During graduate school, there are two standard sources of funding, teaching assistantships (TA) and research assistantships (RA). Typically your first year as a graduate student will be funded as a teaching assistant, then once you join a research group, if the PI has money, you can be placed on a research assistantship so you can focus your entire time on research and not have to spend 20-30 hours a week teaching. Often times graduate students will be on a TA stipend their entire time because that is less money out of the professors funds.
If you enjoy teaching and interacting with students, being on TA funding isn't bad at all. Typically you can work your way up in the ranks and become a head TA (usually a slight higher paycheck goes along with this) and in some schools you can even get the chance to be an instructor of record. This can be great if you are interested in teaching at a community college or university because it will show your potential employers that you have that experience already.
Being on an RA has its own benefits as well. You get to make more progress on your research so you can potentially finish school a year early if you work extremely hard. If you work even harder you may be able to graduate in three years even, but this is typically accompanied by working 16-18 hour days, 7 days a week. There is typically no ranking in the RA funding so there is not a way to earn a bit more money unless you get a fellowship that pays more than your department's minimum graduate stipend.
Some graduate students may be fortunate enough to have the choice between TA and RA, some may constantly strive towards RA, while others may be content with the TA funding for five or so years. No matter which source of funding you have, you should embrace every aspect of it and either utilize the teaching experience or the extra time to spend on your research.
Monday, January 9, 2017
My First National Conference
It is not typical for a first year graduate student to present at a national conference, at least not in chemistry. I was fortunate enough to be a part of a tight nit group and almost our entire group attended the spring national conference of my first year in graduate school. My PI gave me a short project that I worked hard on to get enough data to make a poster out of and I am very grateful for that because it was one of the best weeks of graduate school for me, especially so early on in my graduate career.
In this trip, since so many people were going, my group got an AirBnB to stay in so everyone could socialize together. It was wonderful! I was the low man on the totem pole, since I was the only first year student, so I took the couch while everyone else got to sleep in beds. It was fine with me, I was happy to be along. With this setup, we all got up in the morning and would get ready and then head to the convention center as a group. Then in the evening we would trickle back to the house in smaller groups as we got done with the talks we wanted to see. Then we would make dinner, drink, and play games late into the night. Wake up after four or five hours of sleep and repeat the process.
With this setup, I got to know the other grad students in my group much better, and we got several stories that we are able to reminisce on years later. If you attend a conference by yourself, it is a good time to make networking connections in industries and other universities. Get to know a few people, bump shoulders, exchange emails (it is a good idea to print business cards before you leave for the conference), try to find people that do similar work or could help you get a job after you graduate.
National conferences have two levels of presentations. The introductory level is doing a poster (I call this introductory because undergraduates are typically able to present posters at national conferences). The higher level is doing a talk, which are typically 10-15 minutes plus a few minutes for questioning. I had done a poster before in undergrad so I was comfortable doing a poster again for graduate school.
Poster presentations are, in some ways, nicer to do than talks. They are stressful to make because you need it finalized by your PI and printed, ideally before you leave for the conference so you don't have to try and print it at the conference. This means about a week of stress making it, but once it is submitted for printing, it is done. Nothing you can do to change it unless there are serious errors, which at this point there shouldn't be. Then you get to enjoy the conference and your only commitment is to present the poster at a two hour poster sessions, which typically offers beer and wine during the session. Once you put your poster up, get your drink in hand, then you just stand by your poster and casually engage people that show an interest in your work. Once the two hours are up, you get to take down your poster and enjoy the rest of the conference.
Talks are different beasts. I haven't given a talk at a national conference yet, only at a regional one so the experiences I will talk about is from the grad students in my group that gave talks. Talks are better than posters because you get to make changes all the way up until you present and you only have to present for 20 minutes rather than two hours. The downside is you get make changes up until you present. This can be a downer, especially when you are attending the conference with friends that are presenting posters. The ones presenting posters are carefree, enjoying talks, food, drinks, while you have a presentation that you are constantly working on, especially if your PI is at the conference as well. Talks are great, they are a right of passage that every graduate student should go through at some point.
National conferences are a party of sorts. Yes they are official and knowledge is exchanged, but they are not the pinnacle conferences in most fields. Most fields have smaller conferences (such as the Gordon Conferences) that put a huge emphasis on presenting unpublished results, bring together the top researchers in the fields, and encourage discussion after each talk. Presenting at a national conference is another stepping stone, another item to check of the bucket list of being a graduate student. Even though it is just one more thing to do, if you attend it with friends and colleagues, you will make many memories that you can share and reminisce about later in life.
In this trip, since so many people were going, my group got an AirBnB to stay in so everyone could socialize together. It was wonderful! I was the low man on the totem pole, since I was the only first year student, so I took the couch while everyone else got to sleep in beds. It was fine with me, I was happy to be along. With this setup, we all got up in the morning and would get ready and then head to the convention center as a group. Then in the evening we would trickle back to the house in smaller groups as we got done with the talks we wanted to see. Then we would make dinner, drink, and play games late into the night. Wake up after four or five hours of sleep and repeat the process.
