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Diversify your research funding! Here’s how.

With federal budgets getting tighter and the future uncertain, having a strategy for diversifying your funding portfolio is key to success. Gone are the days where an academic researcher might have a career fully funded by a single organization. Not only is it good for your bottom line, but diversifying your funding sources can also be good for creativity: some foundations or non-governmental organizations have different parameters and flexibility about what kinds of projects they fund.

In December 2017, we heard from two highly successful UW faculty, Drs. Chet Moritz from the Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine, Physiology & Biophysics and Dan Ratner from Bioengineering, who shared their strategies for success with diverse funding sources. We share a few of their tips and insights here so you can try a few yourself:

  • Federal funding is diverse. Many UW faculty and postdocs have experience with NIH and NSF. But experience shows it can pay off to look beyond these traditional sources that are more competitive. For example, the Departments of Defense and Energy fund a significant amount of innovative research. Get creative about how your science can fit within other priorities and desired applications. Add a collaborator with relevant expertise, pivot to a new application, and find an informant with experience who can help you navigate the new language and formats of the applications.
  • Take your work to the next level. The NIH and NSF invest in basic science and innovative discovery. If you are interested in bringing your innovations to implementation, dissemination, translation, or commercialization, you often need to look elsewhere for funding support. Fortunately, many foundations are highly motivated to bring discoveries to impact, and other entities such as the State are interested in implementation and commercialization. Search the state budget for line items dedicated to specific problems lawmakers are motivated to solve. Search the Foundation Directory to find a match for your research area and a foundation who values and invests in those areas.
  • Don’t shy away from smaller grants. Do you need funds to kick-off new ideas? Small grants can help you get preliminary data or demonstrate a proof of concept. Smaller grants can help you build a relationship with a funder (governmental or private sector). At UW, postdocs have access to the Amazon Catalyst awards. Junior investigators can have an edge. Institutions and funding organizations want to invest in young, exciting researchers.
  • Build a relationship and grow your connections. Once you get your foot in the door, build a relationship with the funder. Success breeds success, no matter how small. Celebrate and make visible what you’ve accomplished and who made it possible, whether the funder, the institution, the state, Congress, etc. Know your audience (your funder) and dedicate some time to a feedback loop that will grow and sustain your relationship.

Finally, grant writing inevitably involves disappointment. It can take seven submissions to get to one successfully funded project. Pay attention to reviewer feedback, do your best to match your idea and proposal to the funder’s priorities and formats, and develop resilience and persistence. It will pay off! We know you can do it, and we are right there working at this alongside you. Funding your research is a lifelong endeavor and the landscape is always changing; your ability to be responsive and pivot when needed is key.

Additional references: 

The Grad School Guide – Equity in the Classroom: Putting names to faces

“How can I learn to recognize my students whose ethnicity is different from my own? I feel bad that it takes me much longer to remember their names and faces, and I have even mixed up some of the students, calling them by the wrong name.  They deserve better! I do study the photographs we get on MyUW of the students in a class, but that doesn’t seem to help much.”*

— Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

Thanks for writing in! This is a complex and sensitive issue, and I really admire that you’ve recognized this problem and are taking the time to work through it. That’s a great first step!

To help answer your question, I’ve turned to my expert colleagues at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and FIUTS (The Foundation for International Understanding Through Students). I’ve provided each of their answers below, along with some additional resources related to names and facial recognition. Some of their general advice is: get to know your students better by playing name-related games and asking ice-breaker questions in class, and, if you’re still stuck, ask the students to re-introduce themselves during the first few weeks of classes or to keep a name card at their desk. Finally, do some self-reflection, and investigate whether any implicit biases might be affecting how you learn students’ names.

I hope this advice helps you to recognize all of your students and learn their names faster. You got this!

Sincerely,

The Grad School Guide

THE CENTER FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING
The CTL provided three strategies for learning to recognize your students: Collect more information; use other cues (besides their faces); and reflect on your biases and teaching strategies. Here they provide tips and ideas for pursuing each strategy.
Collect more information:

  • On the first day, use an ice breaker activity such as the “name story,” where students go around and share a brief story related to their name. This will help you attach the name to the person.
  • Ask your students to teach you how to pronounce their name.
  • Record students’ names and pronunciations on the UW photograph sheet when they introduce themselves.
  • Consult websites to learn name pronunciations (some websites included below!)
  • Before or after the class, chat with students to use their names.
  • In the first few weeks of class, have students say their names first when they ask a question.

