Tag: Education

In most STEM disciplines there is a racial disparity between practitioners and the broader population. This disparity is often greater in plant sciences than in biomedical-related disciplines. Here, Hubbard and colleagues take a close look at the demographics of plant scientists in the UK and provide…

I think one of the most important lessons a scientist learns is to cross-check their findings with a different approach in order to determine if the findings are reasonable. This interesting article by Oliveira-Filho and Campos-Silva et al. lays out several examples of using back-of-the envelope or Fermi…

The quality of student-advisor relationships is one of the top predictors of research progress and sense of belonging in science, yet in most cases the mentoring relationship is simply left to chance. In this preprint, Debray et al. surveyed a cohort of PhD students to understand what mentoring practices…

Recent years have seen a reevaluation of the history and practice of science, including reconsidering who is recognized and why. Science doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it reflects the culture and values of those that practice it. This article, by Mabry et al., is intended to serve as a conversation starter…

What do mentees want and need from their mentors, and are they getting it? How do factors such as gender identity and internationalism affect the quality of mentor/mentee interactions? Results from a survey of more than 2000 mentees (mostly postdocs and graduate students) are reported, along with a thorough…

Short-format training (SFT) provides opportunities for people to acquire knowledge and skills outside of traditional degree-granting programs. Unfortunately, in spite of good intentions, there’s evidence to suggest that the SFTs aren’t always very effective, and that the knowledge gained doesn’t…

This is a fantastic article to help new, future, and even current lab heads think about their postures, priorities, and practices. It was developed through a workshop held during the Arabidopsis meeting, originally scheduled for 2020 but held online in 2021 and run by several scientists who recently…

Experience is the best teacher, so hand-on learning is invaluable for students of biology. If you have the opportunity to teach with a laboratory course and haven’t yet incorporated a module that incorporates CRISR/Cas9, you’re in luck! Here, Mayta et al. share the design of the laboratory course…