Education

CAREER CORNER: DOING IT YOUR WAY

In alignment with the National Science Foundation’s vision statement, the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) occasionally posts articles about scientists who pursue careers outside the traditional path of post-doc, research and tenure-track university positions. Dr. Beth Carpenter holds a Ph.D. from Uniformed Services University in Emerging and Infectious Diseases. Her career path has steered away from the post-doctoral research and tenure-track positions at universities.  

Dr. Beth Carpenter in her lab at Seton School.

Dr. Carpenter entered graduate school already knowing that her career goal was to earn a doctoral degree to teach science, rather than conduct research – specifically her goal was to teach undergraduate students. “Understanding this gave me a lot of freedom in my program,” Carpenter says. “I chose the preventative medicine track because it provided a broader exposure to knowledge than other specializations.” And, luckily for her, her Ph.D. advisor supported her goal.

Carpenter’s planning paid off: She is now in her fifth year at Seton School in Manassas, VA, where she is science department head and teaches chemistry to high school students. She is also an adjunct professor of biology at University of Maryland University College, where she has taught biology to undergraduate students since receiving her Ph.D.

It took more than a Ph.D. to open the doors to the classroom, says Carpenter. She was fortunate that her Ph.D. program included professors who were teaching at community colleges in addition to their research. They helped her craft a personal statement of teaching philosophy and frame her CV to reflect her teaching experience. And if she could do it again, she says, she would look for funding to attend an education conference to help her establish connections in the field of education.

The key to re-aligning a traditional career path to meet her personal goals were planning and persistence. Carpenter advises students to seek opportunities that develop the skills and experiences needed to transition to their intended career goals. “There are probably scientists in your department who can help you,” says Carpenter. Advisors can help students identify opportunities by tracking the career paths of former students and remaining open-minded to their students’ goals.

“Teaching biology to high school and undergraduate students is where we can help the public understand how biology fits into their lives,” says Carpenter. “We need good science teachers to teach science and build interest in science.”  

Do you know someone who’s used their Ph.D. in biological sciences or a related discipline to pursue a career outside the academic environment? Click on the feedback link above…we may share their story!

MCB Bids Farewell to the Summer 2015 Interns

This summer, the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences had the pleasure of hosting three summer interns. These outstanding undergraduate students culled through proposals, awards and annual reports to identify trends related to informal science education, minority involvement in broader impacts, and the impact of statistical and quantitative analyses on MCB-funded projects. The preliminary data produced by the interns generated several follow-up questions to be explored in the future.

Anita AlbanFullSizeRenderese, a rising senior at the University of Nevada, Reno, investigated informal science education in  active awards in the division. With the help of her mentors, she created a working definition of informal science education as any educational activity the PI participates in outside of the required curricula. These activities included training graduate and undergraduate students, K-12 outreach, lectures or blog posts targeted toward the public, and creating workshops and conferences. In addition to investigating the types of informal education, Anita also considered the length of time that principal investigators were funded, as well as their institutional resources. The division will use these data to continue to investigate what environments influence successful informal science education activities.

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Melissa Sam, a rising junior at Northeastern State University used her love of math and statistics to learn more about the use of Big Data analyses in MCB-funded projects. Melissa included the use of both statistical methods, such as the Markov Model, network analysis, bioinformatics, and principal component analysis, and quantitative methods, such as mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, ChIP-sequencing, and next generation sequencing, to define “Big Data Analyses” for her research this summer. She investigated the number of different statistical or quantitative methods per proposal, the costs associated with employing these methods, as well as the impact on the scientific community ( ie. papers, presentations, and book chapters).  Her research findings will be useful to the division whose priorities for research support include quantitative and predictive cell and molecular biology.

