Uche, Dave Segal, and Ulrike Beitnere

Resources

Cheeto the Physics Dept cat
Answer to another frequently asked question: this handsome gentleman is Cheeto, the (un) official greeter at the Physics Department, in his new, improved, and less, er, portly phenotype. You can follow Cheeto on his own page. 

This highly idiosyncratic page that contains miscellaneous bits of information that we think might be useful to some scholars and prospective scholars.

Frequently asked questions

Other postbacc opportunities

  • PhD aspirants only
    • NIH list of other PREP sites 
    • A superb spreadsheet compiled by Dr. R. Behringer, MD Anderson Cancer Center. This list is self-reported and may not include all the NIH PREP sites, but it does include application deadlines and other information not available at the NIH page, all in one place. If you have little research experience: focus on sites that include a two-year option.
    • 10 April 2024: go to our News page for a list of NIH PREP sites still recruiting
    • New! University of Iowa programs:
  • New! Neuro postbac in Florida! 
  • MD-PhD aspirants
    • Go to the Behringer spreadsheet linked above. Look for sites that fund scholars for two years, are affiliated with medical schools, and/or have more than 6 positions per year. Those are more apt to be appropriate for dual degree students.
    • See also "everyone" below.
  • DACA recipients or international students: The following sites include positions funded by the university and may be able to support DACA recipients.
  • everyone:
    • At campuses of the University of California, Junior Specialists are entry-level researchers with a two-year cap on employment in this position. UC Davis faculty have begun advertising these openings. Go to https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/apply and look for Junior Specialist positions with an "apply by..." date in the future. New positions will appear probably through mid summer.
    • PhD or health sciences degree aspirants: NIH Intramural Research Training Award Program admits both PhD and MD applicants. Rolling admission.
    • PhD or MD/PhD aspirants: new as of March 2023 -- the NIH just funded six postbac sites that focus on neuroscience specifically "to support individuals from institutions that do not offer undergraduates access to substantive research opportunities." 
    • PhD or MD/PhD aspirants: new!!! postbacc program at the Jackson Lab 
    • PhD or MD/PhD aspirants: postbacc programs at Memorial-Sloan-Kettering
    • searchable database at Pathways to Science

Other pre-PhD opportunities

  • When we learn of them, we try to post information about positions on our news page.
  • several faculty at UC Davis are recruiting entry level lab techs. Go to recruit.ucdavis.edu and look for "junior specialist" positions. Look at all the colleges and schools -- UC Davis has a gazillion faculty doing biology research at the molecular/cellular level. See also a couple of bullets down for more thoughts on this.
  • consider a funded MS program, including ones on the list compiled by Dr. Stacy Farina, Howard University (note that Professor Farina specifically calls out Ecology/Evolution/Organismal Biology but the list includes many programs that include cell and molecular biology)
  • looking for an academic entry-level lab tech position? Every university handles this differently. At campuses of the University of California, term-limited entry-level positions are classified as "junior specialists" and positions are advertised on the university's academic recruiting site. Staff positions are advertised on a human resources site. Both may include entry-level lab positions. For UC Davis:
    • academic: recruit.ucdavis.edu. Note that a large fraction of junior specialist positions turn over annually as the incumbents head to advanced degree programs in the spring through summer, which means that spring is a great time to search this site.
    • staff: hr.ucdavis.edu -- look for "staff research associate" titles

About Davis: town and gown

Responsible Conduct of Research 

Miscellaneous other resources

Interested in science policy? The California Council on Science and Technology put together a pretty nifty guide to careers in science policy, including educational resources.

Potentially interested in a non-academic career?

See this Nature article for some how-to advice.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science provides information on transferrable skills that you can cultivate through an Individual Development Plan

Funding your PhD: yes, graduate programs pay you but you also can apply for portable fellowships. 

Anti-racism

From Kelly Stevens et al. 2021, commentary in Cell.

Our nationwide network of BME women faculty collectively argue that racial funding disparity by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) remains the most insidious barrier to success of Black faculty in our profession. We thus refocus attention on this critical barrier and suggest solutions on how it can be dismantled.

We encourage those interested in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the life sciences to check out these additional writings and resources. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list.

As Americans, we must reckon with our past in order to transcend it.