How to Prepare for a Successful Career in Academia
How do you prepare for a career in academia beyond the day-to-day activities as a graduate student in an academic lab? Four STEM professionals talk about how they made the jump, with a little help from SACNAS.
Corey Garza, PhD
Associate Professor
Division of Science and Environmental Policy
California State University, Monterey Bay
The amount and diversity of administrative work required by a faculty member is not so obvious when you are a graduate student. In my current position as an Associate Professor, I find myself sitting in administrative roles at different levels within my university ranging from the day to day administration of my research group to chairing or sitting on university-wide committees with faculty members from different departments.
During the tenure review process, sitting on university-wide committees can often comprise an important part of the tenure review process, and many beginning faculty may not realize how important this type of work is for tenure and promotion. For example, on my campus, it is expected that faculty sit on committees within their own department as well those that serve the broader university community. Working on committees requires that one be able to delegate tasks within the committee, produce products on tight deadlines, and incorporate input from others who are working to more effectively run an academic program or program that serves an entire university population.
Even within my research program I find myself playing the role of an administrator, whether it’s overseeing the budget of my different projects, approving purchases on my grants, or preparing end-of-year reports for the different agencies that fund my grants.
This type of position requires that one is able to coordinate and effectively execute a variety of tasks within a single project.
While graduate students are not trained to engage in this type of administration, in academia you will be expected to work in some type of administrative role during your career. Early on, I would recommend being judicious in the type of administrative activities you choose to engage in; some can easily overwhelm your teaching and research time. You will need to be able to balance your time among the research, teaching, and the administrative sides of your career. However, in the long term, some of these administrative roles can have a positive effect in how you administer your own research and teaching responsibilities.
SACNAS has been very supportive of the oceans science programs that I organize at the yearly conference, which have allowed me to reach students who might not normally consider a career in ocean sciences and demonstrate the wide variety of careers and educational pathways that they can pursue. Over the last 10 years that the programs have run, I have also been able to establish a broad network of colleagues who I work with to increase diversity in the ocean sciences.
It is through SACNAS that I first met the colleagues who would eventually encourage me to submit a proposal to NSF to establish an Ocean Science REU site that would focus on recruiting underrepresented groups in the ocean sciences.
The proposal was funded this past year and is providing summer research experience for 11 students.
Ulises Ricoy, PhD
Associate Professor & Chair Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science
Northern New Mexico College
Mentoring both in and out of the lab is crucial. Life is full of opportunities and obstacles that can help you grow as a person, professionally and spiritually.
Mentors that walk with you, that you can pick up the phone and call any time — and that even take a “punch” for you — are essential to survive and thrive in academia.
SACNAS is full of mentors, and every meeting is an opportunity to expand our network and enrich existing mentoring relations.
As a professor, my passion is in mentoring students by sharing how “cool science” can get done without too much money, such as using the cockroach as a model organism to engage in neuroscience research. I do not believe in the separation of teaching versus research. I am proud to say that at Northern New Mexico College (a largely underserved Chicano and indigenous campus) we are doing “cool science” with undergraduates — and they are going places. Some results include collaboration with scientists at Argonne and Los Alamos National Laboratories. We are constructing pipelines with graduate programs in institutions such as University of New Mexico, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Texas at San Antonio, Michigan State University, and University of Pittsburgh.
My academic trajectory started in SACNAS. I grew up in inner-city Mexico City. I learned English in high school in Austin, Texas. As an undergraduate, I was a work-study student in the library (UT San Antonio) when Dr. Luis Haro (former SACNAS president) asked me if I wanted to work in a research laboratory instead. I was an engineering major then and did not know about SACNAS nor the possibility of having a career in research.
Dr. Haro mentored me before I knew what mentorship meant.
I applied (due to his insistence) and got accepted to a position in a neurobiology lab via the Minority Access to Research Careers program (National Institutes of Health). My first scientific meeting was in Houston in 1997 where I joined SACNAS and have been an active member ever since.
Brandilyn Stigler, PhD
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Southern Methodist University
Understanding institutional politics and making decisions are two areas of professional development that have significant impact throughout one’s career and are often missing in graduate experiences.
The first can develop simply by listening to the work-related woes of one’s advisor.
While you may not feel you have anything to offer in such a conversation, it is an opportunity to ask questions about the nuances of political issues. Over time such issues will become more meaningful, and you will develop strategies for navigating them.
The second can develop by actively participating in group meetings. The more invested you are in the group the more likely your advisor will consider your opinion in making decisions. You can also let your advisor know that you would like to be involved in decision-making, for example, to purchase lab equipment or to hire personnel. By being intentional about developing your decision-making skills, you open the door for your advisor to give you feedback and guidance.
I have been a member of SACNAS since 1998 when I was in my last year in college. The SACNAS community engenders a cohesive culture that facilitates consistency of attendance and participation at annual conferences. In other words, I see the same people every year. Colleagues and I get to catch up, sharing accomplishments and trials alike. There is a reunion feel to the annual conferences, which is unlike my experience with other professional societies.
Another way SACNAS has helped advance my career is through its professional development opportunities, including the Summer Leadership Institute (SLI). The most pivotal concept I learned about was identity; in particular, perceived identity.
It was through activities at the SLI and subsequent workshops that I have come to understand that there are different facets of my identity, implicit and explicit, intended and implied.
More importantly, I have become aware of the positive and negative consequences of the identity that I project and the one that is imposed on me. This awareness facilitates the management of personal and professional relationships, as well as potentially difficult situations.
Talithia Williams, PhD
Associate Professor of Mathematics
Harvey Mudd College
Build relationships with your lab partners and fellow graduate students. You all will end up in positions where you may be able to recruit each other for speaking and job opportunities. You can also build collaborations that extend beyond your graduate school years.
Set a daily schedule and stick to it. Include those things that you hate to do first and get them checked off; set aside limited time for checking email, Facebook, and so on.
Do some writing every day. I admit I don’t do this nearly as much as I should, but when I do, I’m much more productive. Publishing papers or finishing your dissertation is 10% doing the work, 90% writing it up. Doing a little writing every day brings you that much closer.
Be kind to everyone. When you are applying for a tenure track job, you are trying to convince a department that they should want to spend the next 30 years with you. At the hiring table, we refer to this attribute as “collegial.”
Let people see that you are excited about your current research and the possibility of joining their department or lab. But also let them see that you’re a kindhearted, considerate person and that you would make an excellent colleague for years to come.
SACNAS has been instrumental in supporting me in my career.
At my first SACNAS conference as an undergraduate student, I remember seeing graduate students of color and thinking, “I want to be one of them!” SACNAS was my first exposure to research and provided me the opportunity to have conversations with leading mathematicians and statisticians.
I constantly met role models who demonstrated, by their very presence, all that I could become as a scientist.
Most recently, the SACNAS Leadership Institute gave me the opportunity to develop my career trajectory in detail, from the perspective of my impact on advancing our community in science. SACNAS has actively supported me in every stage of my career, and I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to give back by serving on the SACNAS Board of Directors.
Originally published at sacnas.org.
