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Thinking about your own path and preparation

In a typical year, our summer schedules often allow us some space to step back, reflect, and focus on our own professional development. We hope that as we continue to respond to and slowly recover from the current pandemic, you will find a little time to focus on yourself as you prepare for the future. While these are admittedly uncertain times, it’s clear that now more than ever, the world needs well-educated, reasoned and experienced thinkers and innovators to help guide us through the recovery and into the future – this sounds like a description of UW postdocs!

In the past, we’ve shared advice on pursuing your passion projects, identifying your unique skills, and crafting documents for a successful job application. Here, we’d like to share two exceptional resources which allow you to both explore and enhance your skills and professional development: LinkedIn Learning and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Intramural Training & Education (OITE).

LinkedIn Learning: The UW Career and Internship Center has purchased a license for full access to LinkedIn Learning. LinkedIn Learning is a collection of online videos to help you enhance and develop skills. Importantly, everyone with a UW NetID can access the resources. Spend some time exploring the site to get advice for your next career step, including:

NIH OITE: The NIH OITE has responded to COVID-19 by making much of their internal professional development activities open to the public. While some admittedly have a scientific focus, many workshops on wellness and career and professional development are broadly applicable to the academic community (and beyond). Feel free to register (for free) for one of their upcoming workshops. We were particularly impressed with the following seminars:

As a postdoc, it is imperative that you carve out some time to focus on YOU: assess what skills you have already developed and focus on how best to promote them. Equally as important, take the time to determine which skills and experiences you still need to develop as you prepare for your next career step. We encourage you to explore both LinkedIn Learning and the NIH OITE resources in your own time. And as always, we, the UW Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA), continue to be available for consultation and support as you navigate these difficult times.

New Title IX Regulations effective August 14, 2020

Title IX, Title VII, VAWA, Washington state law, and University of Washington policy collectively prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, pregnant or parenting status, and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) identity.

Anyone may contact the Office of the Title IX Coordinator about sex and gender discrimination, including sexual or gender-based harassment, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, stalking, and other forms of sexual misconduct. Anyone who has experienced these behaviors has the right to make a complaint to the University, report to the police, to both, or not at all.

Please see the Title IX website to learn more about how to report or make a formal complaint of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, or other sexual misconduct. You will also find information about supportive measures and the grievance procedures that are utilized for complaints of sexual harassment and other sexual misconduct. Students and employees have access to support measures and resources, whether or not they choose to make a complaint.

Career Advice During COVID-19

As we continue to adjust to Stay Home, Stay Healthy orders for Washington state, the realities of a changed work environment and altered research expectations have clearly hit home. Unfortunately, the financial impact of Stay Home, Stay Healthy won’t be fully realized for a number of months, if not years. More importantly, it will be quite awhile before we return to an environment even remotely resembling our pre-COVID memories.

Also, the COVID-19-related impact on future job prospects is unclear. Recruitment for many positions, both inside and outside of academia, has been put on hold, at least temporarily. In fact, what constitutes a ‘workplace’ (offices, shared spaces, flexible work-from-home policies, etc.), will likely be different in the coming months and years. However, while it’s not comforting at the moment, please trust that not far into the future, the draw for highly trained professionals and researchers will return. Your experience as a UW graduate student will prepare you for these jobs, and you need to make sure that when the time comes, you are ready to be successful.

We encourage you to acknowledge the uncertainty and stress associated with the current situation. However, if you are able, temporarily put these uncomfortable feelings aside and consider the following steps to plan for your professional development this summer.

Reflect. Take a moment to assess where you are and where you want to go in your career trajectory. Review and update your Individualized Development Plan (IDP) — or create one if you don’t already have one (see Imagine PhD, myIDP, and Core Programs’ framing questions). Assess your current skill set and determine how you’re going to fill any gaps as your prepare for your next career stage. Once you’ve updated your IDP, be sure to have a discussion with your mentor team to get support, guidance, and advice.

Prepare. Whether you expect to pursue a non-academic or academic career, you’ll need to prepare a resume or CV (or to turn your CV into a resume). In addition, you may be asked for additional application materials (e.g. a cover letter, portfolio, teaching & research statements, etc. depending on your field). Take the time now to create or revise these materials so you’re ready to simply tailor them for specific job opportunities in the future.

Network. Reach out to your mentors (in and outside of the university), peers, and alumni from your grad department to learn about various career options. Allocate some time to update your LinkedIn profile and then connect with individuals at different companies and employment sectors. Remember, all it takes is one shared experience to be virtually connected (e.g. you both know the same individual in your networks, attended the same graduate institution, have a shared interest in a topic area, etc.). Once virtually connected, start a conversation (an informational interview) to learn more about their career path and their current job. This expanded network will be extremely helpful when you formally enter the job market.