With this setup, I got to know the other grad students in my group much better, and we got several stories that we are able to reminisce on years later. If you attend a conference by yourself, it is a good time to make networking connections in industries and other universities. Get to know a few people, bump shoulders, exchange emails (it is a good idea to print business cards before you leave for the conference), try to find people that do similar work or could help you get a job after you graduate.
National conferences have two levels of presentations. The introductory level is doing a poster (I call this introductory because undergraduates are typically able to present posters at national conferences). The higher level is doing a talk, which are typically 10-15 minutes plus a few minutes for questioning. I had done a poster before in undergrad so I was comfortable doing a poster again for graduate school.
Poster presentations are, in some ways, nicer to do than talks. They are stressful to make because you need it finalized by your PI and printed, ideally before you leave for the conference so you don't have to try and print it at the conference. This means about a week of stress making it, but once it is submitted for printing, it is done. Nothing you can do to change it unless there are serious errors, which at this point there shouldn't be. Then you get to enjoy the conference and your only commitment is to present the poster at a two hour poster sessions, which typically offers beer and wine during the session. Once you put your poster up, get your drink in hand, then you just stand by your poster and casually engage people that show an interest in your work. Once the two hours are up, you get to take down your poster and enjoy the rest of the conference.
Talks are different beasts. I haven't given a talk at a national conference yet, only at a regional one so the experiences I will talk about is from the grad students in my group that gave talks. Talks are better than posters because you get to make changes all the way up until you present and you only have to present for 20 minutes rather than two hours. The downside is you get make changes up until you present. This can be a downer, especially when you are attending the conference with friends that are presenting posters. The ones presenting posters are carefree, enjoying talks, food, drinks, while you have a presentation that you are constantly working on, especially if your PI is at the conference as well. Talks are great, they are a right of passage that every graduate student should go through at some point.
National conferences are a party of sorts. Yes they are official and knowledge is exchanged, but they are not the pinnacle conferences in most fields. Most fields have smaller conferences (such as the Gordon Conferences) that put a huge emphasis on presenting unpublished results, bring together the top researchers in the fields, and encourage discussion after each talk. Presenting at a national conference is another stepping stone, another item to check of the bucket list of being a graduate student. Even though it is just one more thing to do, if you attend it with friends and colleagues, you will make many memories that you can share and reminisce about later in life.
Committee Meetings
In graduate school, your committee decides your fate. They are the ones you have to please to pass your orals and your defence so picking the right members can be important. Your PI will have ideas on who should be on your committee, the problem usually is that you need to hold your first committee meeting (the program of study meeting) by the end of your first year. This is a challenge because it is difficult to get 5 professors in a room at the same time, so get on it quick and be organized and respectful when contacting them for meeting times. Some professors like things like doodle polls, some prefer to have a small selection of date and times to pick from, and some will ignore your emails all together so you need to go talk to them in person. Though this is difficult, you only need to organize these meetings a handful of times over four or five years.
The program of study meeting is the first meeting of your committee and it is when you give a short presentation on your research topics, and you cover what classes you have taken and will take. Then the committee members sign off on your paperwork if they approve of your course selection and you can submit it to the graduate school. This also officially selects who is on your committee at this time (it is possible to change committee members later on, but it requires more paperwork).
The second committee meeting is usually your orals, where you present your current research progress, possibly also present a new research proposal, and then your committee will grill you on everything, from your research to basic concepts that you learned the first year of undergrad. This is a stressful time, but few graduate students that prepare for this fail. Also if you fail, you are typically asked to present again within 6 months so you are not instantly kicked out of the program.
The final, and most stressful, meeting is your defence. This meeting is the deciding factor on whether or not you get your PhD. You will give an hour long presentation that is open to the public that is followed by a short Q&A session. Then there is a break for the public the leave and then it is just you and your committee. Like the orals, your committee will grill you on pretty much anything that you have taken a class on or should know about for your respective field. You can be so nervous that you can trip up on basic general science questions like "What is Gibbs free energy?" Once they are done grilling you, you leave the room and your committee decides whether you passed or not. If you fail your defence, it is not an instant out, you are typically asked to present again at a later time. Once they are done deliberating, you are called back into the room and they tell you the verdict. Whether you passed or failed, do not expect to get any more work done for the rest of the day and the day after.
Committee meetings are a necessary part of graduate school. They start off simple and basic, but as your research evolves your meetings will get more challenging. Passing your defence is the ultimate adrenaline rush for a graduate student because it means those years of hard work paid off. Always remember to have friends that will celebrate with you when you succeed in anything, and help you feel better when you fail at times.
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