Career Advice for Life Scientists Career Advice for Life Scientists Volumes I & II Volumes I & II THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY Career Advice for Life Scientists Volumes I & II THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY Career Advice for Life Scientists Volumes I & II Editor Elizabeth Marincola Executive Director Joan Goldberg Director of Publications W. Mark Leader Editorial and Education Senior Manager Thea Clarke Reprinted with support from the Office of Research on Women’s Health, The National Institutes of Health Cover photo by Christopher Pappas (See Molecular Biology of the Cell 19: 1837–1847.) ©2002, 2004, 2008 The American Society for Cell Biology Table of Contents: Volume I Introduction to Career Advice for Life Scientists . 1 1. THE HEAD GAME. 3 The Impostor Phenomenon . 4 Saying “No” . 8 Unwritten Rules for Advancing Your Career . 12 2. TEACHING & LEARNING . 15 The Scholarship of Teaching . 16 Teaching Science in High School . 19 Getting the Most from Your Graduate Experience. 23 3. COMMUNICATION . 27 Communicating Effectively in Departmental Meetings . 28 “And Our Next Speaker Is...” . 30 The Unicorn in the Garden or Why Cell Biologists Should Meet the Press . 34 4. MANAGEMENT . 39 A Crash Course in Management . 40 Designing Productive Lab Meetings . 43 Some Tips on Successful Negotiation . 46 5. LEADERSHIP . 49 Creative Mentoring Strategies. 50 Crossing to the Other Side . 53 Dealing with Unstable Colleagues . 56 6. UNDERREPRESENTATION IN SCIENCE CAREERS. 59 Affirmative Action for the Next Generation. 60 Increasing Representation of People of Color in Science . 64 7. TENURE . 67 The Tenure Process Viewed from the Top . 68 Earning Tenure: Ten Recommendations . 71 The Negative Tenure Decision . 75 8. PARENTHOOD & SCIENCE CAREERS. 79 Juggling Career and Family . 80 Optimizing the Family-Career Balance . 82 9. EXPLORING VENUES FOR SCIENCE . 85 Breaking into Biotech. 86 Research at a Small Institution: Not as Different as You Think . 89 10. WOMEN & SCIENCE CAREERS. 95 Why Women Leave Science . 96 Shaping the Future for Women in Science . 101 vi CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS Table of Contents: Volume II Introduction to Career Advice for Life Scientists II . 109 1. THE LAB COMMUNITY . 111 Confronting the Social Context of Science . 112 Conflict Management . 115 Two Cultures and the Revolution in Biotechnology . 119 2. DEALING WITH EVERYTHING AT ONCE 123 Dual(ing) Academic Careers . 124 Effective Time Management . 128 On Being a Scientist and Parent . 132 How to “Get a Life” in the Life Sciences . 135 3. SCIENTIFIC CITIZENSHIP. 139 The Misconduct of Others: Prevention Techniques for Researchers . 140 Making a Difference: The Three R’s of Public Science Policy . 144 Great Expectations or Realistic Expectations? . 148 4. WRITING AND PUBLISHING . 151 Me Write Pretty One Day: How to Write a Good Scientific Paper . 152 How to Read and Respond to a Journal Rejection Letter . 156 The Role of an Editor: A Delicate Balancing Act . 161 What Happened to My Figures?! . 164 5. POSTDOC ISSUES . 167 To Eurodoc or Not Eurodoc . 168 Making the Most of Your Postdoctoral Experience . 172 Pursuing Science across the Pacific Ocean . 175 6. CAREER TRANSITION . 179 The Art of the Interview . 180 Salary Negotiation . 184 What Else Can I Do?: Exploring Opportunities in Business and Management . 189 Late Career Opportunities and Challenges . 192 7. GRANTS . 197 Study Section Service: An Introduction . 198 Responding to the NIH Summary Statement . 203 8. ACADEMIC CAREERS . 207 Teaching Is Good for Research . 208 Academic Careers without Tenure . 210 9. EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION . 215 Do’s and Don’t’s of Poster Presentation . 216 You Don’t Have to Shout to Be Heard . 222 ENDNOTES . 225 viii CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY Career Advice for Life Scientists Volume I Volume Editor Elizabeth Marincola Production Manager Stephanie Dean WICB Column Editors Maureen Brandon, 1998–2001 Laura Williams, 1996–2000 Published with support from the Office of Research on Women’s Health, The National Institutes of Health ©2002 The American Society for Cell Biology Introduction to Career Advice for Life Scientists he Women in Cell Biology traces its origins to 1971, when a small assembly of Yale colleagues T determined to organize a gathering of the few women attending the 11th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in New Orleans that year. They posted flyers on the back of bathroom stalls and thirty women showed up. The first sustained effort of this pick-up group was a “newsletter”—a bimonthly mimeographed job— featuring entries as diverse and important as sexist advertisements in scientific journals, job opportunities (though the jobs had not been advertised) and ACLU rulings that women should not be required to use their Zena Werb husband’s names, and that single women should qual- Chair, Women in Cell Biology Committee The American Society for Cell Biology ify to receive loans and hold mortgages. 