiking, camping, and cooking
• Alternative PhD study: Archaeology

• Twitter
• Jessica's Blog: Magma Cum Laude
• email: [email protected]

Kaitlyn landed her dream NGO job at RMI immediately after graduate school. She made connections within the Association of Women Engineers and made herself a more well rounded candidate by getting involved in Science Communication.

Kaityln is an associate scientist at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). She has her PhD in electrical engineering from Michigan Technical University. Her research within RMI focuses on electrical micro grids in the Caribbean.

• Being in charge of designing her own work .

• Taking the written qualifying exam.

• Winning the first place poster award in her graduate research colloquium at her university .

• Habit: Being organized
• Book: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
• Productivity Tool: Asana and Google Calendar
• Best Advice: To go for my PhD if that is what I wanted to do.
• Hobbies: Road and mountain biking, hiking, and riding off road motor cycles.
• Alternative PhD study: Biomedical Engineering

• Twitter
• Rocky Mountain Institute
• Society of Women Engineers
• Daniel Pink Ted Talk

In addition to being a stellar (pun intended) astrophysicist, Katie Mack is a popular science communicator and writer. Listen to Katie's worst and best moments as a graduate student, and her advice for current graduate students.

Katie is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Melbourne in the Astrophysics Group. She has an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award to fund her research. She is active in online science communication and science outreach.

Visit rockyourresearch.com for more information!

• Twitter @AstroKatie
• Email: [email protected]

Ted leveraged his knowledge of computer programming and data management, gained while an ecology grad student, to become a data scientist. Listen to Ted's journey from ecology to Silicon Valley!

Ted is a data scientist at a large company in Silicon Valley (he is not officially allowed to disclose what company he works for). He has a PhD in environmental biology from the University of Vermont. He has worked as a staff scientist at the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) prior to taking his current position.

• Needing to work and find his own funding in order to pay for his research.

• Having a paper sent out for revision at Science but then getting rejected.

• Receiving his NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG).

• Habit: Coding, data management, and writing good commit messages
• Book: (1) Doing Data Science: Straight Talk from the Frontline by Cathy O'Neil (2) An Introduction to Statistical Learning: with Applications in R by Garath James (3) Elements of Statistical Learning: Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction
• Productivity Tool: Git, GitLab, and GitHub
• Best Advice:Learn R
• Hobbies: Trail running, and if time permits skiing and rock climbing
• Alternative PhD study: Economics

• Twitter
• Software Carpentry
• Blog post on the tension between skill building and doing good research
• Simply Statistics
• Stanford online course
• John Hopkins Coursera

Intro and Outro Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music - Happy Rock

Hannah struggled with motivation while finishing her dissertation, but she developed techniques to complete her PhD. Listen to her share her grad school story and how she became a postdoc.

Hannah is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin Madison. She has a PhD in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Her focus is on how landscape structure and management practices affect local native bees. To learn more about Hannah visit her about page.

• Finding motivation while ABD due to lack of structure in her schedule.

• Going through 6 rounds of revisions on her first publication.

• Her dissertation defense and having it feel like a conversation among peers.

• Habit: Figuring out how to get to her goals once she identifies them.
• Book: Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath
• Productivity Tool: Pomodoro technique (setting a timer for a task and then staying focused until the timer goes off)
• Best Advice:(1) Ask questions, it never hurts to ask questions. (2) Acquire skills to build your toolbox
• Hobbies: Baking, sewing, knitting, gardening, cycling, curling, hunting, and camping
• Alternative PhD study: Anthropology

• Email: [email protected]
• Hannah's blog post on staying motivated while ABD.

This interview is full of great advice! Amanda attributes her success to the positive relationships she developed during graduate school and outreach experiences. Listen to her share her graduate school experiences and how she became a postdoc at the Smithsonian Institute.

Amanda is a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Her research focuses on the evolutionary biology of ferns. Particularly exploring the patterns and processes that have given rise to modern plant diversity. She has a PhD in Biology from Duke University.

• Dealing with jealous and feeling that her accomplishments weren't as good as her peers.

• Trying to keep personal life from interfering with productivity.

• Receiving first large grant (the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Improvement Program Grant).

• Habit: Perserverence
• Book: (1) The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biology by Chandler, Wolfe, and Promislow (2) You're Hired Now What: A Guide for New Science Faculty by Mohamed Noor
• Productivity Tool: Computer coding (R and Python)
• Best Advice: Sit down and write or do the experiment. It is better to have something done that isn't perfect than to wait.
• Hobbies: Swim, run, cycle, paddling, sewing, learning music, yoga, and cooking
• Alternative PhD study: Antropology

• Twitter
• Website

A self proclaimed geek for history, pedagogy and technology, Kevin (a.k.a. "The Tattooed Professor") thrives on experimentation and breaking free from convention. Listen to Kevin share his struggles with impostor syndrome, how his first tenure track position wasn't what he was expecting, and his current advice for job seekers on the academic market.

Kevin is an associate professor of history and director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa. To learn more about Kevin check out his blog at The Tattooed Professor.

• Dealing with impostor syndrome and the general feelings of inadequacy that come along with it.

• Having a member of his committee try to talk him into doing a different project after he was already ABD.

• Getting his first paper published and having a great experience with the revision process.

• Habit: Daily writing practice
• Book: How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Academic Productivity by Paul Silvia
• Productivity Tool: Evernote bonus when used with Google Keep (Kevin's blog post about using the two together can be game changing if you embrace it)
• Best Advice: Diversify your skill set and knowledge
• Hobbies: Reading and Bicycling
• Alternative PhD study: Economics to be the critical voice from the inside

• Twitter
• Blog: The Tattooed Professor

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Nick struggled with the challenges of doing an interdisciplinary PhD, but it ultimately made him well prepared to be a journal editor. Listen to Nick discuss his experiences as a graduate student, how he landed his position as a senior editor at Science Magazine, and his advice for publishing in top journals like Science.

Nick is a senior editor at Science. He received his PhD from Virginia Tech. Nick was a postdoc at EPFL in Switzerland prior to taking his position at Science in 2009. He handles papers in the broad area of environmental science, along with those that fall at the interface of microbiology and chemistry.

• Being interdisciplinary and not having anyone in his department to talk to about what he does.

• Being at Virginia Tech during the shooting.

• Getting his first paper published.

• Habit: Curiosity
• Book: The Martian by Andy Weir
• Productivity Tool: WorkFlowy
• Best Advice: You don't really learn anything until you write the paper
• Hobbies: His children, basketball, fishing, staying active, skiing, traveling
• Alternative PhD study: Renewable energy research (bio-fuels or materials for solar panels)

• Twitter
• Email: [email protected]
• Science profile