professional development ismb 2008 tutorial 1plos professional development tutorial

Professional DevelopmentISMB 2008 Tutorial

1PLoS Professional Development Tutorial

References

• The PLoS Computational Biology Ten Rules Collection and references contained therein

• These can be found on-line at http://collections.plos.org/ploscompbiol/tensimplerules.php

• They are also included as an appendix to these slides.


http://collections.plos.org/ploscompbiol/tensimplerules.php


Mentors PLoS Comp. Biol. Editors

• Philip Bourne – UC San Diego• Steven Brenner – UC Berkeley• Fran Lewitter – Whitehead Institute• Aviv Regev - MIT• Chris Sander – Sloan Kettering, New York

• Each of us represents different career points and a unique perspective


Format

• This tutorial consists of four sessions in which we will discuss a variety of topics. In teaching some of this material in a graduate course at the University of California San Diego it became apparent that the best formula is for the instructor to provide enough content to stimulate discussion, for it is through that dialog that the best learning experience is to be had

• Be prepared to contribute


Agenda

• Introduction• Part I – Overview – Doing the Best Research• Part II – Getting the Most from Your Graduate

Student Experience – collaborating, reviewing, posters, getting a job ….

• Part III – Writing the Best Research Articles• Part IV – Giving the Best Talks


Introduction


Background

• How did the course come about?

• What is the background (bias) of the instructor?


MotivationHow We Spend Our Time

Task Percent Time Key Elements

Collaboration 20% Science driver, but never taught how to collaborate

Lecturing (Internal and External)

10% Various drivers, but never taught how to lecture

Writing Grants 10% Science driver, but never taught how to write a grant

Managing People 20% Dealing with HR (visas, hires, reference letters); people have/are problems

Writing/Reworking Papers 15% Science driver, but never taught how to write a good paper

Reviewing 15% Science driver, but never taught how to write a good review

Mentoring 10% Science driver, but never taught how to mentor


Perspective - Bourne

• BS, BS (Hon.), PhD at same provincial Oz university

• 2 good postdocs in Europe and the US• Left academia (sort of) for the IT world for 12

years• 14 years in academia – Research Scientist,

Adjunct Prof., Prof.• Immersed himself in an emerging discipline• Many diverse research interests


Perspectives - Brenner


Perspective - Lewitter

PLoS Professional Development Tutorial 11

Perspectives - Regev


Perspectives - Sander


Thus This Tutorial Is…

• How to be the best scientist you can be

• Providing no scientific content at all, simply advice on professional development

• The opportunity for you to engage in an active dialog about your career concerns. If we do not have that dialog we have failed!


How Did This Course Come About?

• About 3 years ago the student council of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) asked PB to give them a lecture on how to get published based on his role of EIC of PLoS Comp. Biol.

• The exchange that took place was one of the most fun lectures he have ever given

• In trying to capture that moment he wrote an Editorial “Ten Simple Rules for Getting Published” …


How Did This Course Come About?

• It was downloaded a large number of times• Folks started to approach him with other

ideas for Ten Simple Rules• To date there is a “Ten Rules” series

downloadable from http://collections.plos.org/ploscompbiol/tensimplerules.php




Download Statistics

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Getting Published

Getting Grants Reviewers

Postdoctoral Position

Collaboration

Oral Presentations Posters

Best Research

Graduate Students

Publication date > Oct-05 Jan-06 Sep-06 Nov-06 Mar-07 Apr-07 May-07 Oct-07 Nov-07

Oct-05 2074Nov-05 4032Dec-05 1619

Jan-06 1517Feb-06 1792 2174Mar-06 2454 2695Apr-06 1392 900

May-06 1239 247Jun-06 1520 218Jul-06 1076 202

Aug-06 986 196Sep-06 1741 452 1432Oct-06 1671 706 2144Nov-06 1344 261 483 3972Dec-06 796 236 325 2559

