The Compleat Academic A Career Guide

XING WAN

The Compleat AcademicA Career Guide

Agenda

Starting a Career as a PhD candidate Different from master and undergraduate Job options

Teaching and Mentoring Teaching Mentoring

Research and Writing Research Grant Writing Journal Article Setting Up Your Lab

Managing your career over time

Starting a Career as a PhD candidate

A Guide to Ph.D Graduate School

Job Options for new PHD graduate

3 Job Options for new PHD graduates:Postdoctoral Faculty Industry

What’s their pros and cons?

Job Options for new PHD graduate

Pros Cons

Postdoctoral

•Facilitate the transition•Broaden research domain•Research Utopia (No burden)

•Need funding and sponsor•“Transition” job

Faculty•World expert with Prof. title•Tenure (Job safety)

Balance your time between Teaching and Research

Industry•Higher compensation•Exciting career track•Can leave the work behind

Less job safety

Advantages of a Postdoctoral Fellowship

How to Find A Postdoc Fellowship

Preparation for Careers outside of Academia

Transferable skillsCertain skills not trained enough in graduate

programsSocial skillsHaving a positive can-do attitudeNeeds more flexibility

Is PHD’s social skill really not that good?

How to Apply for Faculty Position

Key: VitaStart by listing everything you have done Displays all your relevant skills.Include your work "in progress", especially your

thesis proposal, and your future research directions. Might also include a list of courses you could teach.

Be neither parochial nor grandiose.

Besides Vita, are there any other things we need to prepare?

How to Apply for Faculty Position

Key: Job VisitResearch the institution, the department and the

audience of your talk.Present your ideas in a less complex way Mention that you know the limits At the end of the talk make a brief but explicit

statement regarding future research directions conclude with a summary of what you have shown.

Prepare a 5 minutes mini-talk about yourself and your

research.

Teaching & Mentoring

Effective Teaching

Make good use of the binding contract: the Syllabus

Engage students in numerous study sessionsEstablishing student communication channels:

office hours; emailTake a firm, rational, but caring approach by

accepting the excuse but asking for verification.

Do not cover "everything" in detailBe careful not to inadvertently impose your

political, moral, or religious beliefs on students

Effective Teaching

Save everything. Keep good records Create your own versions of the

teaching forms Build a directory of useful information

to refer students to various kinds of help

Mentoring

Testing a student's research ideas What are you interested in doing/finding out? Why are you interested in doing this? How does what you are interested in doing relate to

what's already known? How does this research differ from and/or extend

previous research? How are you going to do this? What do you expect to find?

Fit between you and the student?

Research & Writing

Obtaining a Research Grant

Develop a research idea and then pitch it to potential funders Select your ideas carefully Think broadly about the

applications of your work

Call the relevant program officers

Be prepared with follow-up questions

Hedge your bets Submit your ideas to various

agencies

Writing the Empirical Journal Article

An article is written in the shape of an hourglass. Broad general statement Specifics of the study More general consideration

IntroductionMethodResultsDiscussionTitle and abstract

Setting Up Your Lab

Not enough fundingBuy what you absolutely need to begin your rese

arch programSave some money for laterStart small and make sure your lab works with

right people

Managing Your Career Over Time

The Academic Marathon

Thinking about the future: make concrete plans for small chunks of time and more general plans for the more distant future.

Short-term planning: build time for writing and research into your schedule

Medium-term goals: six-month chunks of time is a good choice

Long-term goals: range beyond concrete behavioral objectives to the category of dreams, hopes, and aspirations.

Enjoy the Pure Joy of Research!

Faculty have pretty flexible schedule, but can never leave the work behind.

The joys are the primary reasons why this stressful, ill-paid line of work is worth pursuing. And what drives us ultimately is the pure joy of research:" Those moments.... When suddenly there is a synthesis of the human intelligence.. And to know every day that it might happen again." (Gornick 1983, p.52)