STEM Tea | Navigating the twists and turns of a career in academia
In this episode, host AJ Hinton is joined by Jenny Schafer – Managing Director of the Cell Imaging Shared Resource (CISR) Core and a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology (both Vanderbilt University, GA, USA) – and Evan Krystofiak – Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. Krystofiak is also responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of CISR’s electron microscopy division.
Schafer and Krystofiak discuss their career paths, from their undergraduate degrees to where they are now, highlighting the twists and turns that scientific careers can take. Beyond work at the core, the two share how they like to spend their free time (raising chickens and tap dancing make an unlikely appearance…).
Contents
- Introductions 00:00–01:03
- What have your career paths looked like up to this point and what brought you both to this work? 01:03–07:47
- What about your career excites you? 07:47–12:46
- What lessons have you [Evan] learned from helping others on their scientific path? 12:46–14:04
- Have you [Evan] done any leadership or management training to help you mentor others? 14:04–14:55
- What lessons have you [Jenny] learned from helping others on their scientific path and how have you found mentoring individuals in your department? 14:55–18:08
- What achievements do you celebrate as a unit at the core and what personal successes have you had in your career? 18:08–20:37
- What personal qualities are beneficial for working successfully in science? And how would you re-evaluate an experiment if there are issues? 20:37–25:14
- How do you resolve conflict in the core? 25:14–28:24
- What do you do with your free time? 28:24–30:50
- How do you balance work and life? 30:50–34:15
- Ways to get in touch with Jenny and Evan and the importance of networking 34:15–35:40
- Outro 35:40–36:18
