Grad News Forum

Dartmouth’s Graduate Studies Office coordinates a Graduate Studies Externship Program, pairing current graduate students with alumni from Dartmouth’s graduate programs.  As part of the program, students spend a day shadowing their alumni host, becoming acquainted with their host’s place of employment and discussing professional goals. For his externship, Justin Richardson, a student in the Department of Earth Sciences, spent the day with Dr. George Linkletter, who has an AB and an AM in geology from Dartmouth and a PhD from the University of Washington. Dr. Linkletter is the senior vice president of the environmental consulting firm, ENVIRON. Justin writes of his externship:

The experience and insight gained from my externship with Dr. Linkletter was invaluable to my career development. Dr. Linkletter is an accomplished scientist and environmental consultant in Irvine, California, who credits his scientific success to his time at Dartmouth College. We began chatting in his office, which had a wonderful view of Orange County and a framed picture of Dartmouth Hall above his computer. As he told wonderful tales of faculty and life in Hanover, I was proud to be at Dartmouth College in the very department where he had studied.

Dr. Linkletter then offered a unique view of research outside of academia; he has worked both as a research scientist and as an environmental consultant. Dr. Linkletter described his research experience and work with consulting firms, all of which showed the applicability of skills learned in graduate school. Afterwards, Dr. Linkletter introduced me to some of ENVIRON’s past and current projects on soil and groundwater contamination. I noted that a consultant approaches a problem very differently from a research scientist. During the two conferences I attended, it was fascinating how their work moved between science, law, and business. Not only do they deal with scientific questions, but they are also held to legal timelines and financial guidelines.

Later in the afternoon, I met with two research scientists and discussed how they navigated from graduate school to a fulfilling profession. A theme emerged in these conversations: if academia does not suit you, do not feel compelled to pursue an academic career. The two scientists currently work on challenging scientific questions. However, they have greater control over where they live and the hours they work compared to when they worked in academia. A consultant’s work is more challenging and stressful than work in academia. The health and finances of residents facing contamination issues rests directly on their ability to properly conduct a study, correctly interpret the results, and act based on those results. However, Dr. Linkletter emphasized that the size and function of environmental consulting firms differ; some are small, personable firms, while others are large institutions with many employees.

As the workday came to a close, I was happy to know that working in consulting can be so captivating and rewarding.

by Justin Richardson

Jessica Johnson (L) and Donna Hay (R)

The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, known on campus as TDI, has hired a new specialist to help students pursue their professional goals – the Graduate Forum would like to welcome Donna Hay to campus.

Hay comes to Dartmouth by way of New York Law School and Berkley College, where she directed programs in employer relations and career services, respectively. After years in the New York metro area, she’s moved north to bring her skill set to the students at TDI.

“TDI presents a unique challenge because of our demographics,” she says. “A third of our students have medical degrees; another third have medical experience – they’re RNs or health care administrators who want to develop a systemic understanding of health care practices. And then some of our students have come to the program right after finishing their undergraduate degrees. So, there are a lot of different types of students to work with.”

We met jointly with Hay and Jessica Johnson, TDI’s Alumni Relations Manager, and the two quickly noted that theirs is a coordinated effort.  The two meet with students jointly, to provide to each not only the counseling of a career advisor, but also avenues to potential connections with TDI alums that had similar goals and aspirations. Together, they are working on teasing out the passions and interests of their students – what brought them to the program and what their hopes are for the future – and leveraging alumni relationships to provide the best support possible.

Hay also expressed excitement about being part of the professional Dartmouth community. “Tuck, Arts and Sciences, Thayer – they all do such a good job with their career programs. I think our students can learn a lot from some of their programming, and I know I can borrow the best practices from their departments. I hope that they can utilize the programming we’ll do here and the support models we’re using.”

The Dartmouth Institute officially began in 1995. Since then, the program has graduated 930 students, many of whom have gone on to exciting careers in medicine and health care delivery. TDI was a testing tank for many of the policies that made their way into the Affordable Care Act, and the Institute continues to be a center of research and applicable scholarship.

Hoping to build on these foundations, Hay is thrilled to be at Dartmouth. “I have a degree in law, and extensive experience in finance and accounting recruiting – marketing is an integral part of my education. I’m excited to bring that knowledge to TDI and to help our students move forward.”