Focus on your development. It’s important to be mindful that professional development is a lifelong practice that involves strategic, intentional planning on your part. Below are some additional resources to support you in your journey.

We understand that now is an unprecedented and difficult time. But if you do have the bandwidth (emotionally and mentally), we encourage you to make time in your weekly schedule to focus on your career development. Start out with dedicating 15 min. per day and add more time when it works for you. Invest in your future now, and your future self will thank you.

Best,

Core Programs—Office of Graduate Student Affairs
UW Graduate School
 

Strategies to take your research to market impact

In May 2020, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and UW CoMotion co-hosted a virtual professional development event focused on helping postdocs explore ways to commercialize your research products (check out the full recording). Four scientists in various entrepreneurial stages shared their insights on how to effectively take their research from discovery to market. 

Briefly, there are four major paths of research distribution: license innovation to an existing company or a new start-up, building an internal business at UW, and open distribution. Prior to making any decisions, consider the implications of each path, including risk, personal commitment, types of financial return, degree of control, and your ability to achieve success and independence. UW CoMotion provides guidance on innovation training, IP advising, protection & licensing, start-ups & incubator, funding & partnerships. You can always schedule an appointment to discuss which path works best for you.
Here, we summarize three strategies to assist you as you consider commercializing your research efforts.

Assess your interest and values. Are you interested in teamwork, creating a business model, or understanding the market demand of a certain product? Do you value the market impact of your research product and have a desire to start a business? Starting a company involves more than one person – you will need to collaborate and share similar values and goals with your partner (or partners). The ultimate goal of commercialization is to turn your research into a product with market value and make a difference! Spend time discussing common values, goals, and expectations. Remember, there’s no single path to success. Your goal is to create a product that has an impact – commit to a plan, but be willing to modify your path as you move through different stages of product and company development. Check out the 10 simple rules to commercialize scientific research.

Identify your support network. At the OPA, we strongly encourage you to build a mentoring team, regardless of your career aspirations. You need a support network of people who can assist you in different ways. This is particularly important on the pathway to commercialization, as you will end up needing to learn from experts in the business, legal, and industrial sectors. If your mentors are all from your academic life, you might consider branching out. Both Life Science Washington and UW CoMotion offer mentoring programs.

Time management and planning. Starting a business will feel daunting, and you will find yourself juggling among many unfamiliar responsibilities. Time management and planning are critical to making sure you are on track. There are time-sensitive steps (e.g., finding co-founders) that you need to accomplish as early as possible. You will likely need to acquaint yourself with new knowledge outside of your specific area of expertise, and you’ll need to build a collaborative team to accomplish your goals. These all demand your time and effort, which will feel increasingly constrained as you move your product and ideas from the bench to business. Check out tips on time management for start-up founders.

Last but not least, engaging in the entrepreneurial process has many benefits to your career development. For example, you will learn how to do translational research, tell a story about your research, and communicate to a diverse audience. You will also have the opportunity to expand your network as you explore the potential market impact of your research. It’s an exciting opportunity to fully apply all of the skills you developed during your graduate and postdoctoral research. 

Career advice during COVID-19

As we anxiously await the termination of our current Stay Home, Stay Healthy order, the realities of a changed work environment and altered research expectations have clearly hit home. In recent weeks, we’ve heard of the dire predictions of budget shortfalls – within the School of Medicine, across the UW campus, and within our community. Unfortunately, the financial impact of our Stay Home, Stay Healthy won’t be fully realized for a number of months, if not years. More importantly, it will be quite a while before we return to an environment even remotely resembling our pre-COVID memories, especially as it relates to our research setting and UW in general.

Just as the full budget implications are currently unknown, the COVID-19-related impact upon future job prospects is also unclear. Recruitment for many positions, both inside and outside of academia, has been put on hold, at least temporarily. In fact, even what a ‘workplace’ constitutes (offices, shared spaces, flexible work-from-home policies, etc.), will likely be different in the coming months and years. However, while it’s not comforting at the moment, please trust that not far into the future, the draw for highly trained scientists and researchers will return. Your experience as a UW postdoctoral fellow will prepare you for these jobs. You need to make sure that when the time comes, you are ready to be successful.
We encourage you to acknowledge the uncertainty and stress associated with the current situation. However, if you’re able, temporarily place your negative feelings aside and consider the following steps in planning for your future.

