Survival Skills for Scientists

Survival Skills for Scientists



"It discusses scientific life in academia, industry, and government labs as well as in different parts of the world. The authors should be congratulated for the depth of their analysis of challenges facing the modern researcher ... I found the book thought provoking and packed with information, yet amusing and in most places easy to read ... Reading and reflecting on the ideas presented in Survival Skills early in your career could save a lot of time and frustration."Science"This useful, highly readable work guides individuals through the daunting decision of adviser selection, interviews, and the peer-review publishing process. Its organization makes information on specific topics easily accessible. Rosei and Johnston's advice has a place in academic libraries."Choice"... logically organized ... filled to the brim with candid advice that you are unlikely to find anywhere else ..."American Astronomical Society

Product Description
This book provides young scientists, from physicists through to sociologists, the counsel and tools that are needed to be their own agents and planners, to survive and succeed, hopefully even thrive in science. Making a good career based on peer-reviewed science means navigating many stressful phases from graduate school through to permanent employment. Performing artists pay agents to help them in this effort. In effect, this book is designed to allow you to act as your own agent. You are counseled to analyze yourself deeply to know clearly what you want and whether you can live with it, how to make career choices and what you should then keep in mind, when to fight and when to yield. The unwritten rules of the "science game" are explained, including how to become published and known, the pitfalls of peer review and how to evade them, papers and posters, job interviews and getting your science funded. Interspersed with this are illustrative anecdotes and a fair amount of humor. While the book is aimed at young scientists, from graduate students and beyond, more senior scientists will benefit from seeing the world from the point of view of rising scientists and become aware of the preoccupations of people in a system which has changed much from when the present senior scientists were rather younger.