Use other cues:

  • Have students use name tents. Collect them from students after every class and have them pick them up again to use at the beginning of the next class.
  • There are other ways to remember students than their faces: consider the tone of their voice, their hairstyles, their posture, clothing style, accessories, etc.
  • Use Canvas to have students share stories of their names and/or introduce themselves sharing their interests in the course or other interests (favorite places, foods).

Reflect:

  • Ask yourself why as an instructor or TA you are having a particularly hard time remembering some students’ names. We all hold implicit biases: attitudes and stereotypes that can affect our behaviors without us realizing. You may want to learn more about implicit bias: if so, check out the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and Harvard implicit Bias tests online. These tools can help you find out where you might have blind spots and what areas you might want to work on.
  • Use active listening strategies. Reflect on how you listen:
    • Are you allowing the student time to express themselves?
    • Are you concentrating on what the student is saying?
    • Are you attentive to verbal and non-verbal cues?

FIUTS
Ellen Frierson and Era Schrepfer, at FIUTS, offered a number of strategies for better remembering students and connecting their names to faces. Also, Ellen wants to assure you that “the longer I work with students, the better I get at learning names quickly (and I’m generally pretty bad with names across all demographic categories!). So, just a word of encouragement that this is a skill you truly are likely to get better at if you work at it.”
Here are their tips!

  1. It’s easier to remember someone’s name when you know something about them. Create an activity at the beginning of the year/class that gives you some context about each student. Maybe a fun icebreaker where they all make a name tag with a food they like that begins with the same letter as their name? If you can collect them at the end of the day, even better, as it gives you something to study with!
  2. Spend more time with people who look different from you! You’ll get better at remembering people’s names and faces with more practice. It sounds like you’re already being really thoughtful about examining your own biases, so being more conscious in general about how much time you’re spending with people from their same racial/ethnic background versus connecting more with others might be useful.
  3. Practice the usual memorization tips more often until you at least know all the names. Carry your list with you. Look over your list at different times of the day, while you’re doing other things. Record yourself saying the names and listen to the recording.
  4. Pair up with another T.A. and “introduce” each of your students to them (and vice versa), telling them something about each student.
  5. Focus on memorizing the stressed syllable of each name, and possibly coming up with an association just for that syllable. (So if the name is Xinlu, focus on remembering the “Xin” part, maybe by thinking of a rhyming word like “pin”). When I (Ellen) was a classroom teacher and trying to learn lots of names at once, I’d try to notice one particular feature of the student’s face and pair that with a mnemonic device for their name to help a) remember their name and b) connect it with that person: “Frank has freckles” or something silly like that. If you are having trouble distinguishing people of a specific race or ethnicity, this approach might also help you to start noticing the ways in which facial features vary among people of the same race or ethnicity.
  6. Use name tents in class if you need to. Have the students make name tents on the first day and collect them to be distributed in each class. You can practice by handing them out at the start of each class and it will reduce the chance that you will call on the wrong person.
  7. Create learning activities that will help you to learn as much as possible about each of your students: having them share helps both of you. Be sure to remind everyone to introduce themselves before sharing with the class, whether you already know their name or not.
  8. Don’t worry if you forget someone’s name, just ask and be honest about the challenge. It’s totally OK to say, “I have so much trouble remembering people’s names! Please help me by reminding me and let me know if I get it wrong!”

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Here are some additional resources you might find useful, compiled by the CTL, FIUTS, and Graduate School staff:

*This question has been lightly edited to preserve anonymity. 

Ask the Grad School Guide is an advice column for all y’all graduate and professional students. Real questions from real students, answered by real people. If the guide doesn’t know the answer, the guide will seek out experts all across campus to address the issue. (Please note: The guide is not a medical doctor, therapist, lawyer or academic advisor, and all advice offered here is for informational purposes only.) Submit a question for the column →

Pushing Through to the End of the Quarter

It’s the home stretch of the quarter and we know you are actively working through your projects, grading, and other milestones, even while looking ahead to the break. We offer a few tips that can help you make the most of these final weeks.

