Published online 28 October 2009
Postdoc journal
The many hats of science
Bryan Venters
Bryan Venters is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Eukaryotic Gene Regulation at Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
I need to collect them all.
On my first day of graduate school, excitement and anticipation consumed me. I have to admit — I was naive. I thought learning how to conduct research effectively would be the only necessary scientific training. My experiments monopolized my thoughts, and my emotions often found themselves intertwined with the pending results. I remember going over protocols in my head while lying in bed at night to make sure that crucial steps had not been overlooked.
However, I have learned that a career in science is much more than conducting experiments. Scientists wear many hats. They design controlled experiments, but they also assume the role of public speaker, writer, manager and mentor.
As I consider how my time as a graduate student, and now as a postdoc, has prepared me for a future in science, I think about my ability to wear these many hats. Over the years I have given many presentations. I've come to enjoy writing manuscripts and editorial articles. And I am working on improving my managerial and mentoring skills. In overseeing a project in the lab to map the locations of hundreds of transcription factors in the yeast genome, for example, I've learned how to effectively guide others who are dealing with experimental roadblocks.
If skills are hats that scientists wear, then I've got to collect them all. It's part of being a scientist — and it gives you an edge in an increasingly competitive job market.
Postdoc Journal Keepers 2009
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Julia BoughnerJulia Boughner is a postdoc in evolutionary developmental biology at the University of Calgary, Canada.
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Bryan VentersBryan Venters is a postdoc in biochemistry and molecular biology at Pennsylvania State University.
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Joanne IsaacJoanne Isaac was a postdoc studying the effect of climate change on biodiversity at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. She is now in the United States so that her husband can complete a postdoc.
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Sam WalcottSam Walcott is a postdoc in theoretical biophysics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
