Life after Ph.D - Lecture Slides, Slides of Career Counseling

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Professor (research university, teaching college)

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Research scientist (national lab, university, industry, small business)

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Expert scientist (consulting, industry, government, NGO)

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Science manager (government agency, private)

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Wall Street, etc.

Professors at research universities: Denise Mauzerall (Princeton), YuhangWang (Georgia Tech), Randall Martin (Dalhousie), Colette Heald (CSU);Lyatt Jaegle (UW), Francois Ravetta (U. Paris), Isabelle Bey (EPFL), MatEvans (Leeds), Dylan Jones (Toronto), Paul Palmer (Edinburgh), RokjinPark (SNU)

Research scientists in national labs: Yves Balkanski (CEA), Larry Horowitz(GFDL), Hongyu Liu (NASA), Qinbin Li (JPL), Arlene Fiore (GFDL); MianChin (NASA), Martin Schultz (KFA), Philip Cameron-Smith (LLNL), CelineMari (CNRS), Nadine Unger (NASA), Solene Turquety (CNES)

Expert scientists: Jinyou Liang (CARB), Amanda Staudt (NWF), NathaliePoisson (ADEME)

Postdocs: Yaping Xiao (UNH), Rynda Hudman (Harvard)

WHERE ARE THE GROUP ALUMS (including postdocs)?

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University career^ 

Incredible independence

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Teaching keeps you in contact with fundamentals

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Broad intellectual community

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Contact with students, joy of mentorship, university environment

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Focus on individual achievement

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Not as difficult as it seems. Most universities are

not

like Harvard (every polar bear his

own ice floe). Most actually provide a supportive and collegial environment, and don’thave unreasonable expectations for faculty.

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National lab^ 

Work with colleagues – be a team player; avoid isolation

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Be part of an enterprise, make big things happen (like a satellite mission)

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Benefit from institutional support for your research

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Conduct science yourself rather than through students/postdocs

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Avoid teaching

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Broadens your expertise: gives you more flexibility for your future research

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Positions you better for seeking employment: your market value increases as your Ph.D. papers get out, you getinvolved in more projects, get to know more people, etc.

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Gives you a breather to think about what you want to do, apply for positions

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Allows you to carry out research with little interference from other duties and at a time in your life whencommitment to research may be relatively easy; your postdoc may produce the best papers of your career[Jacob, JGR 1986, 333 citations; Jacob and Wofsy, JGR 1988, 312 citations] Why NOT do a postdoc? •

You’ve decided against a research career

Excellent job opportunity strikes at the door (but then they will often still

let you do a postdoc) •

Personal issues (relocation, financial needs)

Doing a postdoc is a good idea if you want a research career

WHY DO A POSTDOC?

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1

st

step – decide on the area you want to go into. Ideally

it should broaden significantly your grad schoolexperience while also building on it.

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2

nd

step: identify a few potential advisors you would like

to work with. Nothing is more important than to have aboss that you respect and from whom you want to learn.

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3

rd

step: contact them by e-mail, or talk to them at a

meeting. Tell them you’re very interested in theirresearch and would like to work with them. You don’thave to identify a specific project – you can, but it’s theirjob to suggest. Offer to apply for fellowships – they mayhave fellowships to suggest, or they may tell you itdoesn’t matter.

The above is mostly for academic postdocs. Other postdocs (national lab, agency)may require more anonymous application to postdoc fellowship programs (NRC,ASP, AAAS, etc.). Nevertheless, it’s always important to think about who you wantto work with and contact them.

Don’t just look for advertisements!! Most postdoc jobs are obtainedby networking

People who can recommend you are your ace in the hole – coming out of this group isnot going to hurt you, but having networked during your Ph.D. with outside people whocan say you’re great is a big plus.

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Have some idea of what your future boss is doing and how you may fitin, but the most important thing is to demonstrate expertise in your Ph.D.work and to be able to convey it (having vision, being articulate). Yourprospective boss doesn’t expect you to have expertise in their line of work– but looks for record of achievement, clarity of thinking, vision

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Your interview talk is very important – see “how to give an effectivepresentation”

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‘. You must show (1) vision – demonstrate why what you’re doing isimportant, (2) tutorial skill – know your audience, start at the lowestcommon denominator, (3) rigor and mastery of your work. The mostcommon criticisms I hear from Harvard professors about postdoc/facultyinterview talks are:^ 

“He couldn’t explain why what he was doing was important”

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“I couldn’t understand what she was doing”

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“He had lousy visuals, wasn’t articulate”

…notice how detached this is from the technical content of the talk.

