By: Yang Chen

By: Zakiya Qualls

By: Maria Qadri

In honor of our recent two-year anniversary, we’re going to get a little meta today and talk about what goes on backstage here at the iJOBS blog. If you’ve ever asked, “how do they find the time to write?” read on!

For the past few years, I have been exploring my interests in science policy. I first participated in iJOBS Phase I programs and specifically engaged in policy-driven workshops hosted by iJOBS and the Eagleton Institute. During these workshops, I was introduced not only to current issues that drive health policy, but also to the transition of a policy from its initiation to its implementation at the federal level. The experience that I gained from the Phase I programs influenced my decision to pursue a career within science policy.

Without fail, every four years, the Summer Olympics craze gets me hooked. I am pulled in by the backstories of these impressive athletes--hearing about their struggles, their tenacity, and their climb to success. I am invigorated by those adrenaline-inducing track-and-field finishes, and those breath-taking, record-breaking swim races.

Last week we briefly overviewed the Interdisciplinary Job Opportunities for Biomedical Scientists (iJOBS) program in its first two years of training biomedical graduate students and postdocs to be successful in a variety of non-academic careers. The NIH BEST grant funds five years of the development for the iJOBS program and expects the program to be self-sustainable after the grant period.

  My name is Eileen Oni, and I’m a sixth year PhD candidate in the Cell and Developmental Biology program at Rutgers University. I am a Central Jersey native (Yes, it does exist!), residing in South Brunswick Township. I began my academic journey under the simple notion of better understanding the development of living organisms, which drove me to pursue a higher degree in the sciences; more specifically within cell biology research.

In September 2014, the NIH Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) Initiative awarded Rutgers University with a grant to initialize and establish the Rutgers Interdisciplinary Job Opportunities for Biomedical Scientists (iJOBS) program, which aims to better prepare biomedical students and postdocs for nonacademic careers. As we reach the two year mark, let’s take a brief review of the successes and challenges so far, and then follow up with a sneak preview of what is coming ahead.

It is hard to break from academia, and yet it is not impossible. To realize and decide that an academic career was no longer for me was difficult and daunting at the same time. Breaking from academia means leaving behind an entire life, the only one I have known for the last 18 years.

One of my favorite things about the Rutgers University Biomedical Engineering (BME) building is the fact that it has an "open lab environment". In fact, this is one of the main reasons that I chose to attend Rutgers. In case you have never set foot in the BME labs, what I mean by "open lab,” is that all of the lab benches of different professors are in one large room.