1998-2003 In the subsequent thirty years, women in cell biolo- gy and The Women in Cell Biology have achieved suf- ficient progress as to make early concerns seem almost quaint. But the challenges faced by women in science today are, while more subtle, still real, and still attract- ing the commitment of dedicated cell biologists. We are proud of contributing to that history. One of the keys to the success of the Women in Cell Biology is that its activities and services have served the many male members of the ASCB and the scientific W. Sue Shafer community as well as its women. This has never been Chair, Women in Cell Biology Committee so true as in the past several years, when the challenge The American Society for Cell Biology of students and post-docs in establishing a satisfying 1994-1997 career in the life sciences has become acute. In response, the WICB has given high priority to pro- grams, events, publications and awards that support the career aspirations of scientists. In its way, the Women in Cell Biology Committee has become the heart and soul of the cell biology community. This volume represents selected articles from the acclaimed Women in Cell Biology column of the award-winning ASCB Newsletter, those ranked by CHAPTER 1 • THE HEAD GAME 1 WICB members as providing the most help- Peterson, Susan Gerbi, Mary Lou King and ful career advice for life scientists. We trust Ursula Goodenough (33% of whom—Gerbi, that the compilation will prove even more Goodenough and Bissell—were later elected helpful than the sum of its parts. President of the ASCB); Dorothy Skinner, At risk of inadvertently excluding deserv- who served as the conscience of the ASCB ing colleagues, we can’t let the presses roll Council in the early years; Laura Williams without acknowledging the many people and Maureen Brandon, dedicated editors of who together have conspired to make the the ASCB Newsletter WICB column (Laura American Society for Cell Biology Women in did much of the research that contributed to Cell Biology Committee and its column wide- this history); Emma Shelton, Dorothea ly imitated and praised. Virginia Walbot, Wilson and Elizabeth Marincola, ASCB Mary Clutter and Mary Lake Polan were that Executive Directors who helped nurture small critical mass from Yale that lighted the women’s activities through the Society, and spark in 1971; Susan Goldhor and Elizabeth Rosemary Simpson and Trina Armstrong, Harris were early editors of the “Women in ASCB executive staff whose passion for the Cell Biology Newsletter,” whose job included goals of the women in cell biology has been gathering $1 and $5 contributions from col- critical in turning ideas into action. Finally, leagues to keep it going; chairs before the but not least, we thank Joyce Rudick and WICB became an official ASCB Committee Vivian Pinn from the NIH Office of Research were Ellen Dirksen, Nina Allen, Kathryn on Women’s Health for the ORWH’s spon- Vogel, Patricia Calarco, Mina Bissell, Jane sorship of this publication. I 2 CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS 1. THE HEAD GAME The Impostor Phenomenon Saying “No” Unwritten Rules for Advancing Your Career The Impostor Phenomenon ave you ever felt that you did not deserve the professional status you have achieved or the Hrecognition you have received for your career accomplishments? Do you wonder whether being admitted to graduate school, being awarded your Ph.D., being offered an exciting postdoc position, or getting a “real job” was just a mistake on the part of others who will eventually figure that out and expose your inadequacy? If so, you may be demonstrating a classic case of the Impostor Phenomenon—you and perhaps as many as half of your colleagues! The term “Impostor Phenomenon” was coined by psychology professor Pauline Rose Clance and psy- Sue Wick chotherapist Suzanne Imes in 1978 to describe a sample University of Minnesota of more than 150 high-achieving women. Impostor Phenomenon (also known as the “Impostor Syndrome”) has been defined variously as the persist- ent belief in one’s lack of competence, skill or intelli- gence in the face of consistent objective data to the con- trary; an internal experience of intellectual fraudulence, particularly among high-achievers; the belief that one is Do you wonder whether being admitted to graduate school, being awarded your Ph.D., being offered an exciting post- doc position, or getting a “real job” was just a mistake on the part of others who will eventually figure that out and expose your inadequacy? not deserving of his/her career success and that others have been deceived into thinking otherwise; an intense subjective fear of the inability to repeat past success; a self-concept that one’s record of accomplishments is not 4 CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY due to ability but rather only to luck, fate, Personality Type Indicator.