Individual Development Plans

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.

“Those who invest in both their work and relationships will reap the greatest number of opportunities”. -Peter Fiske.   I have a friend who believes in me and in my passion for science. He knows how much it means to me to be able to share my thoughts on the matter. In an attempt to get my “writing groove back”, my friend and I went to a bookstore.

Image edited from: http://www.enterrasolutions.com/2014/05/stem-education-fuss.html

Have you ever had that (dreaded?) experience when someone suddenly springs this question on you: “So, what do you do?” I’ve had all different kinds of people ask me this: a colleague, a fellow graduate student, a prospective housemate, my parents. It seems like such a simple question, and yet it has taken me years to feel completely at ease with my answer.