Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Street smarts of science for students

Nature Immunology volume 15, pages 997–999 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

A workshop organized by the Society for Leukocyte Biology offers advice to graduate students on how to navigate educational and professional waters to find success in academia.

Once considered a traditional career choice, tenured research faculty positions in the biomedical sciences have diminished to the point at which they are now thought of as an alternative career path1. Worldwide fiscal constraints have trimmed government and private sources of research funding, which has created an increasingly competitive landscape for young scientists looking to succeed in academia. Thus, students seeking tenure-track faculty positions must make efficient use of their training time and network with colleagues in their scientific discipline, including potential employers. To this end, the Trainee Task Force of the Society for Leukocyte Biology has identified areas in which the most junior members of the society—those enrolled in graduate school, medical school or combined degree programs—may need help navigating these waters. The pool of their collective knowledge and experience is presented yearly at the annual Society for Leukocyte Biology meeting as a workshop entitled “Street Smarts of Science for Students,” initiated by Elizabeth J. Kovacs (a professor at Loyola University Chicago), along with Sulie L. Chang (a professor at Seton Hall University). Below we discuss highlights of the advice presented at the workshop, including finding a mentor, self-marketing and making the most of scientific conferences.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

References

  1. Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group of the National Institutes of Health. Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group Report <http://acd.od.nih.gov/biomedical_research_wgreport.pdf> (June 2012).

  2. Rockey, S.J. Nat. Med. 20, 575 (2014).

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank J. Gomez-Cambronero, L. Montanier, D.G. Remick and M.K. Jung for help onsite at the “Street Smarts of Science” workshops; and M. Glenn and S.-A. Creighton, K.A. Esguerra, V. Floriani, M. Mack, B. Newby and F. Zadlock for contributions to the workshop content. Supported by the US National Institutes of Health (T32 AA013527 to E.J.K., F30 AA022856 to M.M.C. and K02 DA016149 to S.L.C.) and the Dr. Ralph and Marian C. Falk Medical Research Trust (E.J.K.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michael M. Chen is with the Integrative Cell Biology Program, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, Illinois, USA.,

    Michael M Chen

  2. Anita Zahs is with the Department of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, Illinois, USA.,

    Anita Zahs

  3. Sulie L. Chang is with the Institute of NeuroImmune Pharmacology, Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey, USA.,

    Sulie L Chang

  4. Elizabeth J. Kovacs is with the Burn and Shock Trauma Research Institute, Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, Illinois, USA.,

    Elizabeth J Kovacs

Authors
  1. Michael M Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anita Zahs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sulie L Chang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Elizabeth J Kovacs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth J Kovacs.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chen, M., Zahs, A., Chang, S. et al. Street smarts of science for students. Nat Immunol 15, 997–999 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.2989

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.2989

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing