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Essential Skills

Up to Succeeding in Graduate School
The skills you need to make the most of your career in science.
Choosing an Advisor / PI / Boss
Mentoring Skills
Communication Skills
Negotiation Skills
Computer Skills
Networking
Grant Writing Skills
Professional Ethics
Management Skills
Teaching
Marketing Yourself
Time Management



The Real Science Crisis: Bleak Prospects for Young Researchers
in NIH Funding Crisis
Chronicle of Higher Education , September 2007. "[F]or many of today's graduate students, the future could not look much bleaker. They see long periods of training, a shortage of academic jobs, and intense competition for research grants looming ahead of them. 'They get a sense that this is a really frustrating career path,' says Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. So although the operating assumption among many academic leaders is that the nation needs more scientists, some of brightest students in the country are demoralized and bypassing scientific careers."
PLoS Computational Biology: Ten Simple Rules for Getting Grants
in Grant Writing Skills
"At the present time, US funding is frequently below 10% for a given grant program. Today, more than ever, we need all the help we can get in writing successful grant proposals. We hope you find these rules useful in reaching your research career goals."
How to write a great research paper
in Communication Skills
Great advice from Simon Peyton Jones at Microsoft Research.
How to Succeed in Graduate School: A Guide for Students and Advisors
in Choosing an Advisor / PI / Boss
by Marie desJardins. "This paper attempts to raise some issues that are important for graduate students to be successful and to get as much out of the process as possible, and for advisors who wish to help their students be successful. The intent is not to provide prescriptive advice -- no formulas for finishing a thesis or twelve-step programs for becoming a better advisor are given -- but to raise awareness on both sides of the advisor-student relationship as to what the expectations are and should be for this relationship, what a graduate student should expect to accomplish, common problems, and where to go if the advisor is not forthcoming."
After the Offer, Before the Deal: Negotiating A First Academic Job
in Negotiating Your Salary And Position
By Chris M. Golde, Academe, January-February 1999. "What is a fair salary? Can I ask for moving expenses? When can faculty members negotiate reductions in their teaching loads? These are the kinds of questions graduate faculty often hear from their students who have just been offered academic jobs. Besides training young scholars as teachers and researchers, we also mentor them in their search for jobs. As a result, we're expected to know the answers to such questions. In this article, I offer suggestions to the just-appointed faculty member who seeks to be a savvy participant in negotiating the terms of a first job."
The Noel Smith-Wenkle Salary Negotiation Method
in Negotiating Your Salary And Position
"Salary negotiation is something at which hiring managers are usually a lot more proficient than the people they hire. In the interest of leveling the playing field, here is a method for salary negotiation that has worked for me and many others."
Negotiating Your First Academic Job Offer
in Negotiating Your Salary And Position
by Margaret L. Newhouse. "Many first-time academic job candidates assume that, once they receive a job offer, their arduous search is over. In fact, no matter how delighted you are with an offer, it is wise to view it as part of the last stage of the process -- the negotiation stage -- even if you ultimately decide not to negotiate anything. This pamphlet offers some general principles and advice on negotiating academic job offers, particularly initial ones."