Graduate Student Mentor Page
Who we are: profiles
Professional development opportunities at OSU
http://physics.oregonstate.edu/profDev
Conference on Graduate Education in Physics
http://www.aps.org/programs/education/conference.cfm This conference in February 2008 gathered Directors of Graduate Studies from 75 universities in the US to discuss graduate programs. Janet Tate will be reporting on the conference in winter or spring, but go to the web page to see some of the presentations (we're still adding to the resources). Issues were the modernity or lack thereof of the core curriculum, the comp exam, the importance of mentoring (generally not enough), boosting the prestige of non-academic careers, providing good TA training, opportunities for professional development, developing communication skills, graduate student rights and responsibilities, time to degree, ethics …. and so on.
Joining a research group When to join? How to choose?
It is important to get involved with a research group as soon as possible. At the latest, it is expected that students have begun work by the time they finish their second year of classes.
In the winter term, the department offers a research seminar. In this seminar, faculty talk about the research in their group, outline promising projects, and discuss career opportunities in the field. It is critical for first year grad students to attend. Attendance is also very beneficial for more senior students, because the seminars give a broad picture of research in the department. The first seminar in this series is especially important, summarizing the expectations in a research lab, how funding works and the professional development opportunities here at OSU.
Communication seminar:
The Communications seminar is focused on developing professional skills such as communicating effectively with people inside and outside one's field, the “give and take” of friendly critical feedback, and the job search process. Students are all required to give 10 minute presentations and write a short paper with emphasis on communicating with technically literate non-specialists. The talks and papers are subject to constructive criticism from the other students as well as the instructor. Two of the 10 hours are devoted to the job search process: resume preparation, interviewing skills and professional etiquette. The webpage for the Spring 08 seminar is http://www.physics.oregonstate.edu/~wwarren/COURSES/ph607/
Teaching seminar
The department runs a teaching seminar to help TAs develop their teaching skills and become aware of proven techniques to increase student learning.
Orals Lunch
The orals lunch is an informal way to practice “at-the-black-board” oral questions. A professor will ask you general questions about your research, or the universe, like “what is the temperature of the sun?” and then help you deduce answers using what you already know. The questions aim to strengthen the cohesiveness of your knowledge, and your enthusiasm for physics. The oral question format is identical to the “Oral exam” which all PhD candidates must take (usually in the 3rd year). It is also great practice also for conference presentations and job interview situations. David Roundy started the orals lunch. He plans to continue when he returns in September 2008. If there is sufficient interest, other faculty may be convinced to fill-in for Prof Roundy.
Weekly Grad-to-grad seminar
At our most recent meeting, the grad students proposed starting a seminar run by graduate students primarily for graduate students. This is a place to develop professional skills, brainstorming and dialoguing about physics, and learn about things outside ones research area.
Meeting place and time: The meetings will take place in Weniger 377. The meeting time will be Thursdays from 12-1.
Meeting format: One graduate student will be in charge for each week. That graduate student should prepare a “3-slide” talk either on their own work or preferably on an outside topic (suggestions include: physics of biking or surfing, suggestions for the energy crisis, water resources… ), preferably something of common interest within science that the speaker is not an expert on.
There was also the suggestion of using PRL articles as resources, as there are often approachable articles on topics of general interest such as global warming.
While the vision was that most of the meetings would be of this type, it was suggested that a few times per quarter a faculty member is invited to give a presentation and lead a discussion on professional development topics such as conducting a job search or surviving the interview process. In addition, a few meetings per quarter could be geared toward topics that would be approachable and of interest to undergrad students, and they could be encouraged to take part. At some point it would be nice to see the undergrads participate in a similar informal seminar series.
Ethan comments: Group meetings (the weekly get-together in your research group) are another a possible venue to have grad-to-grad presentations/discussions about interesting research outside your specialty. Ask your PI if this is compatible with group meeting goals.
Janet comments: look at this example from the University of Washington http://students.washington.edu/cdophys/index.shtml where physics and astronomy graduate students assist their peers in their career advancement by organizing career seminars, compiling relevant employment data and preparatory information, and offering networking opportunities. This is passed on from generation to generation. Also, a more formal organization to discuss grad student needs and interests within the department would be a good idea.
Job Search Page:
There is a need for more resources for graduate students in the job search process. There is a dedicated Job Search page here for that purpose.
An internship listing: http://www.fhcrc.org/science/education/Cancer%20Research%20Internships_FHCRC%20site.pdf
Resource pages from the Minot group wiki
Funding for research: http://web.science.oregonstate.edu/~minote/wiki/doku.php?id=funding
Information on Journals: http://web.science.oregonstate.edu/~minote/wiki/doku.php?id=journals
Writing Papers: http://web.science.oregonstate.edu/~minote/wiki/doku.php?id=writing_papers
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