Category: STEM success

Hello folks, this is the last blog article before the end of the year and I decided to share my interview with one of my virtual friend Toyin. She is a lecturer at University of Georgia and earned her PhD in mathematics from the University of Alabama. Toyin is also the founder of The Academic Society, a friendly space for grad student where they can find resources on how to balance school and adulting. Since the launch of The Academic Society, Toyin launched and monetised several of the activities. She launched an online course called the productivity accelerator and self-published a book through Amazon called #gradboss – A grad school Survival guide. You can find Toyin on Instagram, subscribe to her Youtube channel, and, if you are a PhD student, you can join her Facebook group too to make the most of your higher education.

Continue reading “Dr Toyin Alli – mathematician, lecturer and entrepreneur”

Sophie Okolo, MPH, is the founder and chief editor of Global Health Aging, a web-based publication covering the research and news dedicated to “exploring the implications of longer, healthier lives.” Sophie is a science writer and researcher with a bachelor’s degree in bioinformatics and a master’s degree in public health. She is passionate about creating a better quality of life for older adults through increasing access to preventive care and building public awareness of older adults’ perception and treatment. Her writing has appeared in Forbes, PBS Next Avenue, Massive Science, Philips, IEEE Potentials, and others. An advocate for STEM inclusion, Sophie supports various causes that improve women and minority representation. She is a TEDMED 2020 Research Scholar, and currently serves as an advisor for humanKINDER – a company that shines a light on untold stories, ideas, and solutions for systems change. You can follow Sophie on Twitter or Instagram.

Continue reading “Sophie Okolo – scientist, writer and longevity advocate”

I am off to a conference in Vienna from this Saturday and for the whole following week. It will be a big event with big-name professors from all over the world and about 400 posters on display. I initially applied to do an oral presentation, but I didn’t make it. So, I was given the chance to present a poster. Not too bad. Going to such huge events where you will meet all the people whose names you have been reading on papers for 4+ years can be daunting.  And if you are an introvert, it might feel like a nightmare.
Continue reading “How to shine at business events as an introvert.”

One of the reasons why I did all the extra-curriculum activities outside my PhD, is because I do not wish to stay in academia once I finish my PhD. As I started applying for jobs, I pleasingly noticed that my CV is suitable for jobs I never thought I could apply for with a PhD in Chemistry.

Continue reading “Science policy as a form of science communication”

As many of you know, I will finish my PhD without any publication…in the traditional sense! Call it bad luck, bad timing, what else? I didn’t manage to produce any positive result during my PhD, the only kind of results accepted by scientific journals. First of all, let’s unravel some myths. Negative results or results that don’t produce a positive outcome aren’t failures! They are the vast majority of science and equally if not more important than positive ones. It is a great shame that they don’t make it to a scientific publication because their value to one’s research, and potentially to the whole scientific community, is immense!

Continue reading “Are traditional publications the only way to contribute to science?”

As scientists, we are constantly challenged to find solutions to new or old problems. This really stimulates creativity which is, by far, one of the best skills of a scientist. Creativity shouldn’t stop to the lab bench, in my opinion. All the skills we learn in grad school could be easily implemented in our personal and professional life too. So, what about getting creative and making actual money out of it? Many grad students don’t have a permanent salary, have to teach or demonstrate in undergrad labs to support themselves, work part-time jobs, and in the worst case, they might end up paying an eternal mortgage to get an education.

Continue reading “Female, scientists and entrepreneurs!”

This morning I wanted to put together a list of things that I would like to do once I have finished my PhD. I started writing down travelling, going to a concert and this sort of stuff. Reading through, I just realised that none of this stuff is amazing things to do. They are just normal stuff. I actually don’t have to wait until the end of my PhD to do crazy things because I have been already living my best life.
Continue reading “Is a PhD only learning about your niche of research?”

This article has been republished by the website sisterstem.org and can be found here.

The other day I came across an article published on Science Career with the title You have accomplished more than you think! It was written by my friend Karin, scientist and author of the book You Must Be Very Intelligent – The PhD Delusion. The article starts with the story of a postdoc who wants to leave academia but believes that the skills she gained during her academic research won’t grant her any job! Unfortunately, I hear this story over and over again and as I am approaching the end of my PhD, many people ask me “Are you gonna do a postdoc after this? Is there any chemical industry that will hire you after your PhD degree?” When I tell people that you can also work either in science communication, scientific affairs, as a medical writer, get an editorial job, patent attorney with a science degree, they stare at me with their mouth open. “I didn’t know that you could do that with a PhD!

Continue reading “Are you aware of your potential? How to structure you CV!”

The American Society of Human Genetics states that any attempt to use genetics as scientific evidence to set differences between races shows a profound misunderstanding of this discipline. So, how come James Watson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Genetics? This person affirmed that he was inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa because all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – where all the testing says not really! Probably because Rosalind Franklin produced the crucial piece of evidence which allowed to sort out the structure of DNA and he took the merit for it? For this statement, he lost his job in 2007 and very recently he was stripped of several honorary titles by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, in New York, which he once headed.

Continue reading “PoC in STEM – Ebony in the Ivory Tower”