Hello PhD
238 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 months ago - ★★★★★ - 145 ratingsA podcast for scientists, and the people who love them.
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Episodes
037: Consulting Jobs for PhDs
March 20, 2016 20:20 - 26 minutes - 18.2 MBManagement consulting is an exciting field, but actually getting a consulting job at one of the top firms can be extremely difficult. Some people argue that you’ll have an easier time getting into Harvard than landing a spot at McKinsey… We talked to a postdoc-turned-consultant about how she left the bench and got a job in […] The post 037: Consulting Jobs for PhDs appeared first on Hello PhD.
036: What Do Consultants DO, Exactly?
March 14, 2016 03:26 - 30 minutes - 20.9 MBIf you’ve worked at the bench for awhile, your only reference to the world of consulting is probably the two Bobs in the movie “Office Space.” They’re the hatchet men who swoop into a company, fire a bunch of people, and fly back home. But is that an accurate picture of consulting work, or a just bit […] The post 036: What Do Consultants DO, Exactly? appeared first on Hello PhD.
035: Making Time for Outreach
March 06, 2016 19:48 - 18 minutes - 13 MBDo you like to share your passion for science with others? Do you mentor undergrads or visit your local middle school to do scientific demonstrations? If so, stop it. Your PI is going to hate you. Is It Safe to Go Outside? Okay, so that’s not exactly true, but it can feel risky to explore […] The post 035: Making Time for Outreach appeared first on Hello PhD.
034: Sci-Hub and the Publication Pirates
February 28, 2016 21:59 - 21 minutes - 15.3 MBResearch budgets are tight, and many universities are canceling subscriptions to costly online science journals and publications. But papers are the currency of science, and it’s impossible to stay at the top of your field when you can’t find out what your field is doing. One solution sails between the rock and the hard-place, as scientists and trainees […] The post 034: Sci-Hub and the Publication Pirates appeared first on Hello PhD.
033: It’s Tax Season – Here’s What You Need to Know
February 21, 2016 19:52 - 38 minutes - 26.5 MBYou might believe that because you’re in grad school and receiving a research stipend, you don’t really need to worry about paying an income tax. You don’t have a ‘real job’ and no one asked you to fill out any paperwork so you’re off the hook, right? Wrong. Utterly, expensively, illegally wrong. The Tax Man Cometh […] The post 033: It’s Tax Season – Here’s What You Need to Know appeared first on Hello PhD.
032: Help! I Hate Reading Papers!
February 15, 2016 03:00 - 28 minutes - 20 MBReading papers is part of the job, but keeping up with the literature can feel overwhelming sometimes. If you’re developing a sense of dread for that stack of papers on your desk, it’s time to learn some shortcuts that will get you up to speed. Paper Pushers This week, we answer a listener question about keeping up […] The post 032: Help! I Hate Reading Papers! appeared first on Hello PhD.
031: Making PowerPoint Presentations That Don’t Suck
February 08, 2016 04:32 - 43 minutes - 29.9 MBGreat science speaks for itself, right? So the next time you need to give a lab meeting or seminar, just drop a couple of figures into the prettiest PowerPoint template you can find. Make sure to take detailed bulleted notes so you won’t forget anything! And if you’re feeling cheeky, add one of those cool boomerang animations […] The post 031: Making PowerPoint Presentations That Don’t Suck appeared first on Hello PhD.
030: Baby carrots, prime numbers, and invisible planets
February 01, 2016 04:24 - 28 minutes - 19.6 MBIf you are a scientist, then I know a little something about your personality. Almost by definition, you are curious about the world. And I’ll bet that extends beyond your particular laboratory or field of research. If there’s something intriguing and knowable, you want to know it. Well, we are scientists too, and sometimes we […] The post 030: Baby carrots, prime numbers, and invisible planets appeared first on Hello PhD.
029: Tenure Tracker – Choose a Mentor, Not a Lab
January 24, 2016 19:55 - 41 minutes - 29 MBChoosing a lab for your graduate or postdoc research is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Most people read papers and abstracts to find the coolest science. Or they favor the big labs with lots of people and solid funding. But those features can distract you from the real secret of scientific success. Your Mentor Matters […] The post 029: Tenure Tracker – Choose a Mentor, Not a Lab appeared first on Hello PhD.
