Biophysical Society Bulletin | December 2018

Career Development

Donations

Should I Stay, or Should I Go? Dear Molly Cule ,

Society Donors The Society gratefully acknowledges the individuals who made donations to Society programs between November 1, 2017, and October 31, 2018. Donations allow for the growth each year in student and international travel awards, public affairs involvement, Society awards, and other outreach activities that could not otherwise be undertaken. Donors’ names are listed below. $5,000 and above Onoa, Bibiana $1,000-$4,999 Allen, Fritz Forman-Kay, Julie D. French, Robert J. Fromme, Raimund Garcia de la Torre, Jose Gershenson, Anne Hatzimanikatis, Vassily Hinderliter, Anne Hitchcock-DeGregori, Sarah E.

Dear Convincing , Oh my. There are no short answers to your questions, and there is no perfect way out of your unfortunate predicament. That said, my strong advice is to cut your losses as soon as possible by moving on to another lab. It’s great that you already have another offer. Just be sure to do your due dili- gence by reading work from the potential new PI very closely, by insisting on a backup project just in case, and by asking others in the field for their evaluation of the new PI’s ethics. The alternative of staying in the present situation with an unsupportive PI on a project you don’t like in the presence of internal competition is extremely risky. You could work for a year or more without producing your own distinct first-author publication. Even worse, the toxic environment threatens your enthusiasm for science. The long-term consequences of moving now should be fairly minimal if you regain your productivity in your new lab. You will need to formulate a short but gracious statement of why you left this position. One version is to stick close to the truth and say that your pilot data didn’t support the project you intended to work on and you didn’t want to change your research focus. A key here will be to have one or more of your letter writers — like your future postdoctoral PI or your grad- uate supervisor — reiterate the same reason for your leaving your current job in their letters when you apply for jobs. — Molly Cule

My career star shone brightly last year as I began my postdoc in the lab of a prominent investigator at a leading institution. I embarked with fervor on a project that followed from a very high-impact paper from the lab. Alas, all is dim now. After nine months,

Caporizzo, Matthew A. Christini, David J. Cramer, William A. Creamer, Trevor P. Davis, James H. DeRosier, David J. Farley, Joseph Franzini-Armstrong, Clara Garini, Yuval Hantgan, Roy R. Holzwarth, George M. Jakes, Karen S. Kenney, Linda J. Lentz, Barry R. Luther, Pradeep K. Martin, Hunter Otto, Michael R. Pollard, Thomas D. Saotome, Masao Shea, Madeline A. Sheppard, Asher R. Singer, Joshua J. Sonnichsen, Frank D. Stanfield, Peter R. Tombola, Francesco Zablow, Leonard Under $50 Abercrombie, Ronald F. Aguilella, Vicente M. Alberdi, Araitz Amuzescu, Bogdan P. Ashmore, Jonathan F. Aulabaugh, Ann E. Belfort, Georges Belloso-Uribe, Kepa B. Berlin, Joshua R. Cieza Huaman, Basilio Dreizen, Paul Elson, Elliot L. Finer-Moore, Janet

$100-$199 Bowie, James U. Branton, Daniel Brennan, Richard G. Burnett, Roger M. Carroll, Dana Crowe, John H. Dyson, Jane Fairclough, Robert H. Gelles, Jeff Greenfield, Norma J. Harris, Robert Harvey, Stephen C. Iino, Ryota Izu, Leighton T. Kaiser, Christian M. Lehrer, Sherwin S. Lohman, Timothy M. Ludescher, Richard D. Lyubchenko, Yuri L. MacDonald, Robert C. Marky, Luis A. Martin, Donald H. Mizuuchi, Kiyoshi Nordenskiöld, Lars Palmer, Arthur G. Pappu, Rohit V. Righini, Maurizio Tseng, Gea-Ny White, Henry W. $50-$99 Apell, Hans-Juergen Asbury, Charles L.

I have been unable to reproduce the published data, which I am convinced are in error. However, the paper appeared in a top journal, the first author is now on the faculty at another university, and my esteemed PI has snubbed me and ignored my negative results. He suggested only that I switch to another project which is apart from my interests and which competes with the work of several other postdocs in a big lab. I am angry and frustrated, but powerless. Another investiga- tor with whom I had originally interviewed has said that the offer to join their lab is still good. But, I fear the blemish on my CV from a publication gap and a lukewarm-at-best letter from my current PI, who is a giant in our field. My questions are interrelated: Should I accept the other po- sition? Or should I just keep my mouth shut and work on the alternative project in order to publish something from this lab before moving on? If I move now, how will the publication gap and lack of support from my current PI impact my career? — Convincingly Irreproducible

Coleman, Peter S. Donaldson, Sue K. Turner, Douglas H. Uhlenbeck, Olke Wang, James C. $500-$999 Bloomfield, Victor A. Chen, Gang Woody, Robert W. $200-$499 Blaustein, Mordecai P. Caspar, Donald L.D. Chazin, Walter J. Chin, Jean Correa, Ana M. Feigon, Juli Holloway, Peter W. Lingle, Chris Meng, Yu-Ju Gloria Mindell, Joseph A. Moore, Peter B. Piston, David W. Schick, Michael Shepherd, Neal Stauffacher, Cynthia V. Tinoco, Edward Weeks, Kevin Yeh, Yin

Hobiger, Kirstin Horkay, Ferenc Jimenez, Ralph Judge, Susan I. Karlin, Arthur Kemp, Grant A. Knobler, Charles M. Lamb, Don C. Larsen, Charles E. Lee, Raphael C. Martyn, Donald A.

Millar, David P. Miller, Keith W. Motayagheni, Negar Mukerji, Ishita Nowak, Thomas Okotrub, Konstantin Patel, Ashay Perez-Salas, Ursula A. Petry, Sabine Ramirez-Sarmiento, Cesar A.

Randall, Cynthia S. Schneider, Donald L. Schöneberg, Johannes Schroeder, Susan J. Seeman, Nadrian C. Separovic, Frances Spangler, Robert A. Stark, Ruth E. Sundberg, Steven A. Taylor, Kenneth A. von Hippel, Peter H. Wakabayashi, Katsuzo Yang, Wei Yonetani, Takashi

Baginski, Maciej Baker, Nathan A. Banda, Phillip W. Beuning, Penny Blank, Paul S. Cafiso, David S.

To give the gift of BPSmembership, visit: biophysics.org/giftmembership.

Please Consider Making a Donation www.biophysics.org /donate Your tax-deductible donation funds will help make a difference to the biophysics community. Your donation will help support travel awards, public affairs activities, and resources and programs for biophysicists.

December 2018

December 2018

18

19

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E B I O P H Y S I C A L S O C I E T Y

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E B I O P H Y S I C A L S O C I E T Y