Ph.D. students: this holiday season, devote a few hours to reading Work Your Career by @JonathanMalloy and me. (Many libraries have it.) The book teaches you how to maximize your agency throughout your program.

@AcademicChatter #WorkYourCareer

As @JonathanMalloy and I argue in this @ConversationCA article, Ph.D. students can't wait for programs and universities to meet their professional development needs. While some offer great options, availability is uneven.

#AcademicTwitter #phdchat

https://t.co/RZ8pV1XjOW
In #WorkYourCareer, we provide students with clear guidance on how to prepare for both academic & non-academic careers at every stage of their program. We outline our approach in the first chapter (available free online).

#AcademicTwitter #phdChat
https://t.co/AAm6jRhQCQ
In Chapter 2 of #WorkYourCareer, we walk you through questions to consider when applying to PhD programs - including whether to apply and if so, to which ones (free excerpt linked below).

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https://t.co/Mif6bTErgT
#AcademicTwitter #phdChat
Chapter 2 of #WorkYourCareer also includes our somewhat-controversial 'should I do a PhD?' flowchart. A PhD can be a great choice for many people - but it is a big life decision.

#AcademicTwitter #phdChat

https://t.co/srzBQfWw8w
Chapter 3 of #WorkYourCareer provides tips on getting through the program side of grad school - all seven stages. Classes, comps, dissertation, supervisors - it's all there.

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https://t.co/qCFduL63Es
In Chapter 4 of #WorkYourCareer , we guide students to increase their skills and expand their networks through activities outside their programs - and give tools to make strategic choices in doing so.

#AcademicTwitter #phdChat

https://t.co/ZVgZ0ZflxW
One topic that can be a bit of a black box for grad students is applying for funding. In #WorkYourCareer, chapter 5 is devoted to understanding how to approach grant applications.

#AcademicTwitter #phdChat
Chapter 6 of #WorkYourCareer focuses on publishing. We encourage students to create a strategic publishing portfolio and explain how to do so. Writing and publishing is an emotional topic. We discuss how to start from where you are at right now.

#AcademicTwitter #phdChat
A big challenge for many grad students is productivity. In chapter 7 of #WorkYourCareer, we look at issues of time management, networking, and building a professional reputation. See the free excerpt linked below.

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https://t.co/Vd0oe9Ixzx
Two chapters in #WorkYourCareer are devoted to applying for jobs. Ch 8 looks at career options for PhDs and how to get started. Ch 9 focuses on how to apply for academic jobs: how to interpret academic job ads, prepare materials, and make it through interviews.
#AcademicTwitter
We end #WorkYourCareer by reminding students to maximize their agency (Chapter 10) and then by urging our faculty colleagues to take action to improve graduate professional training (Appendix - Faculty Call to Arms).

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@Gold_Dana 's review of #WorkYourCareer in @CJPS_RCSP

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https://t.co/WzjkLcFQzy
@raulpacheco 's reading notes on #WorkYourCareer

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https://t.co/2MP9zLeBhq
Graduate career professional's review of #WorkYourCareer

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https://t.co/VXP4Q0U3bj
S.E. Gump's review of #WorkYourCareer in the Journal of Scholarly Publishing.

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https://t.co/9a91BC3bZb
#WorkYourCareer reviews on @goodreads

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https://t.co/9zzKF4ylCv
@JonathanMalloy and I wrote #WorkYourCareer to empower PhD students during their programs.

Check your local or university library for a copy to read over the break!

https://t.co/OkGlXCHhO4

More from Science

Hard agree. And if this is useful, let me share something that often gets omitted (not by @kakape).

Variants always emerge, & are not good or bad, but expected. The challenge is figuring out which variants are bad, and that can't be done with sequence alone.


You can't just look at a sequence and say, "Aha! A mutation in spike. This must be more transmissible or can evade antibody neutralization." Sure, we can use computational models to try and predict the functional consequence of a given mutation, but models are often wrong.

The virus acquires mutations randomly every time it replicates. Many mutations don't change the virus at all. Others may change it in a way that have no consequences for human transmission or disease. But you can't tell just looking at sequence alone.

In order to determine the functional impact of a mutation, you need to actually do experiments. You can look at some effects in cell culture, but to address questions relating to transmission or disease, you have to use animal models.

The reason people were concerned initially about B.1.1.7 is because of epidemiological evidence showing that it rapidly became dominant in one area. More rapidly that could be explained unless it had some kind of advantage that allowed it to outcompete other circulating variants.

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