Pre-Professional Advice

Addressing bullying in STEM: a call for UGA to empower trainees

Bullying in academia Bullying continues to be a problem in academia. A recent global survey showed that 59% and 84% of participants either witnessed or experienced abusive supervision behaviors, respectively. Bullying in academia is difficult to address because a power differential exists within the mentor-mentee relationship. Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers (both referred to as

Ale Villegas June 15, 2021

Deadly realism, science communication, and dropping out of high school: an interview with Dr. Diana Six

Dr. Diana Six is a professor of Forest Entomology and Pathology at the University of Montana. Dr. Six's work focuses on bark beetles, their symbiotic fungi, climate change, and what these factors mean for forest health. Her work has received the attention of the media and she has presented at TedX and has been featured on

Simone Lim-Hing January 2, 2020

From Touring Musician to International Mycologist

Dr. M. Cathie Aime is a Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology and Director of the Arthur Fungarium and Kriebel Herbaria at the University of Purdue. Her lab specializes on the biology of rust fungi as well as the biodiversity of tropical fungi, which has led her research to have an international focus. Interestingly enough,

Inam Jameel December 9, 2019

Get the most out of grad school using these 11 guidelines: Part 2

Graduate school is hard. Surprise! Eh, probably not a surprise, but in general graduate school is a lot more demanding than college. Pursuing a Ph.D. or M.S. degree in a STEM field often relies on creative and diverse thinking and enormous amounts of independently driven work. It's the independent nature of graduate school that makes

athenssciencecafe August 31, 2018

Get the most out of grad school using these 11 guidelines: Part 1

Graduate school is hard. Surprise! Eh, probably not a surprise, but in general graduate school is a lot more demanding than college. Pursuing a Ph.D. or M.S. degree in a STEM field often relies on creative and diverse thinking, and enormous amounts of independently driven work. It's the independent nature of graduate school that makes

athenssciencecafe August 30, 2018

Ready, Set, Grow! Confessions of a pre-med student performing undergraduate research

As a campus tour guide, I get to interact with high schoolers considering spending four years (and lots of money) at the University of Georgia. When I ask if any prospective students are interested in conducting undergraduate science research, more often than not, I'm met with confused looks rather than eagerly raised hands. Four years

athenssciencecafe June 7, 2018

Got My PhD! Now What? Science With a Social Conscience

Interview with Stephanie Pearl, PhD; written by Anna Lau, PhD As cofounder of the Athens Science CafÃ©, Dr. Stephanie Pearl occupies a special place in our collective heart. She shared with me her path to a nontraditional career as a Science Communicator at a federal agency. What struck me was how her concern for issues

athenssciencecafe February 18, 2016

Got My PhD! Now What? Combining Science with the Humanities

By Leslie Roldan, PhD; edited by Anna Lau, PhD Please let me introduce Dr. Leslie Roldan, published researcher, doctorate, educator, and now published book author.* In this installment of the series, Leslie talks to us about her path to a nontraditional career that merges two seemingly disparate areas, English and Biology. We learn from her

athenssciencecafe February 4, 2016

Got My PhD! Now What? Medical Communications, the Intersection Between Science and Writing

By Anna Lau, PhD In 2011, academic institutions in the US awarded a total of 49,010 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees, including 28,149 PhDs in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering combined. Notably, the majority of PhDs in Life Sciences were awarded specifically in Biological/Biomedical Sciences (71%) [see footnote a], making this the most common

athenssciencecafe October 6, 2015

Science and Social Media: A practical guide to science tweeting

Social media is revolutionizing the way scientists communicate and share their work. There are good reasons they are doing so, too. Being on a service like Twitter enriches a conference experience. It's networking tool and a way to get your science noticed It's exciting because the potential is there to better connect to scientists within

athenssciencecafe September 2, 2015

Undergraduate Research: How it sets you apart and how to get started

by: Rishi R. Masalia, Pre-Professional Advice Editor “In the competitive field of biology, how do you recommend undergraduates set themselves apart? How do we get involved in things like undergraduate research?” As an undergraduate student at a large university (like UGA) it's pretty easy to get lost in the shuffle. College enrollment for STEM (Science,

athenssciencecafe August 28, 2015

Conference Networking Tips & Tricks for STEM students

by: Rishi R. Masalia, Pre-Professional Advice Editor “I understand that networking happens at science conferences, but how do you actually go about doing this?” As doe-eyed graduate or undergraduate students we step into the world of science and naively think it's a meritocracy, or a world where scientific ability solely drives success. But it's important

athenssciencecafe August 5, 2015