Book Review, Bullish Blog Network, Literature Review

Winter Ambition: A Reading List for Ballsy Women (and Men)

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I’m happy to announce that this will be the first post on my site as a member of the Bullish Blog Network. If you want to know more about Get Bullish (and you know you do!) click on the Bullicorn below.

bullish-blog-network

As you can guess from the title, this is a winter reading list for the ambitious women (and men) out there reading this blog. This is not a list of business management texts or a “how to make friends and millions of dollars” list touting my own products. Instead, I would like to share with you some books that have allowed me to develop a better understanding of interpersonal interactions as well as our changing relationship with technology and its impact on how we live and interact with one another.

For those of you engaged in, pursuing, or interested in a STEM career (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) be sure to make to the end of the post, I’ve got a whole section of on-line articles just for you.

So without further ado, let’s get to the books I have read and loved (and that you just might love too). Continue reading Winter Ambition: A Reading List for Ballsy Women (and Men) →

Gradhacker Posts, Graduate School

Managing Your Adviser

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The student/adviser dynamic can be one of the most rewarding or most fraught relationships in graduate school, and choosing the right mentor is one of the most important decisions you will make as a graduate student. A positive relationship with your adviser can help you reach your full potential as an academic researcher, while a negative relationship can make the process extremely difficult—so much so that some students don’t finish their programs or leave with a Master’s degree rather than complete their PhDs.

This is obviously the last outcome that any graduate student or adviser wishes for. So how do we as students make sure that we get the best out of our advisers; who are often very busy individuals with many other obligations on their plates?

Enter the idea of “managing up”. Normally we associate management with those below us, not those who supervise us. What is “managing up,” and why am I dragging this business term into an academic context? Continue reading Managing Your Adviser →

Gradhacker Posts, Graduate School

Managing Public Speaking Anxiety

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We all have to present our work to others at some point in our graduate careers, and this commitment to public speaking can lead to real anxiety for some individuals. I know this because I am in that group. I have been so anxious before a 12 minute talk that my hands actually went numb from the terror, my pulse started racing, and I ended up speaking so fast that my 12 minute talk became 9 minutes, tops. That leaves a lot of room for awkward silence. Continue reading Managing Public Speaking Anxiety →

Gradhacker Posts, Graduate School

Surf’s Up!: Thriving Amid Chaos

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It’s no secret that sometimes in graduate school it feels like everything can get really chaotic. As young professionals, we are expected to produce new research and ideas while taking courses, keeping up with committee meetings, and even teaching classes to other students, and it can easily become overwhelming. While we can never truly control our environments, we can learn to grow through them and make continued progress. Continue reading Surf’s Up!: Thriving Amid Chaos →

Gradhacker Posts, Graduate School

The Lost Art of Doing One Thing at a Time

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Today I submitted my very first grant application to the NIH. Funny thing is, until yesterday I thought I had 6 days to submit. However, I did not factor in early submission deadlines, so thanks to a well-timed reminder from our Grants and Contracts office I suddenly realized I had less than 24 hours to finish a grant package with all of the supporting materials or else all of my hard work would be for nothing. How did I get it all finished in time (other than lots and lots of coffee)?

Monotasking

Or, as I like to refer to it “the lost art of doing one thing at a time.” Continue reading The Lost Art of Doing One Thing at a Time →

Gradhacker Posts, Graduate School

5 Pointers for a Better Poster

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There is a big difference between the research posters we make in graduate school compared with our seventh grade science projects. Some of us, myself included, managed to dodge poster projects all through undergrad. This is fine, until one day as graduate students we find ourselves staring blankly at the submission form for a poster session at a conference that’s due in 24 hours.

Thankfully, posters are not as hard to make as they might seem, but there are some very common mistakes that many people make when putting together their first posters. Here are some basic pointers I have picked up that have greatly helped me with putting together and presenting posters. Continue reading 5 Pointers for a Better Poster →