Set Priorities. Look over your schedule for the next two weeks. Block out time slots you know you can’t be flexible on: hard deadlines for school, work, and family time. Hold off on meetings or appointments that can actually wait until after the quarter (and holiday break) is done. You’ll start to see where you have wiggle room for things like self-care. The reality is, there is always time take care of ourselves. This can be a glass of water, a healthy snack, getting up from your desk to stretch, a 10-minute walk outside, or even taking a nap to improve your productivity. Setting priorities allows us to realistically see that we do have control over our schedules, especially when stress makes us feel the complete opposite.

Writing. Carve out 30 minutes of time each day to work on your writing. Set a timer, close your web browsers, and unplug from social media. You’ll find that you’re eventually making progress on that larger writing project. For more support, remember that you can schedule an appointment with a writing tutor at your UW campus. You also have the option of reaching out to a peer or two in your department — or from outside of your program — to hold one another accountable for writing by organizing group writing sessions. If you’re considering something more structured beyond this quarter, here are some tips for organizing a thesis or dissertation writing group.

Connect with your support network. It can be a struggle to stay motivated these last few weeks of the quarter and complete what needs to get done. But as Andrea Zellner from GradHacker states, “Don’t underestimate the power of your cheering section. Maybe all you need to get moving is a pep talk.” Call, Skype, or meet up with a close friend or family member, so they can root you on! Attend a community gathering with like-minded peers, such as the upcoming Holiday Gathering for First-Gen Graduate Students in Seattle, or the Holiday Wine, Beer & Spirits Walk in Bothell, or organize a low-key, small potluck with peers to celebrate one another. If you’re needing mental health support — and there is no shame in this at all — reach out to your campus counseling center for an appointment or for community resource referrals.

Check in with advisors and mentors. Maybe you’re in a 9-month graduate program, about to complete the first quarter of your Master’s degree, or heading into the final months of your doctoral program. Maybe you and your advisor or mentor haven’t checked in with each other in a while (because life happens). Whether you are thinking through your goals for winter quarter or needing guidance on your research or next steps in your graduate program, it might be a good idea to schedule a time to meet with your advisor(s). Check in with them via email to see about scheduling a time to meet during early winter quarter. Just scheduling the meeting can give you piece of mind.

We hope you find these tips useful in helping you push through — and thrive — at the end of the quarter!

Best,

Core Programs Team
#UWGradSuccess

Control the email, don’t let it control you

I get a LOT of email (including this one, no offense), and I can’t keep up. How do I get off all of these email lists? Shouldn’t there be one place I can change my preferences? —Anonymous

This question was originally published in December 2015. The answer has been updated to reflect the University’s new email management system. 

Hi there,

I get it. We’re all swamped with emails. No offense taken.

Unfortunately, just due to the sheer size of this university and the autonomy of various units, there is no one definitive, central place to management your subscriptions. However, if you focus on a few key sources, you should be able to drastically reduce your inbox.

  1. You can manage many of your subscriptions through the Subscription Preference Center. Fill out the form with your email address, then you will receive an email with a link to your personal subscription preference center. In the subscription preference center, click on “Manage all UW Preferences” at the top of the page, then scroll through the units. Expand the options for unit-specific emails by clicking the “+” to the left of the unit name. Deselect an email to unsubscribe. This will allow you to manage communications sent through a particular software (Marketo).
  2.  Some units may use another software other than Marketo, such as MailChimp. You will have to manage subscriptions for those outlets separately. There should always be options to unsubscribe for the email at the bottom.
  3. Some emails may be coming from the Registar’s office, or Financial Aid, etc. You will not be able to get off of these lists.
  4. Some emails may be coming directly from your department or a professor. You’ll need to consult with the relevant unit.
  5. If you can’t get out at the source, take advantage of your email software: set rules and filters.

You should have control of how much communication you receive, of course, but I want to advise you to unsubscribe thoughtfully. There have been instances where students opted out of all emails from a unit and then were frustrated they were not getting some of the notices regarding funding opportunities, events, etc.

Ask the Grad School Guide is an advice column for all y’all graduate and professional students. Real questions from real students, answered by real people. If the guide doesn’t know the answer, the guide will seek out experts all across campus to address the issue. (Please note: The guide is not a medical doctor, therapist, lawyer or academic advisor, and all advice offered here is for informational purposes only.) Submit a question for the column →

Published November 30, 2017

Managing stress – a lifelong pursuit!

No question about it, being a postdoc is stressful. Academic life is stressful. Your future is uncertain, you are under pressure to produce, you may have family and life circumstances that add to the joy – and the stress – of your experience. Given the data on mental health among graduate students and postdocs, we at the Graduate School encourage open dialogue about how things are going. Check in with each other. And seek help and support when you need it.

Three practices have been shown to make a difference for resilience and well-being:

  1. Self-care. Sometimes things get so out of whack you have to remind yourself of the basics: enough sleep, healthy food, exercise. All of these things help you think better and perform better. We know there are times you have to push through, but this is a marathon and you have to sustain yourself for the long haul. Find the daily or weekly practice that keeps you on solid ground.
  2. Connecting with support networks. Seek out people you can be real with. These may be peers, part of your mentoring team, or friends or family from back home. You need a place to speak openly and honestly about how you are doing, a place where you can just be heard. Sometimes online communities can be strong points of connection too. When you find others that feel like you do, it helps you feel less alone and gain more perspective.
  3. Remembering your purpose. Why are you here? This could be the bigger picture reason you are here – is it love of science? Passion for problem-solving? A desire to make a contribution in the world? Keeping your driving purpose and passion closer to the front of your mind can help you regain focus and motivation when the details or deadlines are rushing in.

One study of postdocs at UT Austin showed that the difference between those who are flourishing and those who are languishing is more positive emotions. It makes sense, right? Positive emotions don’t just happen by themselves – you have to fuel them. Keep things in your life that bring you joy or passion. Check in about things you are grateful for, even – or especially – when times are dark and hard. It all helps keep your positive fire going!

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or thoughts of self-harm, please visit Samaritans or MentalHealth.gov. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free, confidential 24-7 service that can provide people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, or those around them, with support, information and local resources. 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

 

 

References: 

Advice on an advisor

I am a second-year doctoral student, and have not been able to build a positive relationship with my advisor. My emails go unanswered and our meetings are infrequent, short, and brisk. I feel that this person is unhelpful and even detrimental to my progress. I have tried communicating my discomfort with this relationship to my advisor, yet nothing has changed. I am wondering, how do I know when it’s time to find a new advisor? And, if I decide to break up with my advisor, how can I do so amicably? – Sincerely, Unsupported   

This answer has been published after consultation with the Office of the Ombud. 

Hi Unsupported,

I’m so sorry you’ve been struggling with this. Having a strong advising relationship can play an important role in your success in grad school, so I hope you can find an advising situation that meets your needs.

For anyone starting off in an advising relationship or struggling to develop a constructive relationship with their advisor, I strongly recommend the Graduate School’s resources on “Managing Up.” Managing Up, in the context of an advising relationship, refers to actively and thoughtfully defining and shaping your relationship with your advisor. It may involve reflecting on your goals for the relationship, setting clear expectations about what you are looking for in the relationship, and setting the tone and agenda for your meetings with said person.

That being said, if you’ve already tried to address some of your concerns about feeling unsupported to your advisor and haven’t had any results, it may be time to seek a third-party intervention. The Office of the Ombud is a great place for you to explain your situation in full detail, and create a plan for how to proceed. This plan may or may not involve breaking up with your advisor. The Ombud service is confidential, so approaching this service will allow you discuss your situation in full detail, and to share the information with someone who has institutional knowledge and experience helping people navigate challenging situations.

No matter what happens with your current advisor, I strongly encourage you to start cultivating additional supports now. At the Graduate School, we advocate for students to develop “mentoring teams:” a network of support that may include advisors, PIs, professors from inside or outside your department, and more. A mentoring team can help you in personal, academic and professional goals, and can compensate for some of the deficiencies in your advising relationship.

Best of luck,

The Grad School Guide

Working with mentors to support your career goals!

We all have different mentors in our life. These people have our best interest in mind and are able to guide and support our professional and personal development. In your personal life, look for advisors who are compassionate, enthusiastic, generous, honest, insightful, selfless and wise. In your professional life, it is imperative to find mentors who are collaborative, intellectual, knowledgeable, accessible, and visionary. In both, it is important to have mentors who will challenge and support you in doing your best work and being your best self. For additional desirable mentor traits, see Cho et al. (2011) in which mentor nomination letters were analyzed for traits among those who supported the careers of junior faculty. And remember, look for multiple mentors — a single person cannot provide all of the support and encouragement you need! See Graduate School Mentor Memos on Building Your Mentoring Team and What a Good Mentor Does.

Once you identify your champions, build a thoughtful relationship to ensure that it is productive and continues to prioritize your long-term goals. In Mapping a Mentoring Roadmap and Developing a Supportive Network for Strategic Career Advancement, Montgomery (2017) outlines the steps necessary to support a productive mentor-mentee relationship. In addition, in Making the most of mentors: A guide for mentees, Zerzan et al. (2009) provide a very clear checklist to consider as you identify mentors and build your relationships. Briefly:

  1. Self Reflection: Before setting up a meeting with your mentor, figure out what you need in a mentor. What unique skills and experiences do they have that will benefit your career or personal goals? Do you need a team of mentors (hint: the answer is yes!)?
  2. Getting Started: Set an agenda with your interests in mind. How often should you formally meet? Be sure to set goals and follow-up with an emailed list of action items so that expectations are clear to both you an your mentor. For additional tips, see Managing Up.
  3. Maintenance: Be sure to sustain regular contact with your mentor. If you’ve agreed to future milestones, be sure to meet them or discuss more realistic goals if necessary.
  4. Moving Ahead: Your life will evolve. At some point, you will be less reliant on your current mentors and will need to identify more relevant advisors. Be open with you mentor, re-evaluate your relationship, and gracefully transition to your next phase. However, be sure to maintain a positive relationship, as your mentor already invested a great deal of effort in you. They will want to see you continue to be successful and you may find yourself relying on them in the future.

Above all else, keep all lines of communication open. You may have a great plan for your personal and professional development. However, if you and your mentor don’t communicate, then you won’t be working towards the same finish line.

 

References:

  • Cho, C. S. (2011). Defining the ideal qualities of mentorship: A qualitative analysis of the characteristics of outstanding mentors. The American Journal of Medicine, 124 (5), 453–458.
  • Montgomery, B. L. (2017). Mapping a mentoring roadmap and developing a supportive network for strategic career advancement. SAGE Open. 1–13.
  • Zerzan, J. T. (2009). Making the most of mentors: a guide for mentees. Academic Medicine, 84 (1), 140–144.

Meet the Winners of the Grad School’s Distinguished Thesis Award

Matthew Coates, Kate O'Neill. Jan WittenbecherThe Graduate School recognizes exceptional scholarship and research at the master’s and doctoral levels. These awards recognize a thesis and a dissertation in four categories: Biological Sciences, Humanities & Fine Arts, Mathematics, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and the Social Sciences. Meet the winners of this year’s Distinguished Thesis Award (awarded in three of the four categories).

[expand title = “Biological Sciences: Matthew Coates, master’s in public health in Global Health Metrics and Evaluation ’17, Department of Global Health”]

Matthew Coates, Biological Sciences

Thesis: Quantifying Selection Bias from Birth History Estimates of Child Mortality

Please summarize your thesis in lay-person’s terms: We underestimate how many children die in countries without good health data because we can’t ask deceased mothers if their children have died.

Post-thesis life: research associate, Harvard Medical School

What sparked your interest in this topic?

I was working at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at UW on estimating mortality rates around the world. A newer colleague asked me a question about a gap in the way child mortality rates are estimated, so I started looking into different approaches that the field had used to determine whether or not the data gap led to consequential differences in results.

You earned your master’s degree in Summer 2016. What are you working on now?

I earned my Master’s degree in August 2016. I started working as a Research Associate with the Program in Global Noncommunicable Disease and Social Change (PGNDSC) at Harvard Medical School in the fall of 2016. The PGNDSC houses the Secretariat for the Lancet Commission on Reframing Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries for the Poorest Billion (Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission, http://www.ncdipoverty.org/). I support the Commission’s efforts by doing quantitative research relating to the burden of disease and intervention strategies for the poorest groups in low- and middle-income countries.