Hay invites students and staff from TDI and the larger Dartmouth community to connect with her on LinkedIn, and to be on the lookout for professional programming in the coming months.

by Zach Williams 

Early in the fall term, the Graduate Studies Office hosted a discussion panel on academic job searching, in preparation for the upcoming application season. Hosted by Kerry Landers, the Assistant Dean of Graduate Student Affairs, the presentation attempted to illuminate some of the details and nuances of searching for a position inside of academia. With Dean F. Jon Kull and Cindy Tobery from the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning adding insight, the event was informative and well received by the thirty students who attended.

Landers’ presentation cover a wide range of topics, from the writing and organization of a good curriculum vitae to the appropriate steps for negotiating the terms of a job offer. Focusing on clarity, professionalism, and staying “on” throughout the application process, she helped to guide the students through the cascading steps of academic career searching. Throughout the presentation, Dean Kull offered his personal insight – willing and wanting to be honest and truthful with students about the challenges of the application process. The back and forth discussion that resulted from his participation was engaging and personal.

Functions like this one are a large part of Landers’ position with Graduate Studies. Focused on preparing graduate students to realize their professional aspirations, she specializes in counseling from job search through job offer. Throughout the presentation, Landers pointed to the multitude of resources Dartmouth students have available to them in the job search. Her panels have proven to be enlightening for many students who have come through the programs. The Three Minute Thesis events, she notes, helps students to learn how to explain their research in a succinct and clear manner. And this winter she’ll be putting on the “Becoming Faculty” symposium, which will expand on many of the topics touched on in this presentation.

The next Three Minute Thesis event, which will be co-hosted by the Graduate Women in Science organization, will be tomorrow, October 17^th, at noon in 031 Haldeman. And watch for emails from the Graduate Studies office for more information about the Becoming Faculty Symposium.

Many graduate students wonder what their career options are, as they spend hours researching. Now there’s a free online tool to help science graduate students explore possibilities and set goals to pursue a career path that best fits their skills and interests.

This past summer, I attended the Graduate Career Consortium (GCC) conference at Princeton University. Two of my colleagues, Bill Lindstaedt and Cynthia Fuhrmann from University of California, San Francisco presented MyIDP (my individual development plan), an interactive web based tool they co-created with Phil Clifford from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Jennifer Hobin from Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). This new tool helps science graduate students and postdocs set and achieve long-term career goals by asking them to assess their skills and interests, and then suggesting possible careers options for them.

I am happy to announce that MyIDP is now up and running and available for Dartmouth graduate students to start using. This is a great way for graduate students to start thinking about what they want to do after graduate school and what they need to do while in graduate school to successfully reach their goals.

MyIDP has strong support from funding agencies such as the NIH, which encourages graduate students to initiate individual development plans. Dean of Graduate Studies, F. Jon Kull remarked  “all science graduate students should use this tool, starting when they first enter graduate school.” Graduate students and postdocs response has been overwhelmingly positive. Since last week, 10,000 users had registered at the site and begun to complete an IDP!

As part of the launch, an editorial was published in Science Magazine today, written by Bruce Alberts, Editor-in-Chief of Science, and Jim Austin, Editor of ScienceCareers.org.

by Kerry Landers

Each year during Graduate Appreciation Week, the Graduate Studies Office hosts the annual Graduate Poster Session in the Top of the HOP. At the poster session, PhD students from Dartmouth’s Arts & Sciences Graduate Programs and the Thayer School of Engineering present their research to the event’s attendees. In addition, a panel of judges—comprised of faculty members, college administrators, and graduate alumni—listen to each graduate student present their research, and then give the four best presenters an award for their research.

This year, the Thayer School of Engineering produced a video that highlights the research of two engineering PhD students—Austin Boesch and Kelly Michaelsen—both of whom present at this year’s poster session.

Congratulations, Austin and Kelly!

For more on the annual Graduate Poster Session, view the press release for the 2012 Graduate Appreciation Week coordinated by the Graduate Studies Office, and read about this year’s four Poster Session Award winners—Lola Thompson, Nadia Penrod, Chris Audu, and Margaret Gullick—on The Graduate Forum.

 For many PhD students, there is often a tension between the development of their skills as scientists alongside skills that can serve them outside of academia.  Peter Fiske, Chief Technology Officer of PAX Mixer Inc. and PAX Water Technologies, recently visited Dartmouth to speak with graduate students about career development options for PhDs.