  • Reflect: Take a moment to assess where you are and where you want to go. Review and update your Individualized Development Plan (IDP) – or create one if you don’t already have one (see myIDP, ImaginePhD, and OPA’s framing questions). Assess your current skill set and determine how you’re going to fill any gaps as you prepare for your next career stage. Once you’ve updated your IDP, be sure to have a discussion with your mentor team to get support, guidance, and advice.
  • Prepare: Whether you expect to pursue a non-academic or academic career, you’ll need to prepare a resume or curriculum vitae. In addition, you may be asked for additional application materials (e.g., a cover letter, writing samples, teaching & research statements, etc.). Take the time now to create or update these documents and ask your peers and mentors for constructive feedback. Also, consider polishing your supporting materials so you’re ready to simply tailor them for specific job opportunities in the future.
  • Network: Reach out to your mentors and peers to learn about different career options. Allocate some time to update your LinkedIn profile, and then connect with peers at different companies and employment sectors. Remember, all it takes is a shared experience to be virtually connected (e.g., connected to a common person, attended the same graduate institution, have a shared interest in a topic area, etc.) – then it’s up to you to make the first request to connect. Once virtually connected, start a conversation to learn more about their career path and their current job (e.g., an informational interview). This expanded network will be extremely helpful when you formally enter the job market.
  • Focus on your development: In addition to resources listed on the UW Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, many of our peers have made their career and professional development resources available to the broader postdoc community. We will be highlighting some of these in the coming months. In the meantime, feel free to explore:

We understand that now is an unprecedented and difficult time. But, if you do have the bandwidth (both emotionally and mentally), we encourage you to spend some time preparing for a prospective job opportunity. Invest in your future now, and your future self will thank you!

GO-MAP and interdisciplinary students named to the Husky 100

Mollie McDonnell
Erin Lee

A big congratulations to Erin Lee and Mollie McDonnell, two students within the Graduate School’s programs who were named to the Husky 100 for 2020. They were two of 100 students honored across UW’s three campuses this year for their work building inclusive communities. Erin is a Graduate Staff Assistant for GO-MAP,* a Graduate School office that supports students of underrepresented backgrounds through their graduate education. Erin is also earning a Master of Public Health, where she works to eliminate racial disparities in health care, especially for women of color. Mollie is a doctoral student in Molecular and Cellular Biology, one of the Graduate School’s Interdisciplinary Programs. Mollie has been an advocate for inclusivity at Fred Hutch, working as a supportive mentor for young scientists. We’re so proud of the dedication and care Erin and Mollie bring to higher education and their communities!

*GO-MAP was the name of a program that is now called GSEE, the Office of Graduate Student Equity & Excellence. Learn more.

In Memory of Dr. Gabriel Gallardo

Dr. Gabriel Gallardo, associate vice president for student success of the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity (OMA&D), has passed away. Dr. Gallardo was also a staunch supporter of GO-MAP, and everyone at the Graduate School mourns this loss. Read more >

Lecture library

Video Lectures

Morris Dees: Responding to Hate: Voices of Hope and Tolerance

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After witnessing firsthand the painful consequences of
prejudice and racial injustice, Morris Dees co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in 1971 — a nonprofit organization specializing in lawsuits involving civil rights violations and racially motivated crimes. In this talk,
Dees discusses his book, “Gathering Storm: America’s Militia Threat,” and offers strategies to combat domestic terrorism. This lecture was originally presented on January 23, 2001.

Vandana Shiva: Ahimsa: Beyond Violent Traditions of Science and Technology

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Vandana Shiva advocates an approach that is based on the principle of ahimsa – meaning non-violence or harmlessness, drawing on the ethics of ecological and feminist thought that promotes diversity and pluralism in knowledge, action, nature and culture. Shiva is a world-renowned environmental thinker and activist. In 1991, she founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect diversity and integrity of living resources. Navdanya sets up community seed banks, supports conversion to organic agriculture, and is establishing direct producer-consumer links for food security and safety. This lecture was originally presented on April 17, 2001.

Audio Lectures

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Julie Lythcott-Haims is the author of the New York Times best-selling book How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success (2015) and Real American: A Memoir (2017). She is deeply interested in what prevents people from living meaningful, fulfilling lives.

Click here for lecture transcriptDownload

News correspondent and journalist Maria Hinojosa has spent decades reporting on immigration and the treatment of immigrants – both documented and undocumented – by law enforcement organizations. In this lecture, she will give powerful witness to the routine denial of due process to immigrants and its effect on our broader society. This lecture was originally presented on November 1, 2017.

Click here for lecture transcriptDownload

Data can be a powerful tool for fighting systemic racism and police violence. In this lecture, Sam Sinyangwe will present strategies for using data to support organizing campaigns focused on equity and justice in the United States.

Click here for lecture transcriptDownload

Many look to “the school” as the great equalizer, a meritocracy where equal opportunity is realized. For communities of color, this is often far from the truth. Throughout history, each time communities of color have made progress toward equal educational opportunity, a major societal pushback has caused the loss of gains that appeared won. In this talk, Joy Williamson-Lott looks to history to show how we can work toward real progress. This lecture was originally presented on February 15, 2017.