What do you see as the potential public impact of your research?

Child mortality is a key measure used to track progress in global health and development. Many methods used to estimate child mortality depend on mothers answering surveys about their children. Estimates are likely too low in populations with a high proportion of children who are orphans and in which the gap in survival between orphans and non-orphans is large because their mothers cannot be surveyed. Others have done work to account for this limitation in data and methods in populations affected by the HIV epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa, and my thesis work tries to account for this limitation in the data by using another source of survival information (sibling questionnaires) from the same surveys. More research could be done to validate the approach I took. My hope would be that more can be done to assess the degree to which this challenge in estimating child mortality impacts estimates in other populations that could be affected (for example, in post-conflict settings).[/expand]

[expand title = “Social Sciences: Kate O’Neill, PhD student, Sociology”]

Kate O'Neill, Social Sciences

Thesis: “The Adolescent Empathy Paradox and Juvenile Offending: Why Sex Differences in Empathic Ability Can Explain the Gender Gap in Juvenile Offending Behavior”

Thesis, loled: Being a teenager is the worst and boys adapt by being jerks.

Post-thesis life: PhD student, Sociology 

How did you become interested in this topic?

Prior to graduate school I spent several years teaching an anger management class to men convicted of domestic violence and working with recently released violent and serious offenders. We did a lot of work on empathy building, but when I went to the literature to find out why I was surprised by how little there actually is on the topic. Furthermore, almost none of the literature I encountered discussed gender differences in empathy and offending in tandem. I saw an opportunity to fill a gap in existing literature and was lucky enough to have the data to do so.

What do you see as the potential public impact of your research?

In addition to further supporting empathy-enhancement rehabilitation programs (like anger management), I hope this research illustrates the danger of reifying gender roles. Specifically, when we reinforce the association between femininity and empathy we are blocking boys from accessing an emotional management and/or communication tool that deters crime.

What’s next for you? Are you building on the same research for your dissertation, or moving in a different direction?

For my PhD, I hope to explore how sex-segregated peer groups in adolescence predict crime across the life course. In layman’s terms, I want to know if having opposite sex friends when you’re a kid helps transmit norms and values that deter crime more so than exclusively having friends of the same sex. From my perspective, this is an extension of my MA work as I ultimately want to speak to gender differences in emotional development and their consequences for offending trajectories across people’s lives.

[/expand]

[expand title = “Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering: Jan Wittenbecher, master’s in mechanical engineering, ’17, Department of Mechanical Engineering/MSME “]

Jan Wittenbecher

Thesis: Contributions to the Analysis and Design of Mechanical Systems for a Series Hybrid Chevrolet Camaro

Thesis, loled: Hybrid muscle cars would be great if anybody bought such a thing.

Post-thesis life: Emissions certification engineer, General Motors

What sparked your interest in this topic?

The desire to win the EcoCAR 3 competition – an automotive engineering competition sponsored by the Department of Energy and General Motors – and to prove the feasibility of a hybrid muscle car.

Describe the process of the EcoCAR 3 competition.

I was part of a UW team with more than 50 members, competing against 15 other schools. The goal of the four-year competition (2014-2018) is to convert a 2016 Camaro into a series hybrid and add other innovative technologies. This required removing the entire original powertrain (engine, transmission, etc.) and replacing it with a team developed architecture: a very challenging effort for a team of students doing this in their spare time. We had to develop our own mechanical, electrical and software components, source additional ones from suppliers and integrate everything to a working system.

How did your experience writing a thesis impact your career and your position now at GM?

EcoCAR was basically the platform for my thesis work. I wrote about the deep dive I did in three specific areas of mechanical design and analysis for the car (suspension design, engine efficiency analysis and gearbox component design). Writing this thesis had a great impact on my career in two different ways: I learned a lot about automotive technology and regulations which helps me at my job with GM as an emissions certification engineer. It also gave me a lot of exposure to the team’s GM mentor which ultimately lead to me getting a job offer from GM.

[/expand]

Engaging in Effective Conversations When the Stakes Are High

When you have important issues to discuss with faculty or colleagues, do you choose email? Text? Phone? Or do you schedule an in-person meeting?