028: Making Time for Kids When Everyone Else Stays Late
January 17, 2016 21:50 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBIf you have kids, you’ve experienced “the time shift.” Where you used to have hobbies, you now have a drive to soccer practice. Where you used to have dinner out, you now have dinner, dishes, bath-time, stories, and bedtime, IN. And where you used to stay late in the lab to finish an experiment, you now […] The post 028: Making Time for Kids When Everyone Else Stays Late appeared first on Hello PhD.
027: The Road More Travelled: Stepping Off of the Tenure Track
January 10, 2016 22:00 - 38 minutes - 26.9 MBIn 2011, a whopping 36,000 science and technology grad students earned their PhDs. That same year, about 3,000 faculty positions were created. So why did you feel like a failure when you decided to step off the tenure track? Taking the high road Scientists aren’t always as rational as we seem. A rational person would […] The post 027: The Road More Travelled: Stepping Off of the Tenure Track appeared first on Hello PhD.
027. The Road More Traveled: Stepping Off of the Tenure Track
January 10, 2016 22:00 - 38 minutes - 26.9 MBIn 2011, a whopping 36,000 science and technology grad students earned their PhDs. That same year, about 3,000 faculty positions were created. So why did you feel like a failure when you decided to step off the tenure track? Taking the high road Scientists aren’t always as rational as we seem. A rational person would […] The post 027. The Road More Traveled: Stepping Off of the Tenure Track appeared first on Hello PhD.
026: Career Advice from A Successful Scientist
January 04, 2016 01:55 - 27 minutes - 19.1 MBWhen you’re worried about today’s experiments and tomorrow’s time points, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s really important for your career and your life. Why not start the New Year with a new perspective? Looking Back and Moving Forward In this episode, we consider the advice of Robert J. Sternberg, PhD, a self-described geezer and […] The post 026: Career Advice from A Successful Scientist appeared first on Hello PhD.
025: Experiments and Exercise: 10 Creative Ways Scientists Stay Fit
December 20, 2015 21:23 - 38 minutes - 26.8 MBYou’re busy. Experiments, lab meeting, journal club, classes – you barely have time to sleep, let alone make it to the gym to exercise. We’ll tell you about 10 creative ways other grad students and postdocs stay physically fit, and how it’s boosting their productivity and self-confidence. You don’t have time NOT to exercise The […] The post 025: Experiments and Exercise: 10 Creative Ways Scientists Stay Fit appeared first on Hello PhD.
024: Leave with a Master’s, and your sanity
December 13, 2015 21:40 - 32 minutes - 22.7 MBStephanie dreamed of becoming a scientist when she was a girl. She managed to maintain excellent grades while working in research labs throughout her college career. With her flawless CV, it came as no surprise when she was accepted into a top-tier pharmacology PhD program. Four years later, Stephanie walked into her PI’s office to tell him […] The post 024: Leave with a Master’s, and your sanity appeared first on Hello PhD.
023: Seriously, can we ditch the GRE already?
December 07, 2015 03:35 - 32 minutes - 22.5 MBA driving test shows that you’re ready for your license. A pregnancy test shows that you’ve got a baby on the way. So what does the GRE show? More often than not, it shows whether you’re a man or a woman, and the color of your skin. You can’t spell “regret” without GRE Identifying which students are ready for graduate […] The post 023: Seriously, can we ditch the GRE already? appeared first on Hello PhD.
022: Science Overseas: Life as an International Student
November 30, 2015 03:10 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBThink about your first few months of graduate school. You moved into a new apartment in a new town, you met hundreds of other students and scientists, and you had to pick a rotation lab and classes for your first semester. It’s an unbelievably stressful time for most students. Now imagine doing all of that […] The post 022: Science Overseas: Life as an International Student appeared first on Hello PhD.
021: The 4 simple tips that will make your writing stand out
November 23, 2015 02:27 - 32 minutes - 22.4 MBEven if you’re not working on a paper or grant proposal today, you’ll probably communicate about science. You’ll send an email to a colleague, chat with your PI, or present a paper at lab meeting. In every case, you’re trying to convey an idea or change someone’s mind, and that’s why it’s so important to […] The post 021: The 4 simple tips that will make your writing stand out appeared first on Hello PhD.
020: Do I really need to do a postdoc?
November 15, 2015 19:59 - 31 minutes - 21.7 MBAs you near the end of your graduate school training, you will feel defeated, worn out, and ready to take a nice, peaceful job at that bookstore down the street. But if your career goals include leaving the bookstore and returning to lab, you’re probably considering postdoctoral training. Question is: do you really need to […] The post 020: Do I really need to do a postdoc? appeared first on Hello PhD.