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A common misconception is that you have to gear your talk towards yourhost’s interests so you can impress him – you’re likely just to make a foolof yourself. Play instead to your strengths – your host will be able torecognize these even if they’re not in her area.

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As a research scientist can I get away with having no social skills at all? (I love that question)^ 

Of course not, but the standards are very very low. Look people in the eye, be able to carry out a basicconversation, maintain basic personal hygiene… not much more is expected!

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How do I build vision, develop a sense of future research priorities?^ 

There are plenty of community documents for that: IPCC, WMO, NRC reports, workshop reports…read them.Interview senior scientists, who love to be asked their vision of the future, and you might find somethinguseful in their pontifications.

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Is it detrimental to skip the postdoc and go straight to a faculty position?^ 

It generally is, though if you’re offered a great position you should of course take it (and then ask for adeferral to do a postdoc – that’s a standard thing these days). The risk in going straight to a faculty position isnot having a chance to broaden your horizons – a faculty position hits you with teaching + administrative +proposal duties, it’s hard to find time for reflection and it’s hard to get funded outside of your narrow Ph.D.area of expertise.

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How should I approach a postdoc at the same institution as where I did my Ph.D.?^ 

There are two kinds of such postdocs; the ‘short postdoc’ in which you wrap up loose threads from your Ph.D.for a year or so after graduation, and a longer (more standard) postdoc. The former is just a brief extension ofyour Ph.D. and can be followed either by another postdoc or a research/academic position where youradditional experience gives you some benefit. The latter is not necessarily a bad idea (there is no penalty inprinciple for doing your Ph.D. and postdoc at the same institution) but you should broaden your horizons –don’t keep on doing what you did for your Ph.D.

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How about a postdoc overseas?^ 

This is a great idea if you want a career overseas, but in general not as good if you want a career in the U.S.First problem is you’re ‘out of sight, out of mind’ when time comes to apply for U.S. jobs – institution andrecommenders may not be well known. Second problem is that the weight of the hierarchy is typically greaterabroad than in the U.S. and the push to publish is typically less – in general it’ harder for young people toshine than in the U.S. But these are generalities of course and there are plenty of exceptions.

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Should I do multiple postdocs, and how long should a postdoc be?^ 

In atmospheric chemistry there is in general no need or reason to do more than one postdoc – jobs areplentiful. A second postdoc

may

hurt (‘why can’t that person get a real job?’) unless it involves a

substantial change of research direction or some personal imperative. A good postdoc should be

at least

two years, ideally three, to go over the learning curve and start producing papers. A very long postdoc(5+ years) is not harmful if you stay productive –sometimes on the contrary, and examples at Harvardabound.

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Is it a good idea to take a faculty position at a very good place but where I'll be isolated?^ 

It’s obviously risky. But a very good place generally means good graduate students, good infrastructure,and a good ‘brand name’ with which to apply for research grants. It’s important in that case to gauge thelevel of support you will get from the faculty and the administration – if they recognize that you will beisolated and offer you support ( a good start-up package, opportunities for sabbatical, reasonableexpectations for tenure, etc.) then I would go for it.

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How should I pick recommenders (besides my adviser)?^ 

It’s best to have (1) big names and titles, (2) names from outside your institution. Nothing is moreimportant for a prospective employer than a recommendation letter from someone they know andsomewhat respect. Of course the ‘big name and title’ has to be able to say something significant about you– but if they can’t they will generally tell you (by declining to write a letter), because they know that abland letter is ineffectual and they can’t risk their good name on writing a strong recommendation forsomeone they don’t know well. Having recommenders from outside your institution sends the obviousmessage that your fame has already extended to the national (or international) scale.

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How do I build a good name for myself?^ 

A record of high-quality publications and presentations is a sine qua non and the most important thing.Quality here is far more important than quantity. but it’s not enough. You have to generate a ‘buzz’ aboutyourself. This means networking with scientists outside your institution – through scientific meetings,engaging visitors, communicating by email…