In his column at ScienceCareers.org, entitled “Opportunities,” Fiske regularly provides practical career advice for young scientists, as well as tips on how to navigate relationships both in the academic and private sectors. After describing his own career trajectory after earning his PhD from Stanford in the mid-1990s, Fiske explained that while his career path has been “unusual” for a geophysicist, it has nevertheless been “highly stimulating and enjoyable.”

“There’s a great tradition of cooperation in the scientific community,” Fiske noted, adding that he benefitted from numerous mentors and received lots of sage advice that he relishes passing on.

While a life in science can be very exciting, Fiske said that most academic institutions unfortunately still tend to enforce many of the “older” characteristics of an academic lifestyle (passivity versus entrepreneurship; age over experience, etc.) instead of the valuable traits that appeal to the private sector.  Transferable skills such as the ability to function in a variety of environments and roles, the ability to teach skills and counsel others, independently conceive and design complex projects, and problem-solve are all qualities that PhDs possess that are highly attractive to potential employers, said Fiske.

As scientists, “we don’t get very good career advice,” explained Fiske, who added that nearly 80% of PhDs don’t stay in academia.

“[It’s] important to unpack the social and cultural stereotypes that exist for PhDs,” Fiske explained, so that graduate students can accurately address their perceived weaknesses from the ‘outside’ world.  In what he termed, “The Curse of Being Smart,” Fiske outlined certain challenges that PhDs face in a career transition from academia, such as the failure to appreciate other forms of intelligence apart from a high-level academic skill set.

“We tend to immediate discount people from different pedagogical backgrounds,” explained Fiske, noting the penchant for PhDs to overemphasize their skills sets over their interpersonal relationships or emotional intelligence.  According to Fiske, this “curse” of being smart comes from academics who are used to being exceptional and don’t like to be unsuccessful, and thus often fail to ask very basic questions.

“You spend your time being technical people,” Fiske told the graduate students.  “Learn how to be effective.”

Fiske’s “80:10:10” rule illustrates his insistence on graduate students taking the reigns over their own career.  For Fiske, the rule exemplifies the importance of learning “the art of selectively blowing stuff off,” and represents a way in which graduate students can prioritize their own professional development.  The rule advises devoting eighty percent of your work time to all of academic “stuff you need to do.” According to Fiske, the daily tasks of research should be accomplished during this majority portion.  Ten percent of your time should be focused solely on your own professional development, and on strengthening yourself as an executive and as a professional. The remaining ten percent of working hours should be spent attending conferences and building a professional circle through networking.  If this networking isn’t automatically built into your schedule, Fiske insists, “it won’t happen otherwise.”

While many PhD students are uncomfortable with the concept of networking, Fiske pointed out that informational interviewing is an extremely useful tool to learn more about a specific industry and typical career path. According to Fiske, PhD students can use these interviews to ask “sticky questions” about future trends on hiring, salaries, workload, etc. that might be inappropriate to ask during a typical job interview.  An additional bonus of a successful informational interview is that the person being interviewed becomes a part of your professional network—and could be a valuable contact when you do start your job search.

For Fiske, virtually every job search should start with an honest and frank self-assessment.  Asking yourself what your interests are, what skills you have, what type of work style you prefer, etc., can help you determine not only what you are good at, but what you actually enjoy doing on a daily basis.  To get started on this self-assessment, Fiske recommends that students make a two-column list of everything that they like and dislike about their academic career, and then assign priorities of what they value the most and the least.  According to Fiske, the exercise helps students tangibly see their own values, as well as how their interests and skill affect their work and the workplace.

“In general, we share the same positives and negatives, but our ranked lists are very individualized,” said Fiske, who notes that this distinction is important because it shows that academia’s tendency to try to make the same model of science fit for everyone is not realistic. In fact, said Fiske, the acknowledgement of these differences is critical to one’s personal happiness.

“If you don’t like what you do for a living, you probably wont be very good at it!” he noted.

But what about those graduate students who aren’t graduating any time soon?  Fiske advises that every student, regardless of what point they are at in their graduate career, construct a brief professional biography.

“Careers only look good in the review mirror,” said Fiske, noting that the process of thinking about your professional and academic highlights can enable you to hone in on and highlight your personal strengths. Students should also consider investing in quality business cards that can be distributed at professional conferences, talks and events, an undertaking that Fiske calls an “act of professional courtesy.”

According to Fiske, the purpose of a resume is to get an interview as opposed to a job, and stressed that it is more of a screening device than anything else.

