Science Policy Fellowships (Christine Micheel and Matthew McMahon)
En route to their current positions, Christine Micheel and Michael McMahon pursued policy fellowships. Dr. Micheel served as a Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow in the National Cancer Policy Forum (NCPF) and Board on Health Care Services. Dr. McMahon completed an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Discussion topics will include:

Benefits of policy fellowships to career development
Tips for navigating the application and selection process

Managing a Lab (Nikki Cheng and Jenny Morrell-Falvey)
At the University of Kansas Medical Center, Dr. Cheng is working to understand how chemokine signaling regulates early and late stage breast cancer progression. At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dr. Morrell-Falvey focuses on using imaging techniques to investigate biological systems at multiple scales, from macromolecular interactions and cellular signaling to community structure. But how do they manage the day-to-day operations of their lab?

Discussion topics will include:

Tips and tricks to setting up, maintaining, and managing your lab
Unexpected challenges that may occur
Best practices to keep in mind while running a lab

Teaching (Harold Olivey, Michelle Penn-Marshall, Klarissa Hardy)
Drs. Olivey, Penn-Marshall, and Hardy hail from three different types of institutions with different expectations for teaching and research. The discussion will focus on their roles as teachers, whom they are teaching, their workloads, and how they balance teaching and research.

Discussion topics will include:

The institutional culture regarding the importance of teaching and the role as a teacher
Balancing both research and teaching
The expectations of tenure at the various institutions represented

Research Administration (David Lyons, Andrea Bauman-Carnegie)
Dr. Carnegie directs the administrative, financial, and operational affairs of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, a multi-institutional research center administratively housed in the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. Dr. Lyons is the Director of the Wake Forest Animal Welfare Program and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Dr. Carnegie and Dr. Lyons play key roles in supporting the research enterprise at their respective institutions. In this session, they will discuss their roles and talk about the day-to-day work of research administration. 

Discussion topics will include:

The transition into research administration
Skills needed in order to be prepared and considered for research administration roles
What a successful career in research administration looks like

Work Styles (Alyssa Hasty)
We work with people every day. Dr. Hasty will discuss the art of knowing people, understanding your own work styles, and the best ways to successfully work with different personalities.

The main components of this seminar will include:

Keys to understanding people’s work style as well as your own
How different work styles can lead to success
Coping with tricky situations when others have different work styles

Navigating the Government (Jenny Morrell-Falvey, Matthew McMahon)
Dr. Morrell-Falvey is a staff scientist with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Dr. McMahon serves as the senior advisor for Translational Research at the National Eye Institute. They will share advice for understanding and navigating the unique structure of the government sector.

Discussion topics will include:

How the speakers’ government institution is structured and how does their role fits in the organization
The application process for the speakers’ organizations
The differences working in a government environment versus a university or industry setting

Faculty Job Search and Tenure Expectations (Nikki Cheng, Michelle Penn-Marshall)
Dr. Cheng is a member of the faculty at the University of Kansas Medical Center; while Dr. Penn-Marshall is the chairperson of the Department of Biological Sciences at Hampton University. Both will share interesting perspectives on the role of and the hiring of faculty, specifically the key stages of the academic career ladder, becoming aware of the personal skills and attributes needed to progress in academia, and understanding other key factors that affect career success.

Discussion topics will include:

The faculty job search process for the speakers represented
What search committees look for in candidates today
The considerations for a startup package and what successful negotiations look like

Choosing a Postdoc (Klarissa Hardy, Harold Olivey, David Lyons)
A postdoctoral fellowship is a crucial stepping-stone for careers in academia and research.  Drs. Hardy, Olivey, and Lyons will share advice for choosing a postdoctoral fellowship and making the most of this critical training period. 

Discussion topics will include:

The speakers’ goals for their postdoctoral fellowships
Speakers’ advice on how to choose and apply to the postdoc position that will be the best fit

Managing Time and Projects (Christine Micheel and Andrea Bauman-Carnegie)
The roles that Drs. Micheel and Carnegie hold involve juggling many projects and relationships, each of which require maintenance and prioritization. Dr. Micheel is the managing editor for the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s MyCancerGenome.org project. Dr. Carnegie is Director of Administrative Operations for the Center for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. 

Discussion topics will include:

The speakers’ week-at-a-glance
Project prioritization within their roles
Strategies for meeting goals and managing people and projects 

Setting Expectations and Resolving Conflict (Bruce Damon & Brian Welch)
This session teaches an interest-based approach to setting expectations and resolving conflicts in research training. The interest-based approach recognizes the legitimate interests of each person, how others may be affected, and leads to a more useful discussion in which common interests may inform and permit exploration of options with a greater array of satisfying choices for both individuals. 

The main components of this session will include:

Interest-based approaches to conflict resolution
How expectations factor into conflict resolution