A recent Washington Post article let the public in on one of science's worst kept secrets: we produce far more PhDs than will ever find faculty positions. Despite this reality, most PhD programs only prepare their students to do research and, in many ways, leave them poorly prepared to be faculty. In this program, we'll look at the programs offered by current PhD programs and consider potential additions that could better prepare students for life outside of the lab — and just might make them better faculty.

The topics we'll consider:

Managing people and finances.

Communicating to other researchers and the public.

Developing basic IT skills.

Panelists:

Elizabeth Bass, a professor of journalism at SUNY Stony Brook, runs their Center for Communicating Science.

Eric Vieira,  Assistant Director at the Office of Technology & Business Development of the Mount Sinai Medical Center, has  worked for more than 15 years in in the biomedical industry.

Monica Kerr is the Director of the NYAS' Science Alliance, which focuses on career development for students and post-docs. 

Kira Anthony is a former cancer researcher and bioinformatician who will talk about existing PhD programs.

Christopher Mason is a professor of computational biomedicine at Cornell Medical College.

This event is being co-sponsored by the New York Academy of Science, and will be held at their headquarters. You must sign up here in order to be allowed through security on the night of the event.