Jan-07 680 244 347 1369Feb-07 711 216 375 566Mar-07 668 181 241 478 750Apr-07 718 344 290 650 3232 1814

May-07 1406 705 689 831 1284 3622 2369Jun-07 1100 410 310 659 597 916 2068Jul-07 822 307 280 410 400 491 812

Aug-07 984 212 204 399 250 429 375Collection launched Sep 07 6130 2896 2123 2258 2233 3523 3259

Oct-07 2098 1206 537 768 606 2805 1086 2316Nov-07 1438 878 603 1027 822 1445 1230 5858 74Dec-07 1529 808 568 855 564 1249 906 984 4813

Total 43537 16694 10951 16801 10738 16294 12105 9158 4887

PLoS Professional Development Tutorial

Part IDoing Your Best Research

(more about attitude than specifics)


Doing Your Best Research – A Philosophical Perspective Adapted from Richard Hamming

• Richard Hamming 1915 – 1998

• Mathematician• Know to many of us for

the Hamming Distance

• Winner of the Turing Award

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hamming

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•


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hamming

Basic Question as Asked by Hamming in his 1986 Lecture ‘‘You and Your Research’’

How Can you do Nobel Prize Winning Research?


Rule 1 – Be Honest with Yourself

• If you do not want to win a Nobel Prize this may be a waste of your time

• If you do not want to win a Nobel Prize (or have some equivalent driver) you will not succeed

• It is no good just wanting to be a me too you must want to make a difference


Rule 2 – Prepare Your Mind

• Winning a Nobel Prize is not a matter of luck• You not winning the Nobel Prize is not the

fault of others• Face up to your shortcomings and work out

how to overcome them either by your own efforts or in collaboration with the efforts of others


Rule 3 – Age is Important

• You are smarter when you are younger but less experienced

• The foundation for your success will likely come from your work at an early stage – 20’s to mid 30’s – There are exceptions e.g., the field of study may not have existed when you were that old

• Experience will help you successfully build on that body of work


Rule 4 - Brains Are Not Enough,You Also Need Courage

• This could perhaps be interpreted as ego• You need to strongly voice an opinion you

believe in, even when everyone is against you• The irony is that research is about innovation,

yet at the same time the scientific community is very conservative

• You need to keep pushing those ideas orally and in print


Rule 5 - Make the Best of YourWorking Conditions

• ‘‘It is a poor workman who blames his tools—the good man gets on with the job, given what he’s got, and gets the best answer he can.’’

• The workplace is not about a fancy foyer it is about a place that fosters discourse and stimulates you e.g., MRC Cambridge

• If the working conditions are not good find new ones soon (more on this in subsequently)


Rule 6 - Work Hard and Effectively• ‘‘Knowledge and productivity are like compound

interest. Given two people with exactly the same ability, the one person who manages day in and day out to get in one more hour of thinking will be tremendously more productive over a lifetime.’’

• “Hard work alone is not enough—it must be applied sensibly.”

• The person that spends the most hours in the lab. is often not the best

• Time management skills are critical• To work hard like this requires real passion that comes

from the heart not the head


Rule 7 - Believe and Doubt YourHypothesis at the Same Time

• ‘‘When you find apparent flaws, you’ve got to be sensitive and keep track of those things, and keep an eye out for how they can be explained or how the theory can be changed to fit them. Those are often the great scientific contributions”

• You must see the big picture – it is oh so easy not too

• If your hypothesis is proven wrong know when to move on


Rule 8 - Work on the ImportantProblems in Your Field

• “If you want to do great work, you clearly must work on important problems. . . . I finally adopted what I called ‘Great Thoughts Time.’ When I went to lunch Friday noon, I would only discuss great thoughts after that. By great thoughts I mean ones like: ‘What will be the impact of computers on science and how can I change it?’’’

