Biophysical Society Bulletin | January 2024

Career Development

Student 2: It can depend on your principal investigator (PI). When doing lab rotations, pay attention to the environment and talk to the students in the lab to see what they think of the expectations and work-life balance. It’s not worth it to struggle through with a PI who will not be supportive or who will require too many working hours, even if the research is interesting. Student 3: Ask up front if a PI is hands-on or hands-off. Each person might have a different preference for which they would rather work with, but it is helpful to know if you should expect detailed weekly assignments with lots of check-ins, or a PI who is more hands-off and expects the lab to run. That can be challenging if you aren’t good at motivating yourself; you might not be very productive without structure and that can catch up to you. Know what works for you. Student 4: Having a good work-life balance does depend a lot on the PI. Be very careful when doing rotations to ask lab members, and if they’re not transparent about it that can show that the lab doesn’t have a good culture. It’s not just about them interviewing you—you’re also interviewing them. Be really picky about your mentor and PI—picking a mentor is almost like picking a spouse! Posanno: Your relationship with your PI does last longer than most marriages in the U.S.! This is great advice from the students. It’s important to know how to pick the right PI for you—it’s about chemistry and working styles. Remem ber that people don’t have access to the information inside your head. We think everything is so obvious, but if you work best first thing in the morning or late at night, no one will know unless you tell them. So many mismatches with labs and work-life balance come from not sharing information. In the absence of context, that’s when people form judgments. If you’re providing context or an explanation for things that people don’t see—that can help avoid some PI problems or judgments forming. There will be another similar session in the fall of 2024.

events. If you have a topic or tool that you think could benefit the members of the PUI Network, then please reach out to Ethan Rogers-Yosebashvili at eyosebashvili@biophysics.org. The PUI Network will be hosting its first ever Annual Meeting Mixer, and we would love to see you there! This event will be held Sunday, February 11, 2024 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM during the BPS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. Virtual Graduate School Panel Answers Questions for Students The Membership Committee sponsored a Virtual Graduate School Panel Discussion on November 1. More than 150 students from 22 countries registered to attend. Three advi sor-level panelists participated: Melanie Cocco , Membership Committee Chair; Yadilette Rivera-Colón , Education Committee Chair, and Shana Posanno . Four graduate students also joined as panelists to answer questions from the audience. To keep things candid, the session was not recorded so that the cur rent students could speak openly about their experiences. The session was scheduled for one hour, but ended up lasting a half an hour longer because there were still so many ques tions being asked. There were more than 30 questions, many of which were answered in detail with advice from more than one panelist. One of the key questions and the answers from the panelists is summarized below. Q: Is it hard to find a good work-life balance? Student 1: Graduate school is like an endurance test—it is possible to wear out quickly. You may need to be at the lab late and that can be a big challenge in maintaining connec tions with people. As long as you have a schedule in mind, that can help maintain a balance. Make sure you’re making healthy decisions. It’s sometimes better to leave the lab ear lier rather than stay late; it’s better to not make mistakes and feel better the next day to start fresh.

Numbers By the

The BPS Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) Network is currently composed of more than 1,100 BPS members.

January 2024

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