As part of the iJOBS Career Panel Series, on April 14^th 2015, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Biogen and NPR sponsored the Scientific Writing and Journalism career panel held at Rutgers University, Newark campus. I was excited from the moment I found out about this event. Science communication is something that has always been in the back of my mind, but I didn’t quite know how to pursue it. Writing about science for the general public is something that you are not trained for during graduate school, not even while you are a postdoc, unless you learn it on your own.

OK, that’s just a little Rutgers inside joke—Bill Nye, The Science Guy, gave the commencement address, representing the “end” of your undergraduate education, at least if you graduated this year. But seriously, the topic of this blog is a website based on two articles that use phrases like:

“…doing nothing is not an option. The stakes are enormous: the current environment is beginning to erode…” (Alberts et al, PNAS, February 17, 2015, vol. 112, no. 7, 1912–1913)

and

With the successful first year of the Rutgers Interdisciplinary Job Opportunities for Biomedical Scientists (RU iJOBS) coming to a close, one of the events I wanted to commemorate was the very first iJOBS Annual Symposium held last April 20, 2015 at the Busch Student Center in Piscataway.

On Tuesday April 21^st 2015, iJOBS and BioNJ sponsored the Life Sciences Talent Network Career Fair at Rutgers University, Piscataway. More than 30 companies were represented and I was there, early in the morning. It was my first attendance to a job fair ever! I was more excited than nervous. This was the opportunity to really make sure I connected with people and companies that I am interested in, and to make sure that my resume ended up in their hands.

When we attended the iJOBS informational meeting, one of the main things Dr. Alder drew our attention to was the mysterious SciPhD program. We knew the dates and times, and that somehow the program would benefit us. When registration opened, all 70 spots were filled, despite the multiple Monday night/all-day Sunday schedule and no promise of free coffee. I’m not sure what everyone expected of the program, but my friends and I prepared mentally for 40 hours of unremitting lecture.