1 CHBE 551 Lect 03 Planning A Research Career

2 Outline Objective: Overview of how you build a research career What are key skills that need to be developed as a graduate student? What are key skills that need to be developed as a postdoc What are the key things you need to do as a starting professor How do research projects fit into that plan

Big Picture It takes planning to build a research career Need to develop the needed skills Need to develop the appropriate mentors When you choose research projects you need to decide how the projects fit into your career It is not good enough for a project to be fun and fundable. The project needs to also advance your career 3

Key Skills For An Academic Research skills Plan, execute and fund research projects Mentoring skills People in your class Your graduate students and postdocs Fund raising skills Salesmanship to get your ideas noticed 4

You Cannot Get Those Skills In One Fell Swope Graduate student Research skills Classroom skills Skill to Independently carry out a research project Communication skills Postdoc Additional research skills Mentoring skills Independently planning and executing a research project 5

Assistant Professor Demonstrate that you can Carry out research in your own lab Mentor graduate students Advance the field Raise money Show promise of great things Have mentors to write promotion letters 6

It Is Important For You To Take Charge Of Your Career Acquire the skills to meet your career objectives including: Technical skills People skills Communication skills Mentors It is your job to make sure that you acquire these skills in grad school 7

Key Skills To Be Developed In Grad School Honing your technical skills Develop the skills to carry out a research project independently Learning how to communicate your results Starting to develop mentors 8

Honing Your Technical Skills In Graduate School Objectives Learn how to do state of the art experiments and/or calculations (Key job in your first two years of grad school) Learn how to evaluate your own work. What is good, what are the weaknesses Become your own worst critic Learning what you are good at and enjoy How do your skills compare to others in the field Learn what leaders in your field are doing and how you might contribute 9

Developing Independence In Grad School Develop the skills to carry out a research project independently Learn to carry out a research project without close direction Reading the literature to know what has been done before Choosing appropriate techniques Developing a research plan that can get useful results Getting publications on your results 10

Communication Skills In Graduate School Learn how to organize and write a paper Learn the minimum publishable unit Learn how to present your work in seminars and at technical meetings Learn how to teach Learn how to direct research 11

Key Objectives Of Postdoc Develop capability to independently plan a research project Direct graduate students Getting Mentors to write recomendations 12

Key Concept Of Research Planning When you are planning research, you are not just planning a research project Instead you are also Developing skills Developing contacts/mentors Developing your reputation 13

Matching A Project To Your Career path Starting graduate student Choose a project that allows you to develop skills: How to do experiments, write them up … Senior graduate student Need a project that allows you to develop independence to carry out a project Postdoc Project needs to provide you the opportunity to plan a research project, direct graduate students, develop mentors, fans 14

15 The Knowledge Curve Progress Time Filling holes in existing work Time to move on Mining discoveries Discovery 1-5 pubs Knowledge Evolves With An S Shape Curve publications

16 Planning Research Progress Time Filling holes in existing work Time to move on Mining discoveries Discovery 1-5 pubs Knowledge Evolves With An S Shape Curve publications Start here Develop Skills Work Down

17 When You Are Evaluating An Idea It Is Important To Know Where It Is on the Knowledge Curve Completely new ideas/molecules Nothing like this published before Areas/sub areas with publications but still significant holes Areas with pubs Areas with 100+ publications that need to be cleaned up Route to fame but high risk before tenure Usually people near scientific retirement unless area very important Beginning grad students Prime target for postdocs beginning faculty

18 Key Issue To Consider: Being At The Right Place On The Knowledge Curve Progress Time Craig Miesse Nicholas Shayri Craig Jensen UIUC Microburner Project DARPA Army Navy NIH NSF DOE Tenure First Proposal

19 Best Projects Break Off The Curves Progress Time Rob Scott Su Zach Porous Silicon Cindy Joe Brian Yimin Micro Fuel Cells Scott Kuan Lin Chang Lu Novel Catalysts John

Building Your Reputation Students, Postdoocs build their reputation via papers Publication count is critical Need a first author papers by your third year in graduate school Try to get 8 or so total papers in grad school Includes second author papers Pay attention to the minimum publishable unit - 20

Postdocs Build Their Reputation Via High Impact Papers, Mentors As a postdoc you should try to get papers in high impact journals Nature, Science, JACS… Need mentors Well known research advisor Others at your university Others in your area Submit an NSF or NIH proposal if possible 21

Summary You are responsible for building your career Develop needed skills Develop needed contacts, mentors Developing research ideas Getting publications Always Need to focus on the next paper 22

In Class Exercise Last time we asked people to describe the most important question in their area What skills do you need to develop to answer those questions? What would you need to do get a paper on that topic within the next year? 23

24 Questions?