As a description of those past experiences that are most relevant to the position being sought, a resume is as much about where you are going as where you have been. When applying to jobs, PhD applicants should post a resume and cover letter specifically tailored to each job opening.  Fiske advises applicants to use the actual words in the job description as often as possible in your own application materials, and to try to highlight your own experiences that best match with the stated qualities and background of the desired candidate.

When that coveted job offer finally does roll in, Fiske notes that it is important to consider a variety of options and factors beyond the salary. Factors such as health care, schedule of raises, bonus and commission plan, stock options, paid parking, amount of vacation days, relocation allowances, and employee education/tuition reimbursement, etc., are all ‘off-value’ terms that are often more easily negotiated than a base salary, which is generally more inflexible.

According to Fiske, the mere process of exploration itself is extremely empowering as a scientist, regardless of whether they stay in academia or not.

“I believe that technically trained individuals have enormous opportunity to improve the world,” said Fiske.

by Erin O’Flaherty

It’s that time of year! For Dartmouth’s master’s and doctoral students who plan on graduating in June, theses are due this month. If you’re one of the graduate students who has been chipping away at a thesis or dissertation for the past year, the May deadline is the final academic milestone in your graduate studies at Dartmouth!

In celebration of this academic achievement, the Graduate Studies Office is giving all graduating master’s and doctoral students a Dartmouth Arts & Sciences Graduate Programs travel mug while supplies last.

To receive your mug, simply subscribe to The Graduate Forum with your new Dartmouth Arts & Sciences Graduate Programs Alumni Blitz account upon submitting your printed thesis to the Graduate Studies Office. That way, we can stay in touch with you after graduation.

Remember to read the thesis formatting guidelines before printing your document for submission!

Since September, the classrooms and laboratories of  The Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center have facilitated interdisciplinary research and teaching across the life sciences. In this video, Dartmouth researchers explain the interdisciplinary work happening in this new facility.

Originally published by the Dartmouth Now on 11/16/11

Andy Friedland, Professor in the Environmental Studies program at Dartmouth, recently sat down with arts and sciences graduate students to discuss the essential elements of putting together a successful science proposal.

Entitled “Science Proposal Writing,” the workshop session was the first in the several-part series, “Becoming a Faculty Member,” sponsored by the Graduate Office.  Based on his and Provost Carol Folt’s 2009 book, Writing Successful Science Proposals, Friedland’s talk related to the complicated process that nearly all academics must go through: crafting a research proposal.

According to Friedland, the first step to writing a successful proposal is fairly simply: write well.  While there are basic fundamental common factors in all proposals, Friedland stressed that it is essential to look at the specific vernacular unique to each individual scientific field.  This includes identifying and describing the conceptual framework of your project, as well as summarizing the relevant literature and targeting your proposal to your specific audience (i.e., NIH, NSF, EPA, NASA, etc).

Aside from the obvious plus of writing a successful proposal—funding—there is also the added bonus of being able to flesh out potential research topics.  “Writing a proposal forces you to put ideas on paper, formulate them, and let them grow,” Friedland told the crowd of PhD students in attendance, noting that scientists often make major advances while working on the proposals alone.

Noting the current trend towards scientific projects with an interdisciplinary focus, Friedland noted the importance of “thinking big” in the initial stages of working on a proposal.  “It’s important to avoid tunnel vision,” says Freidland.  “Think about how your work might apply to other fields.”

Targeted towards those arts and sciences graduate students who plan on continuing their careers in academia, the “Becoming a Faculty Member” series aims to help graduate students make the transition to professor while allowing Dartmouth faculty to share their strategies and tips for navigating the path to ‘becoming faculty.’  Those students who attend all of the workshops in the series will receive a certificate of completion.

The next session, “Finding Funding,” takes place Wednesday, January 18^th, at 12pm.  Hosted by Brian Pogue, Dean of Graduate Studies and Professor of Engineering at Thayer School, the session will highlight the various funding sources that graduate students, postdocs, and assistant professors can access at the beginning of their research careers.

The “Mentoring and Advising” session will take place on Wednesday, January 25^th, at 12 pm, and will feature Dartmouth faculty members who have won the Graduate Student Mentoring Award discussing their own unique approaches to mentorship.  To sign up for this session, click HERE.  To sign up for “Lab Management” on Monday, January 30th, at 12pm, sign up HERE.