Author: Karian J Wright

April is Faculty Career Month in the CIE!

Karian J Wright

April is deemed Faculty Career Month in the CIE. We will host a series of seminars and panels geared toward preparing our scholars for the academic job search process. We will kick-off the series with an “Academic Job Search Overview” seminar on Thursday, April 4 at 12:30pm. Third-year IRACDA NY-CAPS Scholar, Dr. James Robertson, will provide an overview of the academic job search from the perspective of the applicant. James has prepared 40 applications, leading to 10 phone interviews, 5 visits and one job offer so far. During this seminar, James will provide valuable insight into how to prepare an application that gets noticed and what to expect during the interview process.

On Thursday, April 11 at 12:30pm, Dr. Kimberly Bell, STEM Postdoctoral Associate from the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, will lead a seminar on “Teaching Talks & Philosophy Statements”. A strong statement of teaching philosophy is an integral component of the academic application dossier and an effective teaching demonstration is a key component of the interview process for teaching-focused institutions. This session will provide strategies for developing your teaching philosophy statement and teaching demonstration.

Our third session on “Interviewing and Negotiations” will be held on Wednesday, April 17 at 3:30pm. A panel of department chairpersons will provide valuable insight into the interview and negotiations process from the perspective of the hiring manager. Panelists from Stony Brook University include Dr. Michael Frohman, Chair of the Department of Pharmacological Sciences and Dr. Aaron Neiman, Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Also included on the panel is Dr. Janet Haff, Academic Chair of the Natural Sciences Department at Suffolk County Community College.

The 2019 Faculty Career Month Series will conclude on Thursday, April 25 at 12:30pm with a CIE Alumni Panel consisting of scholars who have transitioned into faculty positions at a broad range of institutions. The panel will include Dr. Ramón Emilio Fernández, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Pace University, Dr. Inefta M. Reid, Research Assistant Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at Stony Brook University and Dr. Dominique E. Williams, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Richmond. We look forward to learning more about how the panelists navigated the application, interview and negotiations process. We also look forward to hearing about their transition from graduate student to independent faculty or from postdoc to independent faculty and all the lessons they learned along the way.

The 2019 Faculty Career Month Series promises to be filled with rich insights and provide tools and strategies to prepare scholars for the academic job search process. Lunch will be provided on April 4, 11 and 25. Light refreshments will be provided on April 17. We hope to see you there! Follow this link to RSVP.

The Sky’s the Limit, not Univeristy Walls: Non-Academic Career Month

Karian J Wright

Doctoral programs might seem to most obviously prepare scholars for a career in academia, but there is no end to the possibilities of what one can do with a PhD.  The Graduate School, the Center for Inclusive Education, and the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs has organized a Non-Academic Career Month in order to prepare students interested in pursuing opportunities outside the realm of the university.  

On February 14, Karian Wright will lead an American Association of University Women (AAUW) Work Smart Salary Negotiation for Women.  American women earn only 80% of their male counterparts, with Black and Hispanic women earning even less. Even just one year out of college, women are paid 18% less than men.  The negotiating process can be an intimidating barrier for women, and this workshop is designed to help participants learn how to negotiate their salary for a new job, raise, or promotion through: identifying and articulating personal value, developing an arsenal of persuasive responses and other negotiation strategies, and conducting objective market research to benchmark a target salary and benefits.  This particular session for Non-Academic Career Month is also valuable for scholars intending to pursue a career in academia, as you can never be too prepared for the salary negotiations process.

On February 21, Alfreda S. James, PhD, the Assistant Director of Graduate and Postdoctoral Career Services, will lead a Resume and Cover Letter Workshops.  Participants will learn how to convert their CV and cover letter to apply for non-academic career opportunities.  Dr. James’s role in Career Services is to work specifically with graduate students as they prepare for careers in and out of academia.  

Several CIE Alumni have gone on to hold non-faculty positions, and on March 1, a panel of alumni will share important lessons they learned along their career path as part of the CIE Alumni Panel.  Daphne Meza, who completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering is now Senior Scientist at Johnson & Johnson; Crystal Lewis, who completed her PhD in Chemistry, is now a Senior Formulation Specialist at Silk Therapeutics, Inc.; and Angel Gonzalez, who completed his PhD in Psychology, is now the Program Manager of the Dr. W. Burghardt Turner, GEM, IMSD-MERGE and LSAMP-BD Fellowships, as well as the Interim Assistant Dean for Diversity & Inclusion and Director of the CIE at Stony Brook University.  All have found ways to blend their academic backgrounds with their current positions and will offer advice for current scholars who wish to do the same.

Related to Non-Academic Career month, Stony Brook’s PhD Career Ladder Program (PCLP) will be offering an Accelerated version of the program this Spring, meeting every other Wednesday from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. PCLP can help you plan for any career field you might be considering, whether inside or outside of academia, and can help you add career development goals to your annual IDP. Visit their website for more info.

We hope to see you at one or more of our Non-Academic Career Month events. You can register online or contact Karian.Wright@stonybrook.edu for more information.