• Talk is cheap - So what are my current great thoughts?– Change the way science is disseminated through pubcasts– Up turn the pharmaceutical industry by reverse engineering every

drug on the market– Decipher more evidence that we are a product of our environment

• I dare you to go back and ask your PI what are her/his current great thoughts


Rule 9 - Be Committed to YourProblem

• Success comes from the heart not the head• ‘‘So the way to manage yourself is that when you

have a real important problem you don’t let anything else get the center of your attention—you keep your thoughts on the problem. Keep your subconscious starved so it has to work on your problem, so you can sleep peacefully and get the answer in the morning, free.’’

• E.g., New York Times on superconductivity


Rule 10 - Leave Your Door Open

• ‘‘There is a pretty good correlation between those who work with the doors open and those who ultimately do important things, although people who work with doors closed often work harder. Somehow they seem to work on slightly the wrong thing—not much, but enough that they miss fame”

• The door is a metaphor – be open to every idea and person in your field


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Discussion/Questions?


Part IIGetting the Most from Your

Graduate Student Experience


Rule 0 – What to Have When You Graduate

• A break• A job which likely means:

– The maximum number of high impact papers in quality journals – (ranges from 2 – 20+)

– A post doc scholarship i.e. money– Excellent letters of recommendation from highly respected

scientists– A committee that had a dialog about your research– A plan


Rule 1 – (Here We Go Again) Let Passion be Your Driving Force

• You went into research with little experience – are you as good at it as you were coursework?

• Are you excited about your work?• Do you like this life style?• If the answer to any of the above is no, what is

your plan – you should always have a plan


Rule 2 – Is Your Mentor Project and Lab Right for You?

• Are you getting the right level of mentoring? If not talk to your mentor, consider a second mentor, use your thesis committee

• Is your mentor renown? If not, be sure to be able to get letters from a renown mentor

• Is your mentor as enthusiastic about your project as others in the lab?


Rule 3 – Think Independently

• Having said that different students require different levels of mentoring in the end to succeed (particularly in academia) you have to be independent – Ask yourself how independent are you? Can you formulate your own research problems and carry it through?


Rule 4 – Life is All About Balance

• It is my observation that the best scientists balance their career with other activities

• Leave an unsolved problem do something unrelated and come back to it – a solution will often be obvious

• Other activities often lead to scientific collaborations!


Rule 5 – Think Ahead

• Do not wait until you are about to graduate to find a lab to do a post doc

• Apply for Fellowships – money talks• Use your mentor and thesis committee to help

find the right position• Learn to parallel process


Rule 6 - Remain Focused on Your Hypothesis

• Step back once a week and consider the big picture – Are you moving towards your big goals

• Define the scope of your project with your mentor earlier rather than later – many mentors are happy to have cheap productive labor, but is it in your best interests to stay around?

• Do not be scared of what the future holds


Rule 7 – Address Problems Earlier Rather Than Later

• Your mentor should be more than a purveyor of good science they should be there for your professional development

• Issues you are having your mentor will likely have experienced before – take advantage of that experience


Rule 8 – Networking – Its Critical

• The literature is the most important vehicle for your work but it is impersonal

• Be personal - the connections you make are critical to your future career – give posters, do talks whenever you can both locally, nationally and internationally

• Scan for important meetings and discuss your attendance with your mentor


Rule 9 – Build Confidence and a Thick Skin

• Defend your work with knowledge not knee jerk reactions

• Stand up for what you believe in• Be prepared for periods of failure – learn what

you can from them, but get over them


Rule 10 – Make Your Thesis Committee Work for the Privilege

• Select a committee as early as possible – be involved in that selection criteria should be related science and how they can help you with your post doctoral career

• Communicate with members regularly – use them as mentor backups

• If you and your mentor seriously disagree consult other members of your committee


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Part III – Writing the Best Research Articles

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Overarching Thoughts …

• Your publications are the most important metric by which you are judged as a scientist

• That metric is increasingly easy to measure – H factor (ISI Web of Science)– Number of citations (ISI, Google Scholar)– Journal downloads

