Biophysical Society Bulletin | February 2019

Career Development

First, you need to talk to people about what happened. Talk to your friends and your mentors. Phrase it so that you are asking for help with the situation and ask them how they would deal with it if something similar happened to them. If the situation is commonly encountered by scientists in your position, they should have useful advice for you. How can you tell if the situation is caused by bias? One way is to rephrase the situation by switching the roles. For instance, when a woman says that she was told she cannot go for pro- motion early and was asked, “Why should you get promoted before your male colleagues?” that might not seem weird because she may in fact be the only woman at the associate professor level. But, if you change that scenario, and think of the personnel committee chair asking a male associate pro- fessor, “Why should you go up for full [professor] before your female colleagues?” you realize that it is ultimately a sexist question and that her promotion should have nothing to do with her colleagues – no matter what their gender. If the situation is caused by unfairness, work out a plan to help you cope or fix the problem. You can talk through with other people if the problem is a systemic one. Perhaps there are new rules or systematic changes that can be made to help solve the problem. Is it a personal issue between two people? Maybe there are ways to get conflict resolution with the on-campus ombudsperson. Most universities and scien- tific societies don’t want their students, faculty, and staff to feel marginalized, since that ultimately leads to low morale and productivity. At the end of the day, you might decide not to pursue change at all, which is fine, but that might adversely affect the people to come after you. If you are able to work with your colleagues by asking for help and working to fix prob- lems, particularly if they are systemic, your extra work will go a long way to help others as well. Ultimately, the choice needs to be yours. You made it this far, and you should have confidence in your personal choice and what is right for you. If the pursuit for change weighs too heavily on you, focus on helping yourself so you can make your career what you want.

Cell Stretching Systems

20+ Years of Experience Cited in Over 180 Publications

BPS 2019: Booth #402

Why is Strex the best option for your research? strexcell.com/seewhy

info@strexcell.com (866) 844-4374

The Biophysical Society is grateful to its 2018 Industry Partners.

GOLD SILVER

Find a Job. Post a Job. Visit the BPS Job Board today. https:/ biophysics-jobs.careerwebsite.com

For Industry Partner Membership information, contact alevine@biophysics.org.

February 2019

11

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