It depends, right? How safe do you feel? How much detail needs to be conveyed and confirmed? Is it a small clarification or a bigger conceptual issue? Is there likely to be disagreement? As a society, we are having fewer and fewer in-person conversations and perhaps over-relying on electronics, opening ourselves up to further conflicts or misunderstandings, and perhaps missing an opportunity to practice professional dialogue.

As graduate students, you know that much of your success in your program is dependent upon the relationships that you build, and we appreciate that much can be at stake.
Generally speaking, in-person communication is key where you want to improve communication or build an ongoing relationship. Where there is a power dynamic, as there may be with your advisor, it can often feel intimidating or uncertain to engage in conversation, so we asked the UW Ombud Office for a few ideas to help get you started:

Tip 1.  Prior to the conversation, focus on your goals. Figure out what it is that you’d like to see happen. I encourage broad goals for many conversations. A goal as narrow as, “Convince my advisor to allow me to take my research in a specific direction” may not be as useful as, “Discuss a potential area of interest with my advisor, and determine opportunities for me to pursue that interest in the near term.”

Tip 2.  While in conversation, be mindful of unproductive behaviors from you or the other person. These can include passive behaviors like withdrawing from the conversation, masking your opinions or ideas, or avoiding sensitive subjects. These behaviors can also look more confrontational like controlling the conversation, labeling the other person, or verbally attacking them. If you or the other person is engaging in these behaviors, it’s time to pause and consider ways to move forward. Once you have identified the behavior, you have two basic choices: attempt to redirect the conversation in a more productive manner, or end the conversation and return to it at a future time (and see our past blogpost on preparing for conflicts).

Tip 3.  If you decide to stay in the conversation, S.A.I.L. – Share that you are looking for a mutual goal, Ask them to share their goals, Invent a mutual goal, and Look for new strategies to achieve your goals. A mutual goal can also be broad, sometimes even as broad as “finish the research project”—and even that can be enough to get a conversation back on track.

Deciding to have an in-person conversation can sometimes be the hardest step, even harder than the conversation itself. The Ombud Office can be a confidential resource for making that decision, working through your preparation for a conversation, and to help you be successful in conversations to improve your relationships, communication, and long-term success – both in graduate school and beyond.

Exploration and Action: Keys to identifying your next steps

We often talk with postdocs about steps you can take to plan for your future. Before jumping into goal setting, investing time in assessment, reflection, and exploration can help assure your goals are aiming you in the right direction. We have promoted a few self-assessment tools in the past (myIDP). A new tool from the Graduate Career Consortium (ImaginePhD) has enhanced capabilities and expanded “job families” that help you match your skills, values, and interests with a wider set of options.

Take time to invest in your future: Roughly five to 25 percent of your time (one to 10 hours) should be focused on your future. Whether you spend that time in self-assessment, sector exploration, informational interviews, grant writing, writing YOUR publications, or on your independent research, it is critical to your future success that you take a few hours each week to build and plan your career. This goes for brand new postdocs as well as those of you in your fifth year — it is never too late or too early to start.

Assess where you are: Set short term (three-month) and long term (three-year) goals. The new ImaginePhD website has a very helpful planning tool called “My Plan”. They have listed numerous potential goals for career, skills, funding, and personal development directions. You can drag and drop to give yourself actions to take each week,  month or year. It can be modified and updated. The best goals are SMART: specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and time-sensitive. This means you have to revisit them regularly — ideally with a conversation partner, who can be a peer, your faculty advisor or a member of your mentoring team.

Make a plan: The tools mentioned above can help you take stock of where you are now, and this includes not only your skill sets and experiences, but also the nature of the work you enjoy and work environments where you find yourself thriving. Choose one or all of the tools to help you think about where you are — it can change from day to day — and then use this feedback to help you make an informed plan. You should consider additional skills or experiences you should gain during your postdoc and which sectors or kinds of roles you should be exploring for your next career phase.

While designed for people from humanities and social science backgrounds, the improved interface, expanded options, and tailored planning that is available through ImaginePhD makes it worthwhile for postdocs from all disciplines. Give it a try and then give us feedback. Let us know if it is working for you.