• Your papers will be around long after you are gone – they are your scientific legacy

• Think about that immutability as you write• Numbers (regrettably) are important


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Overarching Thoughts

Quality is Everything


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Emerging Metrics - Bourne

http://pubnet.gersteinlab.org/PLoS Professional Development Tutorial

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Rule 1 – To Write You Have to Read

• Read at least 2 papers per day in detail• Review papers through journal clubs and take

note of the reviews of others• Put aside papers you and others think are of

high quality to refer to as you write even if they are not related to the topic

• Look at papers which have open review – learn to write better papers from those reviews


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Rule 2 – Learn to be Objective About Your Work

• The best scientists are the most objective • It is easy not to be objective when you have buried

yourself in it for months on end – see your work in a broader context – how will it impact science as a whole

• It is easier for your mentor to be objective (it is only one of a number of projects going on in the lab) but still..

• Have independent colleagues who can be objective review your first draft


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Rule 3 – Pick the Right Journal

• In order of Priority:1. The quality of the journal as defined by impact factor,

Editorial Board and quality of reviews (this is a matter of opinion!)

2. Be realistic about where the work can be published – it will save time and frustration

3. The journal with the readership that is closest to your work

4. Go open access (personal comment)• Use the pre-submission system to be sure it is the

right journal


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Rule 4 – Learn to Write Well

• This is critical to being a good scientist – it is not just about grammar, but comprehension

• Take classes to improve your writing skills• This is valuable whatever your career path as

you will need to present complex ideas clearly, logically and to a broad audience whatever in whatever you do

• This will lead to less rejection and less rounds of editing


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Rule 5 – Learn to Live with Rejection

• Being objective makes rejection easier• Even the best scientists get rejected

frequently • Failure to do so has adversely impacted very

good scientists• If all of the reviewers think you have written a

poor paper – 9 times out of 10 you have – move on


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Rule 6 – Learn to Use the Review Process to Your Advantage

• Good reviews will improve the paper significantly• Respond to all the points made by the reviewers• Do so in a polite and non-antagonistic way –

particularly when the reviewer has not understood your point – consider it your fault not theirs

• Respond in a way that is easy for the reviewer to comprehend:– Address every point head on in the response letter to the

editor– Make it easy for the reviewer to see where you made

changes e.g. with tracking


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Rule 7 – You Know the Rules for Good Science – Do Not Ignore Them

• Novelty

• Comprehensive coverage of the literature to establish your motivation and hypothesis

• Good data and appropriate analysis

• A thought provoking discussionPLoS Professional Development Tutorial

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Rule 8 – Even if You Obey Rule 7 the Message Can be Lost If..

• The paper is poorly organized – think logical flow not a blow-by-blow – think scholarship

• There is not the appropriate use of figures and tables• The manuscript is not of the right length• You are not writing to the intended audience• You do not obey (to the letter) the Guide to Authors

– particularly important for the methods section• The title does not convey the message• You overstate your case with words like “novel”,

“new” and a host of other adjectives


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Rule 9 – Start Writing the Paper on Day 1 (Arguable)

• Make a good bibliographic database to draw from as you go• Decide on the journal in which you will publish early• This implies the end result is a paper and not a new

finding/knowledge – get real!• Draw up an outline• Structure the paper around the major results as found in

figures and tables• Starting early makes it easier to finish – being the best at

doing research is not enough – the world needs to know about it

• As a PhD student this also implies you are writing your thesis as you do the work


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Rule 10 – Become a Reviewer Early in Your Career

• Have your mentors give you the papers they are reviewing – write a review and discuss with your mentor to improve your reviewing

• Look at the reviews others have written• Understand the review process – EIC, AEs, reviewers • Make reviewer-like comments in on-line journals

that have that feature, like the PLoS journals • This will allow you to see your work in a new light


