EEB 5100 (Planning for a career in EEB) - FALL 2018
This 1 credit seminar course is intended to provide orientation information to incoming EEB graduate students, although it is open to other students; we strongly advise new students to take it. The course will meet for about an hour a week, with 2-3 faculty or a small panel of other EEB-connected people discussing a given topic each week.
Meeting time: Tuesdays 3:45-5
Location: Bamford Room (Torrey 171B)
Course coordinators: Elizabeth Jockusch, Chris Elphick
Grading: This course is graded on an S/U basis. Regular attendance and participation will result in a grade of S.
NOTE THAT THE SCHEDULE IS STILL BEING FINALIZED - DON'T TRUST ANYTHING IN THE TABLE BELOW ...
Tentative syllabus (subject to change)
Date
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Presenters
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Topic
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Resources
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Notes
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Aug 28
|
Kent Holsinger
|
What do you aim to accomplish in grad school (and beyond)?
|
Kent's presentation on career outcomes
EEB graduate employment
Inside Higher Ed Career Advice
The Versatile PhD
UConn Career Services for grads
UConn National Fellowships Office
|
NSF fellowships
|
Sept 4
|
Carl Schlichting, Elizabeth Jockusch
|
University/department structure and resources; Degree ontogenies
|
Carl and Elizabeth's presentation (ontogenies and resources)
|
|
Sept 11
|
Paul Lewis
|
Communicating your work: web sites
|
P. Lewis presentation
|
Homework: complete your web site
|
Sept 18
|
Jill Wegrzyn, Andy Bush, Jason Lech
|
Work-life balance
|
In defense of downtime
Greedy institutions, overwork, and work-life balance (Sullivan 2013)
|
Homework: track the hours you work this week
|
Sept 25
|
Grad panel: TBD
|
Courses, committees, TAing, getting started
|
|
Panel discussion: come with questions
|
Oct 2
|
Louise Lewis, Annette Evans
|
Developing as a teacher
|
Louise and Holly's presentation on teaching
Discussion participation rubric
Reading on teaching innovations
Graduate Certificate in College Instruction
|
|
Oct 9
|
Kurt Schwenk, Janine Caira
|
Formulating good scientific questions
|
Janine and Kurt's presentation on choosing questions
Kurt and Yaowu's handout on choosing research questions
Alon 2009 on choosing good scientific problems
Schwartz 2008 on the importance of stupidity in research
E. O. Wilson on scientific discovery
Founding of the NSF: text pdf
Good and less good reasons for choosing a question
|
|
Oct 16
|
Alumni panel:
Sacha Spector,
Erin King, Brian Branciforte
...
|
Careers outside academia
|
Ecological careers at NGOs
|
Panel discussion: come with questions
|
Oct 23
|
Chris Simon, Sarah Knutie
|
Mentoring
|
Science Careers: Getting mentoring
Nature: Good mentoring
Why mentor undergraduates?
Managing your advisor
Mentoring discussion
Mentoring plans
|
|
Oct 30
|
Carlos Garcia-Robledo,
|
How does research funding work
|
Carlos's funding presentation
Funding info from Eric Schultz
EEBedia grants page (needs updating!)
|
|
Nov 6
|
Grad panel:
|
Getting started in research
|
|
Panel discussion: come with questions
|
Nov 13
|
Morgan Tingley,
Robi Bagchi
|
Communicating your work: conferences and publishing
|
Getting a speaker award
How to network
How to give a good talk
Guide to Peer Review (British Ecological Society)
Joy of Peer Review
Robi's publishing advice
|
|
Nov 20
|
|
THANKSGIVING BREAK
|
|
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Nov 27
|
Pam Diggle
|
Research ethics and regulations
|
Nature Editorial on research misconduct
Biological Conservation Editorial on coauthorship
Pam on research ethics
UConn RCR training
|
|
Dec 4
|
Margaret Rubega, Dave Wagner
|
Broader impacts, social media, and communication outside academia
|
NSF letter on broader impacts
NSF web site on broader impacts
How Broad Are Our Broader Impacts? An Analysis
How The Culture of Science Engagement is Evolving
(Read Exec Summary and 1st four pages of Intro)
D Wagner presentation
|
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Useful readings:
Some modest advice for graduate students: Steve Stearns and Ray Huey
The full exchange is on Ray Huey's page: http://faculty.washington.edu/hueyrb/prospective.php
Stephen Stearns's later reflections: http://stearnslab.yale.edu/designs-learning
Nature editorial on life outside of academia
Nature perspective on choosing alternative careers
Advice for new graduate students
Advice on a range of topics from Science magazine