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Mikah Barrueta,a rising senior at Otternbein University, spent her summer investigating minority involvement in the broader impacts of MCB-funded research by comparing promises to include underrepresented groups in proposals to reported outcomes in annual reports for a representative sample of awards. In addition, Mikah surveyed program directors and principal investigators to learn more about how the involvement of underrepresented groups is reported to NSF. She evaluated several topics including ways to improve reporting to better capture the demographics of participants in broader impact activities. Mikah’s data and analysis will be considered by the division, as it conducts follow-up research to address questions which emerged as a result of her research.

iBiology: Sharing Research One Video At a Time

The growth in interdisciplinary science over the past decade has led to new developments in biological knowledge and techniques. For example,  CRISPR technology allows scientists to make specific changes to genomes and has transformed the field of genetics. As the field of biology increases in complexity due to technological innovations and expansion of knowledge, new ways to teach and communicate science must be developed. iBiology addresses this challenge by sharing science in the form of easy-to-watch video seminars,  and aims to lead the way in creating ways to spread interest in science for educational and scientific communities.

One of the main goals of iBiology is to bring research questions currently being explored by top-level scientists to students, scientists, and educators. This is most visible in the recently launched video series, “Great Questions in Life Sciences.” Investigators reveal the great scientific problems at the intersection of physics, computation, and biology that will demand attention over the coming decade. These videos offer the viewer a unique glimpse into the forefront of research and are intended to spark the curiosity of young scientists and students considering a career in life sciences research.

In talking to iBiology’s Associate Director, Dr. Shannon Behrman, we learned that, not only does iBiology want to expose the biological questions that are being actively pursued; they also hope to demystify what it would be like to become a researcher in various fields of biology answering those very questions.  Videos under the “How I Became a Scientist” section show interviews with various well-known scientists outlining their journeys to becoming researchers. Other videos under the “Careers” section show different career paths that are open to someone with a science degree. Each of these videos help to make this broad field more accessible by providing professional advice to aspiring students.  This early exposure to research helps young scientists feel like they can fit into and make a difference in the scientific community.

iBiology does not just provide a tool for students to see what current leaders in the field of biology are working on. They also provide a much-needed teaching resource. The program provides a plethora of educational resources and study tools for students in several different fields of biology, including biochemistry, genetics, microbiology, and human health. To support science teachers, iBiology provides possible questions for various assessments for students, along with a key terms index to help shape their curriculum.

For science to thrive, it needs innovative ideas.  iBiology answers this call with new approaches for getting students to become more interested in science, and by providing these students with resources to help them succeed in their scientific endeavors.  As a result, the iBiology team hopes to see more young people bringing in new and innovative approaches to current research problems in the future.

Making the Leap From RUI to Graduate Research Fellowship

In 2013, Emina Stojkovic, Associate Professor at Northeastern Illinois University was awarded a Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) grant from MCB to study light-responsive proteins in the development of myxobacteria. The RUI award mechanism is designed to support faculty at predominately undergraduate institutions conducting research that engages them in their professional field, builds capacity for research at their home institution, and supports the integration of research and undergraduate education.

We are excited to report that Dr. Stojkovic’s research, mentoring, and advising activities at the undergraduate level have resulted in four students being awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships to support their graduate studies. Two of the students, Angela Varela and Anna Baker, were undergraduate researchers trained in Stojkovic’s laboratory by working on the RUI project. The other two students, Daniel Westcott and Christopher Craddock were trained in research groups that collaborated with Stojkovic on interdisciplinary projects.  The students share more about their research interests in this press release provided by Northeastern Illinois University. In response to this news Dr. Stojkovic states, “The impact that NSF has had on our alumni and the students who are on their way to graduate from our department is tremendous. I am honored and grateful to serve in the role of a mentor and primary investigator.”

Working Towards Gender Equity in Science

Broader impacts associated with NSF grants come in all forms and address issues such as:

  • public understanding of the science NSF funds
  • engaging the next generation of elementary school children in science to nurture the excitement of our future generation of science leaders
  • bringing computational science education to the biological sciences at the undergraduate level to ensure that the newest biologists to enter the field can succeed at the quantitative, predictive, theory driven cell and molecular biological sciences that NSF supports.

This week, the Editors share an example of Broader Impacts from a researcher supported by MCB that addresses the issue of unconscious bias and gender equity in science.

