What do you study? Whether it's to a leading faculty in your field or to your aunt's best friend, you have probably been asked to explain your research many, many times. How can you make your answer count without reciting an entire review paper? Sally and Kayla discuss how to craft an effective research “pitch" and then test their skills in real time. Spoiler alert: practice matters.

Sometimes bad projects happen to good people. Kayla and Sally discuss how to identify if your project may be in trouble, talk about these challenges with team members, and say good riddance to a bad project. We also talk about letting go of a good projects that come to an untimely conclusion due to circumstances outside your control - lost funding, changing priorities, or, you know, a global pandemic.

Requesting, writing, and stressing about letters of recommendation? Been there! Kayla and Sally cover all these letter of rec worries and more! We get into the weeds like what to do when a recommender asks you to "write the first draft for me" and how many "friendly reminder" emails are too many. Finally, we walk you through writing your first letter of rec about a trainee. It's the first of our Skill Share series - hope you enjoy!

How involved should graduate students be in activities outside of lab? Sally and Kayla discuss how to strategically choose personally- and professionally-fulfilling extracurriculars while still budgeting time for life.

Science policy panelists Andrew Bremer, Stephanie Mack, and Kathy Shield join Sally and Kayla again to discuss how scientific research is funded with a focus on the process of allocating and distributing government funding. The panelists also share how graduate students can be involved in this process and impact research funding for years to come.

Links:
Journal Science Policy and Governance
http://www.sciencepolicyjournal.org/

National Science Policy Network
https://scipolnetwork.org/

Science Policy Group of Berkeley
https://sciencepolicy.berkeley.edu/

Twitter tags:
@STEMvotes
@UCB_SciPolicy

When her first career dreams were absolutely dashed, Dr. Maria Artunduaga reinvented herself, founded a company, and learned to thrive.Trained as a physician in her home country, Colombia, Maria dreamed of coming to the US to become a pediatric plastic surgeon and hustled to make it happen. When blatant discrimination and subsequent litigation forced her out of medicine forever, she felt stuck. Eventually, she trained and studied to become an engineer and entrepreneur. She founded Respira Labs and is using acoustics to identify COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) flareups. Maria shares her journey, her advice for others going through career hell or facing discrimination, and lessons learned as a CEO. We are honored to share her story as part of our Journeys series.

Find Maria on Twitter @DrArtunduaga and Respira Labs @RespiraLabs or RespiraLabs.com.

Subscribe to Double Shelix and tell your friends! Find us on Twitter @doubleshelixpod or email us - doubleshelixpodcast@gmail.com.

Thanks to the Berkeley Student Tech Fund for supporting the series and to Joel Wanek for editing and production.

Skydeck, UC Berkeley’s startup accelerator program, has created a new model for funding education. They provide resources and funding to help university-affiliated founders go from idea to startup, and profits from Skydeck’s venture fund go directly back to the University. Double Shelix is delighted to welcome Caroline Winnett, Skydeck’s Executive Director, to discuss her path from concert violinist to MBA grad to startup gamechanger. We also discuss some of Silicon Valley’s systemic issues and what needs to change to make entrepreneurship accessible to everyone. If you have a startup or are thinking about thinking about starting one, Caroline will inspire you to absolutely go for it!

Berkeley Skydeck – https://skydeck.berkeley.edu/
UC Berkeley Entrepreneurship Resources – https://begin.berkeley.edu/

Thank you to Joel Wanek from Mind Space Time for editing and production of this episode! http://mindspacetime.squarespace.com/

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Feedback? DoubleShelixPodcast@gmail.com
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Science policy has created some of the biggest research initiatives of our lifetimes, like the Human Genome Project, the Cancer Moonshot, and even the Original Moonshot. It also dictates more mundane (but vital) aspects of scientists' lives like grant funding, and how graduate students' tuition stipends are taxed. Science policy panelists Andrew Bremer, Stephanie Mack, and Kathy Shield join Sally and Kayla to discuss their work bringing a grad student science policy group to UC Berkeley and how science policy impacts all our lives. They also share tips for interacting with elected representatives and advocating for science policies you're passionate about. Finally, we chat about career opportunities in science policy and how scientists and people passionate about science and research can get involved and stay informed.

Stay tuned for another episode with our amazing science policy panelists coming soon - we'll go deep on how taxpayer money leads to new technologies!

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You’ve secured a coveted faculty position - now what? Double Shelix welcomes Helen Zha, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. Helen started as a faculty in January 2018, and on this episode, we discuss her experiences on the faculty job market and how we can learn from her mistakes - and her successes! Helen shares the triumphs and challenges she has faced in the first year of running a brand new research group, and the best advice she’s gotten from her mentors about navigating this exciting career stage. Also, tenure is only 4 years away, so we discuss that terrifying situation, and why it doesn’t seem equally terrifying to all junior faculty. We also discover what motivated Helen to pursue an academic career, her ultimate career and life goals, and how she has perfected the art of the lipstick break. Oh, and her biohybrid materials research, of course!

DOUBLE SHELIX LIVE - Tuesday, October 23 at 5:30 pm. UC Berkeley Hearst Mining Building, Room 290. All are welcome! Free food thanks to our partners, Berkeley Society of Women Engineers. We’ll be discussing how learning the hidden curriculum for success in STEM can help students overcome impostor syndrome and excel! More info: https://goo.gl/brDeto Hope to see you there!

Helen Zha’s research group - https://www.biohybridmaterialslab.com/

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Email us - doubleshelixpodcast@gmail.com
Tell a friend or colleague about Double Shelix!

Heidi Norton joins Double Shelix to discuss her transition from graduate school to living her best life as a senior molecular biologist at Biomeme, a biotech startup in Philadelphia. She shares her tips for using enthusiasm as a networking tool, and how students and early career professionals can identify their strengths and demonstrate them to potential employers. Heidi shares some of the awesome science she does Biomeme, creating hand-held PCR machines to find endangered species, diagnose diseases in the field, and track high-value goods in the supply chain. Heidi tells us why she loves working at Biomeme and about current job openings at Biomeme - a technical sales/business development role and a software development role! If you love science and solving problems and want to learn more about the business of science, you should TOTALLY APPLY!

Biomeme's open positions - biomeme.com/careers
Biomeme on LinkedIn - https://goo.gl/uzmdEV
Email Heidi for more inside scoop on the job postings - heidi@biomeme.com
Biomeme on Instagram - @biomemeinc
Biomeme on Twitter - @biomemeinc
Awesome videos of Biomeme's technology out in the world - biomeme.com
Heidi's blog, Beta Pleated Chic - betapleatedchic.com

Thank you to Biomeme for supporting this episode! Please apply to their jobs or tell a friend or mentee to apply - we all could use a little encouragement to reach for our dreams! If you apply, tell Sally and Kayla (who couldn't join for this episode, but will be back!) and we will send you encouraging gifs!

Subscribe to Double Shelix on iTunes!
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Twitter - @doubleshelixpod