Take care of yourself during stressful times

Even in the best of times, completing your postdoc fellowship can be stressful. And, we can all agree that with the uncertainty around COVID-19, our collective stress level has increased. Beyond the normal worries (e.g., will my experiments work, will I be scooped, will I find a job after my postdoc, etc.), we are now concerned about how changes to campus operations may impact our research progress. Further, we are uncertain of the consequences that coronavirus may have on us at a personal level, as well as our family and loved ones. Simply put, these can make us feel more mentally stressed.

The growing mental health concerns in the graduate student population have received increasing attention in the past few years (see Nature, 2019, PhDs: the tortuous truth; Nature Biotechnology, 2018, Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education; and CBE-Life Sciences Education, 2019, Burnout and Mental Health Problems in Biomedical Doctoral Students, among others). And, just because you’re no longer a graduate student, it doesn’t mean that all of the mental health concerns go away once you transition to your postdoc position (see Science, 2014, The stressed-out postdoc). 

It’s important to remember that it’s normal not to feel 100% all the time. However, when the burdens of anxiety, depression, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and harassment become overwhelming, it’s OK to seek help. 
UW recently re-designed our Health & Well-being website to provide a one-stop-shop for all relevant resources you might find helpful for your needs. For example, consult with the Counseling Center and they will provide you with referrals if you require long-term counseling. There are also resources to support your well-being and safety on campus. If you want to discuss events in your life or research group, reach out to the Office of the Ombud. When in doubt, simply contact the SafeCampus 24/7 helpline (206- 685-SAFE), and trained professionals are ready to support you. 

There are also a number of online resources and support groups that you can explore to find the community that best suits your needs.

We all are responsible for supporting each other. We encourage all of you to be open about how common it is to experience issues related to mental health and to normalize and destigmatize the seeking of mental health care. Let’s support each other as you consider different career paths. Try reaching out to people who you think might be struggling and share some wellness tips with them, such as getting more sleep, doing exercise, cultivating a sense of purpose, and finding one’s community. For more tips, please read The Conversation (Meghan Duffy, 2018). With the support of the UW community, we will get through these trying times. 

Pursuing passion projects: One way to make the most out of postdoc training

In the December 2019 newsletter, we shared why and how we can pursue our passions. Here, we introduce one way of pursing your passion without burning you out – through passion projects.

Passion projects refer to projects that you pursue, typically in your spare time, to enrich your life. There are many reasons to start a passion project during postdoctoral training. You can utilize passion projects to learn or enhance certain skills (see 7 essential skills that recruiters are looking for in PhDs), apply your strengths and/or talents (for example, your current research project might not require you to dance, but you are a great dancer), or to establish new skills and experiences as you set out on a new or different career path (see story about Postdoc Brewing Company). Ultimately, passion projects help to keep you motivated. If you didn’t have an opportunity to pursue passion projects while in graduate school, now it’s a great time to start. Here is some advice as you explore your passion.

  • Passion projects need to be time-bound.

Research projects tend to take a long time. As postdocs, you shouldn’t take on a passion project as a second job. Once you identify something you’re interested in, these short-term projects need to be much less time demanding, with a defined start and end date. Besides, you will experience gratification by accomplishing your goal sooner. For example, if you are interested in strengthening your Python coding skills, enrolling in an online course or following a YouTube channel with a structured course can be time-bound options.

  • Passion projects encourage collaboration with people outside your area of expertise.

It’s easy to spend all your time with your lab mates during work hours and your family or friends during spare time. Try starting a passion project with people outside of your normal circle, such as colleagues from a different lab or outside of academia entirely. Consider meeting some fellow postdocs from your postdoc association (reach out to UW Postdoc Association) – this is a wonderfully supportive community, and you have more in common than you think!

  • Passion projects expand your network.

Networking is very important in the job search process. In support of your long term success, it is helpful to start networking early. Passion projects provide opportunities for you to connect with people outside of your normal network. Stay in touch with the people you meet in the process, and reach out for an informational interview if you are interested in learning more about their different career paths and life decisions. Finally, pursue your passion projects intentionally to help you transition throughout your career. Passion projects may not be related to your current research interests, but you are sure to learn something new. Importantly, keep a record of challenges you faced and the solutions that supported your success. You will find countless opportunities to apply these skills and lived-experiences later in your career and life. Dr. Dan Moseson, a member of Graduate Career Consortium, shared his insights about pursuing passion projects on Inside Higher Ed. This might inspire you to initiate or collaborate on a passion project soon, “Being an academic made me a better DJ, and being a DJ showed me a fluid, improvisational side of myself that seems to be the source of my best professional work.”


Additional Resources: