Science Careers

Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing Where do all the flowers gone? Long time ago Where do all the flowers gone? Young girls picked them everyone, When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn? -Pete Seeger Where do graduate students and post-docs go when they decide it's time to leave the pipeline? And, if they're thinking about going, how do they find a path into something new? These questions are especially timely given all the current NIH funding issues. It's odd, too, that we probably have the data, that is, I think we can count the number of people who've gotten…
In part I, I wrote about the shortage of technicians in the biotechnology industry and the general awareness that this problem is getting worse. This part will address the challenge of getting more students into programs that will prepare them for jobs in the biotech field. I've also been asked to write a bit more about finding jobs in companies, that post will be a bit later. Before proceeding, there are two points that need a bit of discussion. The first point is the whether there's a shortage at all and the second applies to the kind of shortage. It's hard to see the forest when you're…
Workforce shortages are a growing problem in the biotech industry. Communities are concerned that a lack of trained workers will either keep companies away or cause companies to move. If companies do have to move, it's likely those jobs might be lost forever, never to return. According to Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor, now a professor at UC-Berkeley, biotech companies that can't hire in the U.S. will recruit foreign workers or open research centers overseas (Luke Timmerman, Seattle PI). The reason for concern is that biotech jobs, in general, are pretty good. They pay well…
Our new Scibling, Jane, is a real life computer scientist. If you've ever wondered what computer scientists really do during the day, Jane will set you straight (I guess they're not playing Nintendo. Darn! Another illusion shattered, just like that.) Jane has also promised to explain why computer science is a science and not engineering. That part hasn't happened yet, but I work with software engineers and I have written a bit about the mysterious things that they do. Databases need to vacuumed? Who knew? I'm looking forward to hearing Jane describe answer the question from the…
Some of them work for Bayer. technorati tags: biotechnology, education, biotechnology education, high school biotechnology The San Francisco Chronicle has a nice article on a 15 year old education program in Berkeley that serves students from Berkeley High and Life Academy. Over 1500 students have participated in this program, with 862 placed in internships. I really liked reading about some of the kids who started in the Bayer Biotech partners program and finding out what they're doing now. One of those interviewed started the program in 1992, as a 15 year old. He liked it so much, his…
I get asked this question often enough and now that's it's come up again, it seems that I might as well answer it once and for all and get it over with. First, I want to change the question. Of course they don't need to learn programming. A better question is would it benefit biologists to learn programming? My flip half-way serious answer is yes, if they want to change careers. You see, programming is really seductive when you've been a wet-bench biologist. It's like heroin. (At least I suspect it is, I know about programming, I don't have any experience with the other beyond reading…
I'll continue with the remaining parts of my career series shortly, but for the time being, I want to bring your attention to a really good post on doing bioinformatics as a software professional, and some commentary on the question that never seems to go away: "do biologists need to be able to program?" Thanks to GenomeWeb. tags: biotechnology careers, biotechnology, career+descriptions,bioinformatics From Paolo Nuin, we have a great interview with Dr. Alexei Drummond, author of BEAST, about his experience moving from academic biology to professional software development. Many of…
In this, and the next post in this series, I want to answer some of the questions that came up in the comments. One of the commenters on part II wrote that: For most academic biology groups, however, being a bioinformatics specialist is a dead end job! People in these roles may or may not be PhDs, but they end up in fouth author hell - always the fourth author on hundreds of papers - which cuts no ice when it comes to institutional promotion boards. Of course, he didn't ask for my opinion about this, but I'll share it anyway. And I want to hear from you. Do you think this is a fair…
I don't usually blog about work for wide variety of reasons. But, last week, since I wanted to write about bioinformatics software companies, I broke with tradition and wrote about Geospiza as an example. Naturally, I got some feedback about this. Some people liked it, but one of the most opinionated people said that I had given the software engineering and IT side short shrift and that I should write about that side a bit more. Today, is my attempt at a remedy. tags: biotechnology careers, biotechnology, career+descriptions,bioinformatics The tip of the iceberg This diagram was…
