Category Archives: Career Stuff

If Scientists Don’t Value Our Labor, Who Will? The San Diego Postdoc Edition

Posted on October 23, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

I think there’s something in the water in the San Diego area because researchers there are offering volunteer post-docs: that’s right–you get to be a post-doc for free. Recently, an ad was posted for a volunteer post-doc “in the La … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Career Stuff, Jobs, NIH | 9 Comments

E.O. Wilson Gives Some Really Bad Career Advice

Posted on April 9, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

So the Twitter is all a twitter over evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson’s latest op-ed in which he offers this dreadful advice (boldface mine): Over the years, I have co-written many papers with mathematicians and statisticians, so I can offer the … Continue reading →

Posted in Career Stuff | 8 Comments

Regarding the Ph.D. Glut, Nature’s Heart Is in the Right Place, But They’re Not Following the Money

Posted on April 26, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Nature doesn’t get it: neither research universities nor funders see the glut as a problem-they’re too dependent on the status quo.
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Posted in Career Stuff, Education, Funding, NIH | 11 Comments

I’ll Try One More Time About Biomed Training: It’s About Job Skills, Not ‘Critical Thinking’

Posted on April 4, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

As they used to say, learn how to type.
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Posted in Career Stuff | 5 Comments

Why Biologists’ Career Problems Are Unique: Life Outside of Academia

Posted on April 1, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Yes, funding is limited across the STEM fields in academia–and that makes everyone miserable. But I still contend that biomedical scientists are trapped within academia far more than other STEM disciplines.
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Posted in Career Stuff | 9 Comments

Why Biomedical Scientists Suffer More Than Others in STEM Fields

Posted on March 30, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

A lack of options makes biomedical scientists (relatively) miserable.
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Posted in Career Stuff, Education | 11 Comments

A Sustainable Research Model

Posted on March 8, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

A research center is not a faculty department that doesn’t teach.
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Posted in Career Stuff, Jobs | 1 Comment

The Research Center Model Would Does “Give Post-Docs a Career”

Posted on March 3, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

We don’t have to invent a new model for permanent research scientists, we just need to reallocate more funding to the current one.
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Posted in Career Stuff, Funding | 5 Comments

Science, Gender, and ‘Cleaning Up the Mess’

Posted on February 10, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

Are women scientists are often loaded with jobs that best could be described as “cleaning up the mess”?
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Posted in Career Stuff, Feminism | 5 Comments

Women: If You Attend Vet School, Plan on Either Not Having Sex or…

Posted on January 14, 2011 by mikethemadbiologist

…getting an abortion. Because that seems to be the message from the presidents of the third-year class of the UC Davis veterinary school–with the apparent approval of the Chair of the Department of Medicine & Epidemiology.
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