Professional Development

Job Posting – UBC Assistant Professor, Tenure Track

October 27, 2020 by nlafranzo Leave a Comment

The Gay and Transgender Chemists and Allies Subdivision of the Division of Professional Relations is proud to share that the University of British Columbia is seeking to hire an Assistant Professor in the area of Biological Chemistry/Chemical Biology and is interested in attracting a diverse set of applicants.

See more information, including contact details, below.

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

Assistant Professor, Tenure Track

The Department of Chemistry at the University of British Columbia (www.chem.ubc.ca) is seeking an outstanding new investigator for a full-time tenure-track faculty position, at the rank of Assistant Professor, at its Vancouver campus. With over 60 faculty, over 230 graduate students and 60 dedicated staff members, UBC Chemistry is one of the world’s top Departments, boasting outstanding research infrastructure, well-equipped shops and services and an unparalleled location on Canada’s beautiful west coast.

We are seeking candidates of exceptional scientific talent who have demonstrated success in the field of Biological Chemistry/Chemical Biology. Research programs in the areas of organic, inorganic, physical, theoretical, analytical, and materials chemistry that have strong relevance to the understanding and manipulation of biological systems will all be considered.

The position requires a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry or a related discipline and an outstanding research track record. Relevant postdoctoral experience is highly desirable. The successful candidate will develop and maintain an internationally recognized research program. As a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry, the successful applicant will be expected to effectively supervise graduate students, collaborate with other faculty members, obtain external funding, teach undergraduate and graduate Chemistry courses, and actively participate in departmental activities. Leading candidates will complement and strengthen the Department and University’s expertise in research and education.

The successful candidate will be eligible to hold an appointment at the Assistant Professor level but a higher rank may be considered for applicants with exceptional qualifications and experience.

The anticipated start date is July 1, 2021.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. Canadians and Permanent Residents of Canada will be given priority. Please indicate your legal status to work in Canada.

Applicants should upload a cover letter including a summary of research interests and fit to the position, a curriculum vitae including a list of publications, a detailed research proposal, a statement of teaching philosophy and experience, and a statement describing your experience working with a

diverse student body, as well as your past, present, and/or future contributions to creating/advancing a culture of equity and inclusion on campus or within your discipline.

Applicants should also provide contact information for three reference letter writers.

Apply here: https://www.chem.ubc.ca/biolchem-position-available

Review of completed applications will begin on January 8th, 2021

Please contact: chemsearch@chem.ubc.ca for general inquiries.

Application packages are not accepted via email.

Download a PDF of this posting HERE.

How to Recognize and Respond to Microaggressions

October 26, 2020 by nlafranzo Leave a Comment

Join ACS Webinars and the Division of Professional Relations for a series of paired-events that are co-hosted by the ACS Department of Diversity Programs and the Diversity, Inclusion and Respect Advisory Board.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 2-3pm ET
Speaker: Fatima Dainkeh, She+ Geeks Out
Moderator: Paula Christopher, American Chemical Society

What You Will Learn

What a microaggression is, looks like, and how it manifests
How to respond to microaggressions if you experienced one or how to respond to someone who has shared that they have been offended by something you did or said
How to respond to a microaggression if you witnessed one, but were not an active participant

Co-produced with: ACS Department of Diversity Programs and ACS Diversity, Inclusion & Respect Advisory Board

__________

Then, join us to discuss!

When: Thursday November 19 at 4-5 pm ET
Moderator: Ben Fiore-Walker, PhD – Manager, Department of Diversity Programs at American Chemical Society

Following this session, the ACS Division of Professional Relations (PROF) will be hosting a listening session, building off of the ACS webinar to allow members to provide their thoughts, ideas, and suggested action items. This will be facilitated by Ben Fiore-Walker, Manager of the ACS Diversity Programs Office. This session will be held on November 19th from 4-5pm EDT and you can register for this event at the following link: https://american-chemical-society.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkcOmuqT0pHtDkWLt1_oam0l3_X6Uwypvz

It is not required for attendees of the Listening Session to attend the ACS Webinar, but it is highly encouraged and the video recording can be viewed on-demand following the live broadcast (free ACS Member benefit).

These paired events will help us to continue to listen to our Members and provide them a conduit to share their thoughts, feelings, and suggested actions to help improve the culture of inclusion with ACS and our respective institutions.

And, let’s keep the conversation going. Let us know how we can support you, our members, by submitting anonymous suggestions to: https://app.suggestionox.com/r/DI_R

How to Retain Underrepresented Talent in STEM

October 15, 2020 by nlafranzo Leave a Comment

When: Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 2-3pm ET
Speaker: Michele Heyward, Posi+iveHire
Moderator: Paula Christopher, American Chemical Society

What You Will Learn

Why STEM related organizations have a difficult time retaining underrepresented women
Actionable steps to retain underrepresented talent in science, tech and engineering
How retaining underrepresented talent leads to attracting talent that is more diverse

Co-produced with: ACS Department of Diversity Programs and ACS Diversity, Inclusion & Respect Advisory Board

__________

Then, join us to discuss!

When: Monday October 19 from 7-8 PM ET
Moderator: Dr. Ben Fiore-Walker, manager of the ACS Department of Diversity Programs

Following this session, the ACS Division of Professional Relations (PROF) will be hosting a listening session building off of the ACS webinar to allow members to provide their thoughts, ideas, and suggested action items.

These paired events will help us to continue to listen to our Members and provide them a conduit to share their thoughts, feelings, and suggested actions for us to help enable as their elected officers.

And, let’s keep the conversation going. Let us know how we can support you, our members, by submitting anonymous suggestions to: https://app.suggestionox.com/r/DI_R

Ethics and Chemistry

September 18, 2020 by nlafranzo Leave a Comment

Ethics education is important and paramount in becoming a professional. Ethics is not the same as moral reasoning. Good people can do bad things. Newspaper articles report on cases in which scientists “mess up” or make the wrong choice in regards to ethical research, publishing and lab safety.¹ Ethics is as important as chemical laboratory skills and both must be taught. Basic research improves lives through chemistry; the quality of the science and published results is directly dependent upon the adherence to best practices in scientific ethics.

Ethics in ACS

The American Chemical Society (ACS) takes ethics seriously as it is infused in the society in a variety of ways. The ACS has developed “The Chemical Professional’s Code of Conduct” that can be implemented or modified for implementation at your organization to improve employee’s and student’s ethical decision making.²Similarly, ACS International Activities has composed the Global Chemists’ Code of Ethics (GCCE)³ and a free online training module is available to all.⁴As the division that leads the Society in professional development for all chemists, the Division of Professional Relations (PROF) has an Ethics Subdivision members can join.⁵ The Ethics Subdivision organizes symposia and networking opportunities for chemists to learn more about the topic and how to infuse it into their labs, workplaces and courses. ACS has a Committee on Ethics (ETHX) that was formed to promote and support “high standards of ethical conduct and integrity in the community of chemistry and related disciplines for the benefit of science and society.”^6,7 ETHX meets twice annually at the national meetings with additional virtual meetings at other times of the year. Throughout the year, ETHX is focused on linking content and educational resources for chemists on their website, developing and sponsoring ethics programming, contributing to Webinars, and rewarding outstanding ethics programming with its ChemLuminary Award for “Outstanding Local Section Programming Related to the Promotion of Ethics in Chemistry.”⁸ The linked resources include both ACS and non-ACS resources including links to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research⁹ and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ The Office of Research Integrity documents and training tutorials.¹⁰

Ethics Resources

Educators and managers must emphasize teaching ethics. To that end, for the chemical sciences, ACS and its members have taken the lead on ethics education. ETHX members are highly regarded professionals and innovators in ethics education. The ETHX Committee Chair contributes a column published in the weekly ACS publication Chemical and Engineering News. ETHX has published two monographs on its website authored by its members including “Introduction to the Ethics of Scientific Conflict of Interest (COI)” by Patrick Knerr and Ron D’Amelia¹¹and “The Importance of Ethical Conduct in Scientific Research” by Laurence Doemeny and Patrick Knerr.¹² There are many articles published in the ACS Journal of Chemical Education and ACS Symposium Series books on ethics education. ETHX Committee member Patricia Mabrouk and former member Susan Schelble teamed up to survey ACS national meeting attendees on “ACS Members’ Knowledge and Needs on Research Ethics” and reported their findings in the ACS Journal of Chemical Education.¹³ ETHX Committee member John D’Angelo authored the book Ethics in Science: Ethical Misconduct in Scientific Research published by CRC Press/Taylor and Francis.¹⁴ ETHX Committee Chair Judith Currano and member Patricia Mabrouk edited the 2018 ACS Symposium Series book entitled, Credit Where Credit Is Due: Respecting Authorship and Intellectual Property which stemmed from ACS national meeting symposium presentations.¹⁵ In addition to online resources, journal publications and books, ACS has organized webinars for chemists seeking to learn more about ethics. An example is the recent ACS off-campus Webinar entitled, “Copyright and Ethics Basics, and ACS resources available to help”¹⁶ focused on the peer-review process.

Networking Opportunities

The Ethics Subdivision hosts networking sessions at national meetings. We hope to see you at our next event!

I joined PROF because they offer valuable programming and networking events. There’s something for everyone. Reach out to me to learn more about ACS ethics resources and programming and to learn how you can get involved in the Ethics Subdivision. And the next time you are at an ACS event, don’t be afraid to introduce yourself!