What do people do in bioinformatics software companies? tags: biotechnology careers, biotechnology, career+descriptions,bioinformatics In our old conference room, in our last office, we used to have this little card on a stand, entitled "Sun's universe of stars." Over the years, we watched several of those stars blink out, one by one. The card disappeared, too. Maybe we got tired of marking off the companies as they went, maybe we just lost the card when we moved to our present office. No matter. Over time, the bioinformatics universe got a little smaller and colder each time another…
If you missed reading some of the comments on yesterday's post, I highly recommend that you go back and catch up. I especially want you all to pay close attention to the comments from Deepak and Keith Robison. Like me, they work in industry and not in an ivory tower. Unlike me, they actually work in the biotech industry, while I work with people who slave away building the picks and shovels (picture a Greta Garbo sigh, for dramatic effect). Their words ring true to me and match the kinds of things that I've seen and experienced. If you're interested in bioinformatics as a career or how…
I had an enlightening experience recently, after I wrote some bioinformatics activities, under contract, for a community college. At the end of the project, the person at the college asked me if the activities were anything like the things that a "bioinformatics technician" would do on the job. tags: biotechnology careers, biotechnology, career+descriptions,bioinformatics Well no, I said, and added that I'd never heard of a bioinformatics technician before and I really didn't know what they would do. I thought that the people most likely to use our activities on-the-job would be research…
What do people in biotechnology do on the job? What can students do with a science degree once they've finished college? Some answers can be found at the "Life Sciences Central web site. Created by the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County, this is a wonderful resource for anyone who's considering biotechnology for a potential career. My favorite part of the site is the series of short video interviews from people in the biotech industry, describing what they do on the job and how they got there. tags: biotechnology careers, biotechnology, career+descriptions Ten interviews…
I'm tempted to joke and say "Recruit hotter guys?" but that would be just as wrong as Razib's charming notion of what cute women read for fun or our uncertain physicist's misconception that there's nothing that he can do to improve the situation for female students at his small college. Of course our physicist friend has tenure, now, so perhaps he'll study up on Zuska's suggestions. Besides, I don't really think there's a shortage of hot geeky guys, Zuska and I both found them, so I know they're out there. Making a real difference requires a climate change. Life science enrollment is…
Have you ever wondered how people actually go about sequencing a genome? If they're sequencing a chicken genome, do they raise chickens in the lab and get DNA from the eggs? Does the DNA sequence come out in one piece? Why is there so much talk about computers? What are Phred, Phrap, and Consed? What is the Golden Path? Wonder no more! You too, can take a virtual tour of the Washington University Genome Center. I found this really excellent series of short videos that follows two genetics students, Libby and Bryce, as they meet on the bus to the Genome Center and learn about all the steps…
It has been known officially since 2002 that the sciences are hard, and, as much as we scientists love it when our friends and family tell us how smart and wonderful we must be since they could never understand what we do... is this elevated position going to cost us in the end? Big time? Addressing this issue, an article by Emma Brockes in yesterday's Guardian explores the plight of the physical sciences in the UK, taking a humorous look at the question of whether a lack of interest from students will spell their eventual demise: It is presumably never easy being a physics teacher, what…
Blogging from Bio-Link, part III High school teachers have different techniques for selling their students on the benefits of science and math. When some high school instructors step in front of a class, the quiet demeanor gets put away and another persona steps out - the USED-CAR SALESMAN SCIENCE EVANGELIST. Science is no longer "science," when these instructors head up the class, it's SCIENCE, in all capital letters! Other teachers choose the haughty law professor, from "The Paper Chase," as a role model, even though a post-law student friend of mine thought it should be banned from…
Each week, Seed magazine poses a question to all of its ScienceBloggers. This week's question, from reader Jake Bryan, is: Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why? My current work is in protein structure, but there are plenty of other scientific areas that I'd like to explore. Based solely on scientific interest, I would have to go with behavioral genetics. The field of genetics really came into its own in the second half of the 20th Century and captured the imaginations of people…