| Abstract Scope |
In the pursuit of a PhD, students must, at minimum, produce and defend original research but the teaching of many of the softer or independent skills can be overlooked. Every graduate school experience is different based on the varying degrees of involvement with their community or the strictness of their advisors. In this presentation I will describe my PhD experience and what I have had to learn during my postdoctoral position and highlight skills that are not inherently integrated into the PhD curricula. The main topics that will be addressed will be conducting independent research, searching for a job (including writing proposals), and soft skills such as interpersonal relationships (because more than your PhD advisor matters now). These opinions, recommendations, findings, and conclusions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of NIST or the United States Government. |