References

Biography

Kelly Elkins is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Towson University (TU) where she teaches courses in forensic DNA biology, forensic chemistry, and forensic serology and leads a research lab in TU’s Forensic Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission (FEPAC)-accredited undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Kelly is a leading forensic educator who has authored two books, Introduction to Forensic Chemistry (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, 2018) and Forensic DNA Biology: A Laboratory Manual (Elsevier Academic Press, 2013). She has published five book chapters and over thirty journal articles including a recently published paper entitled, “Case Studies and Methods for Teaching Professional Ethics for Forensic Science Students,” and a forthcoming invited book chapter on “Publication Ethics” in Principles of Research Methodology and Ethics in Pharmaceutical Sciences to be published by CRC Press. Kelly is an active volunteer leader within the American Chemical Society where she is a member of the ACS Ethics Committee (ETHX) and serves on the Executive Committees of the Division of Professional Development as the Chair of the Ethics Subdivision and Secretary of the Division and the Maryland Local Section as Councilor and Co-Chair of the Women Chemists events. She organized three symposia and presented poster and oral presentations on ethics topics at the virtual Philadelphia and San Francisco ACS National Meetings.

Finding Your Voice in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conversation

September 1, 2020 by nlafranzo Leave a Comment

When: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 2-3pm ET
Speaker: Desiree S. Coleman, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant
Moderator: Paula Christopher, American Chemical Society

What You Will Learn

How to identify the ways that silence allows structural and systemic bias, racism, and discrimination to continue
How to actively identify ways that they personally can dismantle bias within their own spheres of influence
How to leverage the framework from the lecture to model inclusive behaviors and challenge oppressive systems

Co-produced with: ACS Department of Diversity Programs and ACS Diversity, Inclusion & Respect Advisory Board

__________

Then, join us to discuss!

When: Tuesday September 15 at 2-3pm ET
Moderator: Desiree S. Coleman, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant & Ben Fiore-Walker, American Chemical Society

Following this session, the ACS Division of Professional Relations (PROF) will be hosting an “Finding Your Voice in the DEI Conversation” building off of the ACS webinar to allow members to provide their thoughts, ideas, and suggested action items. This will be co-hosted by webinar speaker Desiree S. Coleman, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant and Ben Fiore-Walker, Manager of the ACS Diversity Programs Office. This session will be held on September 15th from 2-3pm EDT and you can register for this event at the following link: https://american-chemical-society.zoom.com/meeting/register/tJ0tf-qhqzkpH9wgzGO6NdX_mYybqnPhi6D_

And, let’s keep the conversation going. Let us know how we can support you, our members, by submitting anonymous suggestions to: https://app.suggestionox.com/r/DI_R

Professional Development in Graduate School

July 30, 2020 by nlafranzo Leave a Comment

Graduate students, no matter the discipline, have three overarching goals: publish papers, graduate, and get a job. Arguably, the latter is the hardest. A recent LinkedIn poll by Lou Alder suggests that 85% of new hires are filled via networking, which have been corroborated with another article from the Business Insider. [1,2] Networking along with other skills such as effective science communication, insight on external factors that influence science all are a part of one term: professional development.

With the overwhelming amount of resources for professional development, it can be an intimidating and time-consuming process for anyone. It should not, however, be delayed to the last minute as these skills can take years of practice. This article will share some of my personal “do’s” and “don’ts” to get you started.

Do: Build a personal brand

Developing a personal brand will force you to think about your value in the scientific community, increase your confidence, and grow your ability to self-promote your strengths and interests. In turn, this will also help you navigate conversations with complete strangers about yourself, a necessary skill that needs a level of mastery when building your network.[3] If you need more information from PROF, a previous blog post, authored by Matt Grandbois, discusses the importance of building a personal brand.[4]

Building your own brand will take time and effort, so start this like a homework assignment that was due yesterday. Once you have developed your “brand,” the next important task is implementation. How can you get your personal brand to translate into your resume/CV? LinkedIn? Cover letter? Research interests? Social media?

Don’t: Ask on the first meet about a job opportunity

When you are newly introduced to someone in a similar career you would like to pursue, it may be tempting to ask about future job opportunities at their company – resist the urge. It is likely that person you are speaking with does not have the correct information for you. Instead, focus on having a conversation that is informative about the company culture. In-depth conversations will help this person remember you longer and will help you feel comfortable at a later time. At that point, if you are interested in pursuing a job at their company/university, I recommend following the steps outlined in “How to ask for a job – without asking for a job.”[5]

Do: Attend local and national meetings

Attending research conferences at any level is a financial burden and time-consuming for young professionals. Still, it has the potential to bring sweeping changes and new dynamics for your network. Develop a strategy for conversations with others that work for you and practice, practice, practice. [6], [7] While COVID-19 has put a halt in-person meetings, virtual meetings have cropped up. While it’s not entirely the same experience, these virtual meetings are a great way to continue networking from the relative ease of your home (or workspace) without the hassle of travel costs.