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Part IV Giving Good Talks

59Professional Development SeriesPLoS Professional Development Tutorial

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Over Arching Thoughts …• The science you are talking about is more important than the

talk• Being a good speaker is a key element of being a good

scientist• The best speakers are often the best scientists• Talk for yourself as well as others – talk to get feedback on

your work and use it• If you are passionate about what you do your talks will be

more compelling and enjoyable


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Over Arching Thoughts

• Work within the bounds of your personality• If you get no questions you screwed up• Even after what I am about to tell you sometimes I

feel I give bad talks and I do not know why• Conversely sometimes I worry about giving a talk and

it turns out much better than I expected• You should be able to give the same talk without

visual aids


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How Do I know I Gave a Good Talk?

• You get invited back to talk• You get invited to talk by someone in the

audience• Audience members follow up with you days or

weeks later• People are not asleep or reading email


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Rule 1 – Tell the Audience What They Want to Hear

• Talk at a level of detail that matches the expertise of the audience

• Do not talk up e.g. by saying “this is not my expertise but..” if it is not your expertise they do not want to hear it

• Do not talk down in a condescending tone• Figure out who your audience will be before

you prepare one slide


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Rule 2 – Less is More

• Do not try and say too much – your message will be lost

• Be clear and concise – use visuals to help with this

• Your knowledge will come across – do not try and tell the audience everything you know

• No more than one slide per minute max. • Too many slides and you tend to talk to

quickly – the message will be lost


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Rule 3 – Only Talk When You Have Something to Say

• Your time is precious – the audiences time is yours x the number of people in the audience – Do not waste it with preliminary material


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Rule 4 – Make the Take Home Message Persistent

• Test – Ask audience members a week later what they remember from your talk .. If– They remember more that 3 points … no one will– They remember 3 points you regard as key – well

done– If they remember 1-3 points but they were not

key somehow your emphasis was wrong– They say “what talk” .. Figure that out for yourself


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Rule 5 – Tell a Story

• People (that includes scientists) love a story• Include a human element i.e. make it different

to a paper• Stories have beginnings that set the stage

reveal the characters etc.• Stories have middles (the experiment and its

results perhaps)• Stories have a big ending, often a surprise one


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Rule 6 – Treat the Floor as a Stage

• Entertain the audience – think ahead of time what will keep their attention and make them enjoy listening

• Do not use techniques that are not in your personality. If you are not humorous by nature don’t try and start in front of an audience ditto telling anecdotes


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Rule 7 – Practice and Time Your Presentation

• Practice will avoid going off on tangents – this can be dangerous – message is lost, don’t get to the big finish, talk about stuff that you know little about…

• Practice with colleagues before the big audience – they will think kinder thoughts if you screw up

• Practice speaking through journal club, group meetings etc.


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Rule 8 - Slides

• Do not read the slide unless you wish to emphasize a point

• Slides are a backup for what you are saying• Look at them on the big screen before the audience

does• Focus on content not glitz• Avoid information overload• Use animations sparingly and effectively• Use navigation tricks


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Rule 9 – Video or at Least Audio Your Practice Presentations and Review

(Declared Conflict)

• This is a very telling way of seeing bad habits e.g., umming and ahhring, scratching your head (or worse) ….

• Work hard to correct those habits


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Rule 10 – Provide Appropriate Acknowledgements

• This is important – Do not run out of time and so not do it

• Acknowledge as you go• Use pictures• Acknowledge people you anticipate will be in

the audience who have contributed• Include important references


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Additional Thoughts on Slides…

• A picture really is worth a lot of words• Spend time on preparing persistent (e.g.

introductory slides you will use over) slides – it is a rewarding experience and a skill worth developing

• As much as possible a slide should have an understandable message on its own – Its might end up in Google images after all


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Additional Thoughts on Slides

• Reuse slides to emphasize a point• Provide a roadmap

– Navigation on the bottom of the screen– Returning to the agenda indicating the point you

are going to discuss next– Use recap slides– On the Web


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