The cost of a career: A letter to my younger self
What this professor wishes she had known—and done differently
Working Life
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Hosting a dinner party for our visiting speaker was no piece of cake—but it was worth it
Restaurants were too limiting for this researcher, so he decided to try something different -
My career seemed to hit a wall. Now I see that it was discrimination
The root is called "maternal wall bias," this professor discovered -
The power of being persistent
How a doctoral student and her adviser worked through some unexpected challenges -
After years in the Navy, I found my sea legs again—in the lab
For this Navy veteran, the lab offered community and support -
I was worried about teaching, but it turned out to be a highlight of graduate school
Putting in the time to build teaching skills is worth the effort, this student writes -
There's no shame in leaving academia
Why a tenured professor left her post, and the rewards she has found since -
Get comfortable with discomfort and start communicating
It can be hard to work in a place where the local language isn’t your own, but the challenge is surmountable, this researcher writes -
How being inventive built my career
Academia should value entrepreneurship and invention, this scientist writes -
How coming out helped prepare me to ‘come out’ as a nonacademic a decade later
When this grad student realized that she wanted to leave academia, she found that she could draw on her surprisingly similar experience of coming out -
Mental health in academia is too often a forgotten footnote. That needs to change
A grad student's struggle with depression highlights the challenges that many face -
How I learned to stop caring about prestige
This postdoc has found contentment in what he has accomplished, regardless of the prominence of his institution or the journals in which he has published -
On an island, but not alone
When his Ph.D. fieldwork took him to a remote island, this researcher learned to reach out -
I got lost in academia. To find my way, I moved across an ocean
An unconventional international career grant was just what this struggling assistant professor needed -
For crucial career choices, listen to advice—but follow your heart
A research scientist reflects on how she embraced the freedom to make the decisions that worked best for her -
Why I don't use Instagram for science outreach
Women shouldn't have to shoulder the burden of solving gender inequality on social media, this grad student writes
