Category: Graduate School

The Humbug Scientist

Camille McIntyre: No research, animal care, education, or science anything occupation seemed to want me. Internships didn’t want me, not even for free.  Retail stores didn’t seem to want me either. My period of unemployment made me question everything about...

/ April 1, 2018

A PhD in a Pageant Gown: On Fear, Growth & Defining Success

Dr. Vania Cao is the Commercial Programs Lead at Inscopix Inc. She is a neuroscientist, writer, business consultant and Founder of Free the PhD, a career transition platform supporting fellow PhDs to land a job and life they'll love outside...

/ March 31, 2018

Tell the Negative Committee to Shut Up

Tell the negative committee that meets inside your head to sit down and shut up

/ March 8, 2018

How to Create a Supportive Space for Scientists to Share Stories of Struggles

To test out these hypotheses, Shaina Lu, a graduate student in Tony Zador’s lab, had an idea: why don’t we hold an “open mic night” for people to share stories of struggles and setbacks in a safe, supportive, and respectful...

/ March 2, 2018

Science and Hope

Far from finding understanding for my passion for science, I found scientists who tried to discourage me. Each "no" was another incentive to work harder and show them that my passion was greater than their negative comments.

/ February 23, 2018

What Keeps Me Ticking

Besides a few of my teachers, I didn’t know any scientists; I didn’t even know what a PhD was. To be honest, I had no clue what I was getting into. However, the same stubbornness that had made me throw...

/ January 30, 2018

Can You Ever Escape Your Personal and Scientific Bubbles?

I’ve wanted desperately from early on to have a straightforward path. I imagined that everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing professionally, and that they were surely great at it. Everyone but me. I always thought that I...

/ January 21, 2018

Warm Waters and White Sand Beaches: My Journey Studying Human Impacts on the Ocean

I am a climate scientist, with one foot in the modern ocean trying to understand impacts on California species and ecosystems, and one foot in the past, probing the paleoclimate world for lessons we can learn.

/ December 23, 2017

Understanding by Doing

Tyler J. Ford: Now that I’ve got my PhD, and I’ve been working in a science communication position for a few years, I’m often asked how I “ended up” in SciComm. The first thing to point out is that I...

/ December 19, 2017

My Journey Coming Out of the Deep Dark Ditch of “publish or perish”

This is my story – the story of going through a tremulous phase of my life during which I lost faith in science and myself, but eventually regained it.

/ December 7, 2017

When your greatest weakness becomes your greatest strength

I have a language disability and a fine motor skill deficit. As a child, I would try not to speak up in class or speak too loudly because I was afraid I would misspeak. I knew what I wanted to...

/ November 26, 2017

Perseverance to Passion

In my life, perseverance is growing up in the inner city of Flint, Michigan. Gangs, violence, and drugs were part of everyday life. I’ve seen someone being run down by a car, shot in the head, and been shot at...

/ November 25, 2017

Me Versus Me

It was around 8th grade that my own personal video game boss blocked my progression. I was struggling in an earth science class and failing to reach the high standards I had set for myself. It wasn’t long before I...

/ November 16, 2017

Discovering the Scientist Within Me

– Stefanie Morgan –  – Doctoral Student in Cancer Biology at Stanford University – The first time I met a scientist was in college. Prior to then, science seemed just an abstract concept that was reserved for the unusually intelligent....

/ September 25, 2017

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

– Edritz Javelosa –  The luscious vegetation, crawling critters, warm beaches, and the tropical climate of the Philippines – an archipelago with more than 7,000 islands, tons of natural resources, and a wide range of biodiversity – was the setting...

/ September 15, 2017

The Anxiety Fights Back

– Erica Hawkins –  – The story below originally appeared on Erica’s Phd Freaking Out Blog on August 9, 2017 – Anxiety ebbs and flows. One week you can feel super chilled, and the next feel on the edge all...

/ August 27, 2017

Forever a scientist: How I found my career niche

– Julia Bates –  “No Julia, you are still a scientist. You will always be a scientist”. Those were the words spoken by my mentor Professor Jenny Martin, as we sat drinking coffee in a sunny café in my hometown...

/ August 21, 2017

How Can We Help? Creating the Superwomen in Science Podcast

 – Cordon Purcell & Nicole George – In the fall of 2016, we were both in our first year of grad school and living together in Montreal (Cordon was sleeping on a crappy air mattress in Nicole’s living room). As...

/ August 8, 2017

Playing in the Dirt and Calling it Science

 – By Stephanie Halmhofer | Bioarchaeologist –  For some, the line from point A to point B is fairly straight.  For others, it’s a zig-zag.  I am definitely a zig-zagger.  I didn’t find an easy, straightforward path into becoming a...

/ July 19, 2017

Diffraction

– Rowena Fletcher-Wood | Programme Delivery Officer at Science Oxford –  The story below by Rowena was originally published in 2014 through the Story Collider. You can listen or read it below!  When I was eighteen, I loved school and I loved...

/ June 26, 2017

Making My Way from Mountains to Mud: Part 3

– by Robin McLachlan – We teach school children that science is inaccessible and scientists are socially inept. Crazy scientists hide behind lab benches. They are disguised beneath white coats and thick glasses. Their hair is disheveled, their motivations shady, their...

/ May 24, 2017

Discovering my identity as a scientist

by Tyler A. Allen | NC State University, College of Veterinary Medicine |  My journey into science was a seemingly unexpected yet inevitable one. I am the first person in my family to venture into the field of science as a...

/ May 4, 2017

From Grandma’s Backyard to the Bench 

Rodolfo Jimenez  My parents were so young when they had me. They both had to put school on hold in order to provide for their new family. Because of my parents’ varying work schedules, my grandmother had a big role...

/ April 24, 2017

Making My Way from Mountains to Mud: Part 2

 – Robin McLachlan – <> In Part 1 of this journey, I bumbled down into Crystal Cave, the rocky heart of Sequoia National Park, where my love for geology was ignited. But if this fiery relationship started way up in...

/ April 23, 2017

Books and family: My path towards the world of science

Dinner table discussions centered around political and economic analysis of world events but most importantly the future of the African continent.

/ April 21, 2017

I always thought I wanted to be a scientist

– Michelle Dookwah –  Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Georgia  I always thought I wanted to be a scientist, yet I considered other careers at brief points in my life. When I was really young, I wanted to...

/ April 14, 2017

Finding the Strength to Succeed

– Ashley Taylor –  5th Year PhD Candidate | Department of Chemistry | Louisiana State University Science was my first love because my parents also loved science. They made sure my siblings and I were introduced to science fairs, science...

/ March 30, 2017

Making My Way from Mountains to Mud: Part 1

– Robin McLachlan – Graduate Student | University of Washington | Oceanography | Sediment Dynamics Group <> How did I make my way from mountains to mud? Well, I had just graduated high school and was celebrating my last summer before starting...

/ March 28, 2017