Self-Development Seminar

The "Self-Development Seminar" is a monthly educational event, presented by Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in Polymer Physics. Aimed at researchers and professionals within the scientific community, these sessions focus on crucial elements for both academic and professional development. From insights into the academic job market to understanding the differences between academia and industry research, our seminars provide deep dives into real-life scenarios and experiences.

Our past seminars have brought together highly esteemed individuals from universities and institutes worldwide, who shared their journeys and expertise. Guest speakers like Dr. Phillip A. Taylor, an incoming assistant professor at the University of Virginia, have discussed the intricacies of navigating the academic job market. Dr. Huikuan Chao from the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, has detailed his research experiences in both the academia and industry realms.

Moreover, the seminars provide practical tools and strategies to help researchers transition smoothly through various stages of their careers. Liliana Bello Fernandez from the University of Illinois offered her insights on transitioning from graduate school to the consulting industry. Our seminars also serve as a guide to mastering important events like the APS March Meeting, with in-depth discussions on how to prepare technical talks, network effectively, and negotiate offers.

Overall, the Self-Development Seminar series offers a rich, comprehensive resource for scientists and researchers seeking to navigate and excel in their academic and professional journeys. The event encourages active participation and open conversation, with the ultimate aim of fostering a supportive community for self-improvement and career advancement within the Polymer Physics field.

Past Events

Jun 14, 2023

SDS 6: Academic Free Energy Landscape and Job Market: An "Enhanced" Sampling Method for Soft Materials Researchers

Dr. Phillip A. Taylor, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia

Announcing this month's self development seminar where UDelaware alum and Sandia Labs postdoc Phillip Taylor will talk about the academic job market, national lab postdoc and his career journey. Dr. Phillip A. Taylor is an incoming Assistant Professor (Fall 2024) at the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia. In this talk, he will share his thoughts on navigating the academic job market.

May 10 2023

SDS 5: Research in academia and industry: an early career perspective

Dr. Huikuan Chao, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering

Research in academia and industry: an early career perspective How is research in academia different from research in industrial labs/R&D centers? How different are the problems in each case and what qualities do you need to succeed in either scenarios? Come hear from a polymer scientist who made the jump from academia to industry successfully and then re-transitioned back to lead his own lab in academia. Dr. Huikuan Chao, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering will trace his career path and share his research experience at University of Pennsylvania, CalTech, Dow, and now FAMU-FSE.

Apr 12, 2023

SDS 4: Consulting Industry Info Session

Dr. Liliana Bello Fernandez from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Transitioning from graduate school to the next steps in your career can be a very daunting process. Hear from folks within the DPOLY community on how we went from graduate school to the consulting industry. We’ll be going over a sample test case of what can be expected during the interview process and discussing how we went about our job search, negotiating our offers, and joining the consulting industry. We want this to be as informative as possible so please bring questions!Presented by Liliana Bello Fernandez from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and joining Exponent Summer 2023.

Mar 1, 2023

SDS 3: What to Expect at the APS March Meeting

Dr. Pierre Kawak from University of South Florida

The APS march meeting is soon approaching. As we prepare for our trips to Vegas and our last minute slide adjustments, let's meet and chat about conference etiquette and share our best networking tips.Join us to kickstart your conference networking and learn about the march meeting and networking etiquette. As a bonus, we will be ready to critique your APS tech talk/poster.

Feb 8, 2023

SDS 2: Making a March Meeting Technical Talk

Dr. Bharath Venkatesh from the University of California, Santa Barbara

Join us as we share tricks and techniques for preparing a talk for the upcoming march meeting. Feel free to bring in a slide or two and get live feedback.As we approach the march meeting, several of us are going to be giving talks and/or delivering poster pitches at the conference. March meeting talks are designed to be a quick and effective summary of new results/on-going work in less than 12 minutes. The short duration and the pressures of presenting newly obtained results in front of a diverse audience can be daunting even for the seasoned speaker. In this edition of the ECR polymer physics professional development seminar series, I will share tips on how to prepare and deliver an engaging talk at the march meeting covering topics like how to design a talk, how to make effective slides, how to work on delivery and public speaking, and lastly how to take feedback and address questions. Time permitting, attendees will be given the opportunity to share their slides (if comfortable doing so) and receive feedback and critique from fellow ECR slack members.

Jan 11, 2023

SDS 1: Tips to land your dream job

Dr. Pierre Kawak from University of South Florida

Join us for a virtual chat about Physics PhD careers in Industry and Academia.We will discuss common myths about Physics careers, share updated statistics and present best practices for application materials, networking and more. Also, come network with us and the Early Career Researchers in Polymer Physics community.Presented by Dr. Pierre Kawak from the University of South Florida and American Physical Society Career Mentoring Fellow.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse