CONTENTS
1 WHAT ARE YOUR CAREER GOALS? 1
Action Points 7
2 HOW CAN YOU MEET YOUR CAREER
GOALS? 9
Envisioning a Career 9
Planning a Career 10
How Careers in Science and Engineering
Are Changing 11
The Case of the PhD 13
Evaluating Possible Careers 16
Tempo and Environment 17
Relating Your Education to Your Occupation 18
Personal Values and Your Occupation 21
Evaluating an Occupation 21
Evaluating Your Own Strengths and
Weaknesses 25
Action Points 28
3 WHAT SURVIVAL SKILLS AND
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES DO YOU
NEED TO SUCCEED? 29
What Are Skills and Attributes? 29
Communication Skills 35
Teaching Skills 38
Mentoring Skills 41
Team Skills 42
Leadership Skills 43
Action Points 45
4 WHAT EDUCATION DO YOU NEED TO
REACH YOUR CAREER GOALS? 47
The Undergraduate Years 47
Decisions About Graduate School 49
Deciding Whether To Attend Graduate School 49
Deciding When To Attend Graduate School 53
Deciding Where To Attend Graduate School 58
Graduate School 62
Choosing a Degree 66
Choosing an Adviser 69
The Adviser–Student Relationship 73
Choosing a Research Topic 75
Achieving Breadth 77
Ensuring Steady Progress 81
Postdoctoral Study 82
Some Tips for Foreign Students 85
After School, What Next? 86
Action Points 88
5 HOW DO YOU GET THE JOB THAT IS
RIGHT FOR YOU? 91
Finding a Job 91
Interviewing for a Job 97
Finding a Job is Hard Work 100
Career Changes 103
Action Points 106
6 THE RESPONSIBILITY IS YOURS 109
Action Points 111
BIBLIOGRAPHY 113
APPENDIX A DISCUSSION OF SCENARIOS 123
APPENDIX B SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO SUCCESS IN SCIENCE OR ENGINEERING 131
SCENARIOS
Approaching a Career 2
Evaluating Yourself 22
Communication Skills 36
Team Skills 43
Deciding Whether to Attend Graduate School 50
Choosing a Degree 67
The Adviser–Student Relationship 74
Choosing a Research Topic 76
Finding a Job 92
Career Changes 104
PROFILES
How does a Geneticist/Molecular Biologist
Get to be a Patent Lawyer? 3
How does a Chemical Engineer
Get to be a Building Designer? 19
How does a Mathematics Major
Get to be an Actuary? 23
How does a Chemistry Major
Get to be a Professor? 31
How does a Physicist
Get to be a Financial Researcher? 39
How does an Electronics Engineer
Get to be a Science Journalist? 51
How does a Molecular Biologist
Get to be a Science Policy Adviser? 55
How does a High School Chemistry Teacher Get to be a Research Chemist
and then an Educational Consultant? 63
How does a Nuclear Engineer Get to be a Therapeutic Radiation Physicist? 71
How does a NurseGet to be a Research Manager? 79
How does a Research Biologist Get to be a High School Teacher? 95
How does a Physicist Get to do Toxicology and Risk Assessment? 101
How does an Experimental Psychologist
Get to be a Human Factors Specialist? 105
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