019: How to Avoid a Toxic Lab
November 08, 2015 17:05 - 27 minutes - 19.3 MBThe research is cutting-edge. The publications are top-tier. Funding is abundant. But this lab has a toxic secret that will make your life a living hell. Hidden in Plain Sight This week, we answered a question from a first-year grad student who found himself in a lab that felt more like the gladiator’s arena […] The post 019: How to Avoid a Toxic Lab appeared first on Hello PhD.
018: How NOT to choose a career you’ll love
November 01, 2015 19:47 - 39 minutes - 27.6 MBIf you wake up every morning excited to go to work, you’re ‘in-the-zone’ all day, and you come home refreshed and excited to start a new day, please stop reading now. Everyone else, join me in paragraph two. A story for the rest of us Oh good, they’re gone. It’s hard enough to work at a job […] The post 018: How NOT to choose a career you’ll love appeared first on Hello PhD.
017: Does science have a gender bias? It depends on who you ask.
October 26, 2015 00:23 - 32 minutes - 22.3 MBShocking Fact No. 1: If you put a woman’s name and a man’s name on the exact same job application for lab manager, the woman is described as less competent and will be offered less money. Shocking fact No. 2: If you show the results of that experiment to faculty members in scientific fields, the men are less […] The post 017: Does science have a gender bias? It depends on who you ask. appeared first on Hello PhD.
016: Working Hard, or Hardly Working? How lab culture affects your productivity.
October 18, 2015 18:50 - 33 minutes - 23.5 MBDuring his first week as a postdoc, James was excited. He stayed late to set up cultures and read a stack of papers. The second week, he was surprised to notice he was the last one in the lab at 6PM – in his undergrad lab, you could expect to see people working past 10. […] The post 016: Working Hard, or Hardly Working? How lab culture affects your productivity. appeared first on Hello PhD.
015: Simple Tricks for Time Management: The Pomodoro Technique
October 11, 2015 17:46 - 31 minutes - 22.1 MBScientists aren’t like other workers. There’s no 9 to 5 time clock with lunch and two fifteen minute breaks. When you’re running an experiment, you have to make a plan days in advance, juggle each step and incubation period, and stay nights and weekends to hit your time points. That’s hard enough without the constant ping, […] The post 015: Simple Tricks for Time Management: The Pomodoro Technique appeared first on Hello PhD.
014: Postdoc Straight Talk Part 2: PostTalk
October 05, 2015 01:38 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MBThe moment you finish grad school, a weight is lifted from your shoulders. You’re free to follow your scientific passion and publish your discoveries in top-tier journals. But don’t get TOO comfortable, because we’ve already started the countdown on your temporary position… Last week, we asked postdocs what they loved and hated about their jobs. This […] The post 014: Postdoc Straight Talk Part 2: PostTalk appeared first on Hello PhD.
013: Postdoc Straight Talk
September 28, 2015 01:54 - 33 minutes - 23.4 MBIf you met him on the street, you’d never suspect that mild-mannered Clark Kent was actually the indomitable Superman. And there’s a chance that you’re ignoring the real superheroes walking around your lab every day. They’ve escaped from graduate school Krypton and are flourishing under the yellow sun of independent research. They’re postdocs, and churning […] The post 013: Postdoc Straight Talk appeared first on Hello PhD.
012: How to help veterans succeed in science, and why it’s important to all of us.
September 20, 2015 20:41 - 32 minutes - 22.7 MBIf you believe the newspaper headlines, you’ll be ready to dismiss Jake as another statistic. After all, the odds of a soldier returning from war and getting an undergrad degree are not good, which makes his dream of earning a PhD sound like a pipe-dream. But don’t believe everything you read in the papers. The […] The post 012: How to help veterans succeed in science, and why it’s important to all of us. appeared first on Hello PhD.
011: The 8.5 fixes that will save biomedical science
September 14, 2015 03:00 - 41 minutes - 28.5 MBBiomedical science is broken. Funding is unpredictable, training programs drag on indefinitely, and some of our best scientists are drawn to careers outside of the university or drowned in paperwork if they stay. Can anything be done to support research staff and boost lab productivity? Saving Science These topics are regularly debated in the literature, but a recent meta-analysis […] The post 011: The 8.5 fixes that will save biomedical science appeared first on Hello PhD.
010: Are you too old to go back to school?
