#AcademicChatter #AcademicX

Wondering now if the PhD is worth it

Anonymous Question "Does professional means being dead inside? No emotion, vulnerability, or panicking situations, but professional?"

The PhD Place No. Being professional means to focus on the job at hand. If any of your personal struggles interfere with or impact your job, then it becomes something you need to openly discuss with your colleagues/employer, to find ways to accommodate.

The PhD Place Less and less so. Some of the most competitive industries are discovering that the most successful people are empathic, and willing to reveal emotion.

Postdocs do a lot of invisible labor in academia. The majority of which is helping PhD students. Many of us are happy to do it, but when students fail to acknowledge that help, especially in front of the PI, it kinda kills the vibe. Give people credit for their work.

Joy A. Franco, PhD While the students should acknowledge who helps them, in my opinion, this type of behavior and the fact it persists reflects bigger problems with the culture of the lab/lack of communication of what’s acceptable conduct by the PI.

Posting a celebratory pic after your thesis defence seems scarier now.

A PhD is proof that time also flies when you are not having fun

This is not just an NIH problem. It’s an academia problem, which is unambiguously a gerontocracy. I’ve had people tell me the folks I supported for highly competitive, powerful roles were too junior (even in some cases when all finalists were full professors). I myself went from

The good idea comes when one person feels comfortable enough to say something that might make them look stupid and their friend is open enough to recognize its potential.

Something here must be publishable.

It's my birthday today! After six months focusing on health, I found almost every health issue I had was related to the fact that I'm Indian. Science avoids the topic of race, but what we need is "race science 2.0" to recognize our genetic diversity to improve health outcomes:

There’s no greater joy than to see students you’ve mentored in some capacity before absolutely flourish in their life - reaching their full potential. No greater joy.

Why do we have a majority feeling this way in #academia ? Thoughts? #AcademicSupport #postdocvoice

In your PhD journey, no matter how hard you work, no one, yourself included, will ever think you are doing or working hard enough. So, just set clear goals and stick to the plan. This too shall pass.

ᏗᎷᏒ Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.