A job application asks you to provide a teaching portfolio, and you are stumped. Never fear! This short blog will walk you through the basics of compiling your very own teaching portfolio, provide links to additional resources, and offer helpful tips to make this process as pain-free as possible. (Note:…

What does it mean to fail in science? In scientific research, what we call “failure” does not always mean the same thing. While some failures arise from technical issues, others stem from the scientific process itself. In the first case, experimental problems due to procedural mistakes, inadequate…

It was a cold Tuesday afternoon in my second year when my advisor sat across from me and said, almost gently, "I think we need to reconsider the direction of your project." I had spent the last year optimizing the phenotyping protocol for drought response in a specific Arabidopsis mutant line. I had…

Competition for scientific job positions is increasingly fierce nowadays. That pressure is felt even more strongly in the global south, where stable and well-funded jobs for highly trained scientists are limited, often available in a select few cities (Kent et al, 2022[1]). Major employers include…

Importance of collaboration Collaboration has become central to contemporary science. The 2024 Physiology Nobel laureate Victor Ambrose remarked that “two people talking about something they’re really interested in is more than just twice one person. Because the exchange of ideas can be catalytic.”…

A position in academia is a profound commitment. It is one of those fields where you must constantly consolidate your knowledge just to prepare for the next phase. In a lab setting, the work often extends far beyond a formal job description. Success is usually proportional to the effort invested beyond…

It’s Monday morning. You start the week with a clear goal. Then, in a quick lab meeting, you are told that goals have changed, again. And now your monthly plan must be rewritten to meet new expectations. For the fourth time this year.  It’s an exhausting cycle.…

Recently, conversations about inclusion have gained visibility across the film industry, public policy, and even toy design. Yet how often do we pause to reflect on equity within science itself, particularly in academic environments? Bias is a preference for or against a person, group, idea, or belief,…