Don’t: Expect your advisor (PI) to introduce you to their network

All research advisors are unique, and all of them tend to have a different approach to their professional networks. What are their expectations of you in different professional settings? Do they expect you to follow them around the conference and shake hands with their friends? Do they prefer you forge your own path? Can you speak to collaborators outside of the context of the joint project you are working on? Will their contacts help you reach your professional goals? If your career path branches away from your advisors’ career, then this will require networking in different circles. Don’t assume that your advisor’s network is enough.

Do: Prepare to face bias

There may come a time during a networking event, or at any point in your life, where you may encounter someone who has preconceived notions about details that define you. Unfortunately, race, gender, location, and age biases do exist and result in astonishing, off-handed comments that just make you want to drop your jaw to the floor. A web article from The Atlantic highlights the discrimination that minority groups face when networking.[8] When personal biases infiltrate your conversations with other science professionals, how you choose to handle those situations will become a part of your personal brand.

Biases have no place at a networking event, informal interview, or research conferences, but they do exist. Many societies, including ACS, have developed a member code of conduct,[9] and are exploring ways to file incident reports at national meetings.

Don’t: Stop enjoying your hobbies

Some of the most memorable conversations I’ve encountered with other professionals while building a conversation on scientific interests include discussion about shared interests and/or hobbies. These conversations make you much more memorable and bring a certain human component to light, meriting a better connection. It takes confidence to be able to network. Your mental health is a significant part to delivering that confidence to others and graduate students are most at risk for reaching a crisis point.[10] Graduate students can avoid burn out, overwhelming fatigue, loss of motivation, and chronic stress by maintaining a work-life balance.[11] Do something that brings you joy outside of the lab. In another PROF blog post, authored by Jarrod Cohen, he discusses mental health from the perspective of a graduate student working from home, which can often feel as solitary as working in a lab.[12]

Do: Follow up with new contacts

I cannot emphasize this enough – follow up with people you met! Your strategy is to get them to remember you, your joint conversation, to remind them of you (and your brand). When that next opportunity is presented, you want them to think of you as their first choice for the perfect candidate. Send them an email or LinkedIn message. Thank them for their time. Ask them if they have time for an informational interview. Ask how their technical talk went. It can be a simple follow up and check-in, or it can involve a further discussion of a topic you didn’t get to finish.

Do: Interact with the science community on social media

After the pandemic, all social events, including networking opportunities, may look different for conferences held at all levels. One way to work towards building your network during this time is to maintain a social media presence.[13] The top five social media accounts used by scientists for professional activities include ResearchGate, Facebook, Twitter, Academia.edu, and LinkedIn. Twitter has grown increasingly popular for scientists to communicate on a global scale in real-time.[14] AAAS has published resources for developing your own social networking strategies.[15],[16] One question I urge you to consider is – how does your social media strategy and content reflect your personal brand?

On a related topic, two ACS entities offer programming targeted for early-career chemists in ACS and are very active on their social media platforms – Division of Professional Relations (PROF) and the Younger Chemists Committee (YCC).

Division of Professional Relations:
https://acs.duffion.com/
Twitter:@acsprof
Facebook: @acsprof

Younger Chemists Committee:
https://acsycc.org/
LinkedIn: YCC ACS
Twitter: @ycc_acs
Facebook: @ycc.acs

Hopefully you have some new ideas on how to move forward on your networking strategy. Graduate students have a lot of responsibilities on their plate, and keeping up with your daily responsibilities and working on your professional development skills are very difficult to balance. To stay on track, one suggestion is set aside a half-hour during the week to take a break from your routine and work on your professional development. This will help you chip away at a large task, without the pressure of mastering a skill all at one time. Some other great web articles that I did not explicitly mention within this post are listed below:

https://cheekyscientist.com/how-to-network/

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/strategic-networking

http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2013/06/20/networking-tips-for-graduate-students/

About the Author: Katherine (Katie) Johnson is a recent 2020 Ph.D. graduate and current postdoctoral scholar at the University of Nevada, Reno with a research focus on rare earth chemistry for luminescence and biological applications. Katie is the 2020 Younger Chemists Subchair for the Divison of Professional Relations, which has recently cosponsored a number of symposia and webinars including: “How to Get Your First Industrial Job” and “Mental Health in Graduate School.” Katie is also an active Younger Chemists Committee member where she is the Subchair of the Governance, Interface, and Outreach subcommittee, and is passionate about helping early-career chemists learn how to advocate for science policy, the importance of networking, and navigate their path through graduate school and beyond.