September 07, 2015 01:30 - 30 minutes - 20.9 MBCongratulations! You just decided that you want to be a scientist, and spend your career doing research in a biomedical lab. That would be great news, except that you’re past thirty and you have no training. As the excitement fades and reality hits, you ask: “Am I too old to go back to school?” You’re never […] The post 010: Are you too old to go back to school? appeared first on Hello PhD.
009: Research and Prelims and Quals, Oh My!
August 30, 2015 22:13 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MBIt’s year two, and you’re just hitting your stride in the lab. You’ve finally got classes behind you, so now it’s time to drop the books and make some magic at the bench, right! Nope, now it’s time for prelims! Will Work for Fish That perennial favorite of graduate training rears its ugly head in this week’s […] The post 009: Research and Prelims and Quals, Oh My! appeared first on Hello PhD.
008: Fight for Your Right to #GradInsurance
August 23, 2015 18:18 - 30 minutes - 21 MBImagine waking up on a Friday morning, grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting down to check your email. What’s this? A note from your employer stating that your healthcare coverage will expire in 13 hours and it’s up to you to find insurance. Have a great day! Hope you weren’t feeling pregnant! #Mizzou #GradInsurance That scenario played […] The post 008: Fight for Your Right to #GradInsurance appeared first on Hello PhD.
007: From Quiet Lab to Super-Fab!
August 16, 2015 21:28 - 34 minutes - 24.1 MBSome labs feel like a party – there’s music playing, post-docs chatting, and grad students running from bench to bench setting up experiments. But what if you land in a spot that feels more like a morgue than a living laboratory? Co-workers keep their eyes on their benches, every ear is covered by headphones, and […] The post 007: From Quiet Lab to Super-Fab! appeared first on Hello PhD.
006: Haters Gonna Hate; Dealing with Critics
August 09, 2015 16:00 - 37 minutes - 26.2 MBIt has happened to all of us: you finish a solid day of work at the bench, and as you head out the door to your well-earned R&R, the PI catches you and lays on a speech about how you need to spend more time in lab. Everyone’s a critic In one instant, all that […] The post 006: Haters Gonna Hate; Dealing with Critics appeared first on Hello PhD.
005: Perfecting Peer Review
August 02, 2015 15:26 - 36 minutes - 25.2 MBScientists are supposed to be objective, so why is it easier to publish your paper when you’re in a big-name lab? Why do women and minorities get harsher feedback from reviewers than white men? And more importantly, what can be done to make the process fair? When Peer Review Attacks In this episode, we uncover […] The post 005: Perfecting Peer Review appeared first on Hello PhD.
004: Why we podcast
July 27, 2015 01:27 - 27 minutes - 19.1 MBWhat makes two PhDs who escaped from grad school years ago want to revisit all the highs and lows of their training? Short answer: Beer! But the long answer: Grad school is no cakewalk – classes are challenging, experiments fail, and sometimes, PIs seem like they’re from another planet. We made it through one day at […] The post 004: Why we podcast appeared first on Hello PhD.
003: Should I take a new job or stay where I am?
July 20, 2015 01:01 - 27 minutes - 19.3 MBYou may like your job, your boss, and your co-workers, but what happens if a “Dream Job” lands in your lap? Should you leave the safety of your current gig to take a risk on something new? What if it’s outside of the “norm” or in a slightly different field? The answer is rarely simple, […] The post 003: Should I take a new job or stay where I am? appeared first on Hello PhD.
002: Post-doc salary, absent PIs, and the secret of landing industry jobs
July 13, 2015 01:31 - 33 minutes - 23.5 MBThe Obama administration has proposed some new rules that would give overtime pay to salaried workers making less than $50,400 per year. Who cares? Many post-docs who make the NIH recommended $42,840 seem to care! In this episode, we explore whether the new rules would apply to post-docs, and how post-doc salary has stagnated over the last […] The post 002: Post-doc salary, absent PIs, and the secret of landing industry jobs appeared first on Hello PhD.
001: Tim Hunt, Lab Rotations, and Teaching vs. Tenure
July 10, 2015 03:11 - 21 minutes - 19.8 MBIn this episode: Tim Hunt incited a firestorm on Twitter last month for making sexist comments about women in lab, and he eventually lost his job over the incident. We marvel at the intersection between science and social media, and examine the notion of sexism and bias for scientists committed to discovering truth. We answer questions […] The post 001: Tim Hunt, Lab Rotations, and Teaching vs. Tenure appeared first on Hello PhD.