Government Research

Wenny
Lin

Traveling on the government’s dime

As a Cancer Prevention Fellow at the NCI, I have a generous $3000 “travel and training budget” for attending conferences to present research results, taking training and academic courses, as well as purchasing textbooks that are pertinent to my research. Many labs or research groups at the NIH p...


Wenny
Lin

Obama says “thank you.” You should too.

Recently, a postdoc in my research group asked for my help in preparing an oral presentation. Because we worked on similar projects, I was happy to send him slides from my previous presentation as a resource for ideas. And I also coached him in some of the potential questions he may receive from the...


Xiaoli
Du

Available resources for government jobs

The NIH Career symposium was held this month on the Bethesda NIH campus. The 4th annual career symposium has covered all the possible career areas for fellows including Faculty careers, careers in science education, careers in science policy, research in industry, career options for clinicians, cons...


Wenny
Lin

Some practical reasons why NIH postdocs are having babies

Despite the progressively louder tick of the biological clock, many scientists are unwilling to allow a pregnancy or a newborn slow them down during the high-stakes years of a postdoctoral fellowship. Besides, the meager stipends and sometimes limited health benefits combined with the wrath of lab m...


Mandy
Kendrick

Out of grad school and into the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

As I finished typing up my Ph.D. dissertation in the spring of 2009, I began exploring non-academic job prospects.  My boyfriend and I had been dating for a couple of years and were looking forward to getting married and starting a life together—a life that included balance.  From my obs...


Wenny
Lin

Who’s doing research at the NIH?

Annually, NIH invests $31.2 billion in biomedical research for the health of the American people. Over 80% of that budget is awarded as competitive grants to the “extramural” world of research, including universities, medical schools, and other research organizations here in the US and abroad.Ap...


Mandy
Kendrick

How to use LinkedIn (or how not to use it)

Last month, I attended the Postdoc Conference & Career Fair in Bethesda, Maryland.  There were many talks regarding the transition out of academia into technology transfer, communications, and industry.  Going into the day I was not enthused about attending the industry talks.  I ...


Wenny
Lin

Commuting in the D.C. area

In preparation for the first day of my postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH, I mapped the route from my new apartment to the NIH campus. I inquired with the administrator ahead of time about the parking options. I had even driven to the office on the evening before my first day to make sure that I wou...


Wenny
Lin

Career and professional development at the NIH

As a graduate student, I thought being a postdoc was a rather bad deal. On top of the bad pay, no retirement benefits, and the countless hours in the lab, postdocs must sometimes rely on their antiquated, anchored-in-academia mentors for career advice. When I arrived at the NIH, I learned that the p...


Wenny
Lin

Salary expectations in the federal government

I was recently contacted by a recruiter about a job opening.  He caught me off-guard (mistake on my part) with the question, “What are your salary expectations?”Like any excellent scientist would do, rather than giving him an answer, I turned his question into another question, “Well, wha...