Post themes:
- Applying for faculty positions
- Facilitating research
- Interviews with researchers
- Mentoring grad students
- Moving Institutions
- Parenting while faculty
- Productivity and Planners
- Sabbaticals
- Transitioning a Computation Research Team Between Institutions
Context: Academic researchers look at transitioning institutions for a range of reasons – to immerse in a different research culture, to decrease distance of their team to vital research instrumentation, to follow their partner who is taking a new position, etc. A transition that is good in the long term can nonetheless cause a dip in publication output and even lead to the upheaval of well-functioning research group. To talk about such transitions, I reached out to Prof. Dilpuneet ‘DP’ Aidhy about his recent experience transitioning his research group between institutions. He is a material scientist who utilizes computational experimentation (molecular dynamics simulations)… - Getting and starting your first faculty appointment (tenure-track)
Overview: Each fall, academic institutions start advertising open faculty positions and those interested in being faculty start to polish their application packets. The process is time consuming- with institutions now often requiring letters of recommendation, diversity, and vision statements in addition to the standard C.V., research statement and teaching statements. As a faculty member, my involvement varies each fall- jumping from participating in a search one year to mostly responding to requests for advice from colleagues about assembling a competitive portfolio. In parallel to watching the application season begin, we typically watch large cohorts of new faculty arrive on campus to take their first… - Tips on facilitating your multi-institution research grant
Overview: To assemble a team that can both author a high-quality grant proposal and complete the outlined research, faculty often need to reach across institutions. Having researchers from multiple institutions brings horsepower, but it also brings administrative headaches. Knowing this, many funding agencies ask investigators to describe how the research team will operate during the program—how it will be managed and how members will communicate and share data. However, there is little space in proposals for detailed plans and issues that arise often do not appear in these plans. For this post I brought some colleagues together to highlight some… - Five tips on facilitating an academic research group for new faculty
Overview: While I was part of a larger research group during graduate school, I did not mindfully consider how that group was structured to encourage communication, professional development, and research productivity. It seemed to me that everyone just thrived in that research group, and we never discussed a need for ‘pixie dust’ or new formats to the group structure, so I assumed that I could “run” a research group after earning my PhD that would be just as effective. I also assumed that my style could simply be a mirror of my advisor and that his style would work for… - Discussing sabbaticals with Dr. Amber Genau, an associate professor of materials science and engineering within the University of Alabama at Birmingham
Overview: This post is one of 23 interviews with scholars about their research process and career. My discussion with Dr. Amber Genau focused on what she learned by taking a sabbatical and advice for other faculty who are interested in embarking on one. Dr. Genau recently completed her first sabbatical in Germany (Spring 2019). Most academics can apply for sabbatical leave every seven years. This break from teaching obligations is meant to allow the faculty member to learn new techniques, expand a research program, or finish a book manuscript or set of articles they’ve been too busy to complete. Most faculty… - Interview with Dr. Jennifer Carter, the founder of the Mesoscale Science Lab at Case Western Reserve
Overview: This post is part of series of interviews with 23 scholars about their research process and path that will be conducted until the end of 2023. Dr. Jennifer Carter founded the Mesoscale Science Lab at Case Western Reserve in 2013 and is now a tenured associate professor and director of the Case School of Engineering Swagelok Center for Surface Analysis of Materials. Her research involves interface-rich materials and those results have helped her earn both an NSF CAREER award and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. You can explore her publications on Google Scholar. We have… - Interview with Dr. Ryan Need, an assistant professor within the University of Florida Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Overview: This post is part of series of interviews with 23 scholars about their research process and path that will be conducted until the end of 2023. Dr. Ryan Need began their tenure-track position at the University of Florida in 2019, which meant that moved to a new location and were just establishing their research group as the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began. While the academic startup process requires focused energy to establish new collaborations, set a research group culture, etc., this time of remote mentoring added additional hurdles as they founded their group Quantum Materials Design Group. Ryan’s technical work currently focuses on creating… - Interview with Dr. Davis Ferriell, an instructor at the University of Kentucky for the first-year engineering program
Overview: As part of my journey to re-evaluate my own views of research and research process and identity as a researcher, I am undertaking the process of interviewing 25 researchers about their own research career paths, processes, etc. This is the second post in the series is an interview with Dr. William ‘Davis’ Ferriell. His most most recent research work was focused on the mechanical response of football helmets (read his published work here) and his bio is on LinkedIn. In spite of his training and accomplishments in bioengineering research, his current job at the University of Kentucky puts teaching…