2018 Southern Regional Education Board 25th Institute on Teaching and Mentoring

Karian J Wright

 

For the seventh year in a row, the CIE was invited to attend the Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB) 25th Institute on Teaching and Mentoring held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia from October 25-28. This event is the largest gathering of underrepresented minority Ph.D. scholars in the country. For over 24 years, the Institute has provided workshops, recruitment and networking opportunities to enhance the professional development of the Ph.D. scholars with effective tools to be successful as faculty in post-secondary institutions. The goal of the Institute is to provide a safe environment for doctoral scholars to share insights and survival tips for success in graduate work, build community among themselves and faculty representatives and enrich their research and teaching strategies.

The CIE’s participation in this important event was two-fold. First, through our AGEP project, we were given the opportunity to nominate CIE scholars to attend as participants and benefit from the wide range of professional development and career opportunities offered by the Institute. This included access to over 80 recruiters and senior administration from a wide variety of institutions who were in search of fresh new talent to diversify their faculty ranks. The Institute provided the opportunity for these representatives to connect directly with scholars who were in search of career opportunities. The second aspect of the CIE’s participation in this conference was to participate as recruiters. This year, our focus was to recruit applicants for our IRACDA postdoctoral training program and share information about other postdoctoral training and faculty opportunities available at SBU.

Currently, only approximately 6 percent of U.S. faculty members are African-American, and only 5 percent are Hispanic or Latino. Meanwhile, the diversity of the nation’s college students is growing rapidly, up to 14 percent African-American and 17 percent Hispanic in 2016. This is what makes this event so important. We congratulate SREB on their 25 years of success and look forward to our continued participation in the future.

 

Introducing the 7th Cohort of IRACDA NY-CAPS Postdoctoral Scholars

Karian J Wright

The NIH Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards (IRACDA) New York Consortium for the Advancement of Postdoctoral Scholars (NY-CAPS) Program has officially entered year seven at Stony Brook University! NY-CAPS is a funded fellowship program for postdoctoral scholars in the biological sciences.  Scholars advance their teaching skills and research experience during a 3-year mentored fellowship at Stony Brook University, which includes a teaching practicum at minority-serving NY-CAPS Partner Institutions:  CUNY Brooklyn College, SUNY College at Old Westbury and Suffolk County Community College. This summer, the CIE welcomed our seventh cohort of IRACDA NY-CAPS postdoctoral scholars.

Dr. Kamal Barley, earned his PhD in Applied Mathematics from Arizona State University. Dr. Barley is currently mentored by Dr. Thomas MacCarthy in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics where he will use computational modeling approaches to study cellular and molecular mechanisms of Germinal center B-cells.

Dr. Chavis Stackhouse earned his PhD in Chemistry at the University of South Florida. Dr. Stackhouse is currently mentored by Dr. Kenneth Takeuchi, Dr. Esther Takeuchi and Dr. Amy Marschilok in the Chemistry Department. His postdoctoral research centers upon fundamental investigation of the relationship between structural characteristics and interactions with electrons of solid composite materials facilitated by synthesis, characterization and electrochemistry of complex systems; subsequently, followed by a series of studies of the complexity of scale up towards electrochemical energy storage relevant to biomedical devices.

Dr. Jenna Foderaro earned her PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Vermont. Dr. Foderaro is currently mentored by Dr. James Konopka. Her work focuses on spatially and temporally defining the host (mammalian) oxidative response and its impact on Candida albicans during infection.

Dr. Nicholas Joseph Palmisano, our first University-funded Associate Scholar, earned his PhD in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Under the mentorship of Dr. Dave Matus, his work focuses on understanding how cells execute morphogenetic behaviors during development and how these behaviors evolve between species.

This new cohort of scholars is gearing up for the start of the pedagogy course, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, October 17.

Celebrating Postdoc Appreciation Week 2018

Karian J Wright

The CIE is proud to partner with the SBU Office of Postdoctoral Affairs for the Ninth Annual Celebration of National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW) from September 17-21, 2018. Since 2009, the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) has sponsored National Postdoc Appreciation Day/Week to recognize the significant contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to U.S. research and discovery. Institutions from across the country and other parts of the world participate by holding special events. In 2010, this week was officially recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives. Events are held throughout the week and across the country to create awareness.

In honor of NPAW, the CIE is co-sponsoring a workshop titled “Choosing the Right Postdoc for You” on Tuesday, Sept 18 from 3-5pm. A panel of speakers will provide graduate students and early career postdocs with strategies and for finding a securing a postdoc position on the path toward their long-term career goals. Panelists include Joanna Szczurkowska, a postdoc in the Neuroscience Department; Zhijuan Qiu, IRACDA postdoc in the Molecular Genetics and Microbiology Department; Kathleen Flint Ehm, Director for Graduate & Postdoctoral Professional Development; and Karian Wright, CIE Program Manager.

The SBU Office of Postdoctoral Affairs will also host an NPAW Postdoc Social on Wednesday, September 19 from 4-6pm in the Wang Center Chapel. This event is free and open to all postdocs, postdoc administrators, postdoc supervisors, postdoc family members, postdoc friends and supporters.

Did you know that a study of all papers published in Science in 1999 found 43% of first authors were postdocs [1] and over 60,000 postdocs work in the U.S. alone [2]? The CIE continues to celebrate the contributions of all our postdocs!

Footnotes: 

  1. Vogel, G. (1999) Science, 285: 1531
  2. National Academies (2014) The Postdoctoral Experience Revisited.