As part of her broader impacts, Dr. Karen Fleming, professor of Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University, is hosting a series of professional workshops focusing on gender equity in science. The goal of these workshops is to empower women in the STEM fields with tools for success. The workshops do this by facilitating a dialogue between graduate students, postdoctoral students and faculty members on diversity topics highlighted by readings from the social psychology literature. Topics covered to date include: unconscious bias, the confidence gap, and emotion in the workplace.

In her first workshop, Dr. Fleming discussed Jo Handelsman’s 2011 PNAS paper entitled “Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students.” This paper investigated women and men faculty’s response to hiring a male or female for a laboratory manager position based on the exact same application except the first name was either John or Jennifer. One extraordinary finding from this paper that contradicts what many would expect is that both men and women faculty discriminated against the female applicant. The reason for this observation is thought to be unconscious bias, which has been another subject of one of Dr. Fleming’s workshops. Prior to this meeting, attendees were encouraged to measure their own unconscious biases using online modules put forth by Project Implicit. Another key finding from the literature that was discussed this year included the confidence gap. Systematic confidence differences between men and women are documented – women exhibit a tendency to underrate themselves, while men overrate themselves. This confidence gap becomes detrimental to a woman’s career when it hinders her ability to take action in the workplace. The most recent workshop considered the topic of emotion in the workplace. This is not viewed equally for both genders: studies have shown that men and women displaying emotion in the workplace are rewarded and penalized, respectively.

After a brief review of the findings of each journal article, the studies are discussed in-depth along with the applications of the findings to the social context of academia. Although current graduate students have raised concerns about the future of equity in the academic science workplace, tenured faculty have noted the leaps towards gender equity that have occurred in the past decades. Discussions have concluded that fostering an attitude of awareness, openness, and accountability of both men and women in science will aid in achieving gender equity in science. Before these workshops were available at JHU, there were few opportunities to regularly discuss these issues because neither unconscious bias nor gender equity training is mandatory in the sciences at many universities, JHU included.

Future seminars in the 2015 academic calendar include a panel of tenured women faculty in various science departments who will answer questions and comment on their experiences with gender equity in science. Further reading and links to the primary literature mentioned above can be found on Dr. Karen Fleming’s blog on achieving gender equity in science.

Do you have a great example of broader impacts that you would like to share? Please email the editors at mcbnews@nsf.gov or write to us using a feedback form. 

MCB at Your Meeting: Annual Biomedical Conference for Minority Scientists (ABRCMS)

By Chloe N. Poston, PhD

Program Directors in MCB regularly attend scientific meetings and workshops in an effort to garner input from the community,  spread the word about funding opportunities, recruit panelists, and encourage submissions to our division. Last November, Dr. Suzanne Barbour, Program Director for the Cellular Dynamics and Function cluster traveled to San Antonio, Texas for the 2014 Annual Biomedical Conference for Minority Scientists (ABRCMS). There, she presented the breadth of opportunities at MCB available to biomedical researchers through a very well attended panel hosted by the MCB-funded American Society of Microbiology LINK program.

As a part of the same session, ASM LINK (Leaders Inspiring Networks and Knowledge) representatives presented data outlining their initiatives to improve mentoring through in-person workshops, webinars, and discussion forums known as “Mentoring Mondays”. ASM LINK seeks to build strong “links” between established research investigators and early-career scientists, undergraduate faculty, and trainees (students and fellows). In addition to these on-going activities, ASM LINK also sponsored travel awards for NSF eligible post-doctoral scientists and research faculty to serve as presentation judges at ABRCMS. Travel awardees were invited to participate in a two-day Mentoring Strategies Workshop before the meeting. This workshop focused on tackling the greatest mentoring challenges, especially as they relate to building interdisciplinary research teams and broadening participation in STEM.

Dr. Barbour views attending ABRCMS “a unique opportunity to showcase research/ training opportunities in MCB, with the goal of inspiring underrepresented bioscientists to work on projects in the MCB mission area”. She is optimistic that her presentation in conjunction with the ASM LINK program will lead to a range of positive outcomes especially with respect to broadening the community of applications to MCB.