Professional Development Workshops

Advancing Your Career Through Effective Science Writing for the Public and Creating Clear, Eye-Catching Research Statements

Organizer/Moderator: Eduardo Rosa-Molinar
Speaker: Jim Newman, Paula Clifford, Wendy Jarrett

This workshop will instruct participants on how to effectively write research summaries for a variety of audiences including the public. The intended audience for the workshop is early and mid-career neuroscientists who would like to enhance their skillset by learning how to summarize their studies for funding opportunities, public programs, job applications, websites, and elsewhere. It will also assist attendees in writing about controversial/challenging topics.  At the conclusion of the workshop, each participant will have drafted a summary of their own research area.

Doing Our Part to Change the Culture of Science: Becoming a Champion for Rigor

Organizer/Moderator: Devon Crawford
Speaker: Lique Coolen, Sandra Hewett, Brielle Ferguson, Nafisa Jadavji, Michael Dougherty, Shai Silberberg, William Ngiam

This workshop aims to empower neuroscientists to help change the culture of science to better emphasize high-quality, robust research rather than speedy, flashy research. Individuals often feel powerless to change systemic issues, so we will highlight researchers who have led successful efforts to change minds and policies at the trainee, laboratory, education, and departmental levels. Attendees will leave with practical next steps for improving the research environment around them.

Escape From Academia-Alternative Careers: Is There Life After the PhD?

Organizer/Moderator: Mathew Abrams
Speaker: Amy Bernard, Vinod Venkatraman, Stephen Larson, Heather Dean, Helena Ledmyr, Seema Sheoran

This workshop will address career paths outside of academia in which neuroscience skills, big data analysis as well as other skills, would be advantageous. The panel will provide perspectives from individuals who have enjoyed diverse careers, including founding a software company, working for the government examining patent applications, marketing research with a neural twist, working in a non-profit coordinating data and research efforts, and working in a philanthropic organization related to neuroscience research. These panelists will share how they got there and advise attendees on how to follow in their footsteps.

Practical Guide to Data Management and Sharing Mandates 

Organizer/Moderator: Abel Torres Espin
Speaker: Hannah Radabaugh, Maryann Martone, Adam Ferguson, Lyn Jakeman, John Gensel, Jeffrey Grethe

In the new era of big-data and data sharing, neuroscientists are being asked to become data literates. With the NIH data management and sharing mandates in effect, it is more important now than ever to develop the skills and understanding for good practice in data management and sharing. This workshop will provide a practical guide for researchers to data stewardship best practices and navigate FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data management and sharing requirements by funding agencies and journals.

Pursuing the Start Up Dream: Career Journeys of Neuroscientists Turned Neurotech Founders

Organizer/Moderator: Peter Yoo
Speaker: Thomas Reardon, Thomas Oxley, Max Hodak, Antonella Santuccione, Li-Huei Tsai

Every neurotech company has a unique origin story embodied by the scientist who, sparked by an idea, goes from a back-of-the-napkin drawing in a coffeeshop to funding and executing on technologies to improve human health. This session brings together a diverse group of neuroscientists who will share their founder career journeys — what were the inspirations, transformative decisions, and challenges they faced along the way to improving human lives through neurotech.

How I Survived Grad School: Perspectives From Black in Neuro

Organizer/Moderator: Angeline Dukes
Speaker: Kelly Cliona, Christine Liu, ELENA Dominguez, Murray De-Shaine, Paige Greenwood, Rackeb Tesfaye, McCray Victoria

This interactive panel will explore the unwritten rules in academia through perspectives and personal stories from Black In Neuro members. This workshop will focus on giving trainees, particularly those from historically marginalized backgrounds, tips for surviving graduate school. Participants will leave the workshop with a better understanding of how to identify support networks, advocate for themselves, and navigate difficult situations. 

Make a Greater Impact Using Clear and Accessible Scientific Writing

Organizer/Moderator: Brook Pyhtila, Jo Dwyer
Speaker: Angela Holmes

When neuroscience concepts require jargon and complex images, how do scientists meet digital accessibility criteria and make their research more intelligible to a broad audience? Addgene, the nonprofit repository with a mission of open science, is focused on accessibility as a core tenet of its mission. Join Addgene content strategists and scientific curators to learn strategies that will help scientists connect with audiences more effectively.

Building Up the Nerve to Develop Your NIH Training Application 

Organizer/Moderator: Michelle Jones-London
Speaker: Lauren Ullrich, Leila May Pascual, Catrina Robinson, Daniel Tranel, Marguerite Matthews, Yisel Cantres-Rosario, Yunsik Kang

The Building Up the Nerve podcast from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke demystifies the NIH application process through wide-ranging real-world discussions with NIH staff and awardees. This interactive workshop will prepare graduate students, postdocs, junior faculty, and their mentors to apply. It will feature advice and strategies from successful awardees and reviewers, followed by time for attendees to ask questions of NIH staff in small group discussions.

Ensuring All Your Students Know They Belong in Neuroscience

Organizer/Moderator: Erin Rhinehart
Speaker: Mays Imad, Amy Jo Stavnezer, Kristen Frenzel, Monica Linden, Kimberly D'Anna

This workshop will focus on strategies that create an inclusive classroom and learning environment where all student identities are validated and supported. Speakers will discuss ways to build community, foster a sense of belonging, use trauma-informed pedagogy, and integrate culturally relevant content into neuroscience courses. Finally, the speakers will help attendees devise concrete strategies for making their own classrooms more equitable and inclusive.

Neuroethics From the Bench to the Classroom: Tools to Enhance Your Experiments, Curriculum, and Communication

Organizer/Moderator: Siddharth Ramakrishnan
Speaker: Eric Chudler, Judith Grisel, Gillian Hue, Martha Farah

Few neuroscientists are familiar with the problems neuroethics  encompasses and the tools it provides. How does neuroethics differ from responsible conduct of research issues in neuroscience? What is the range of neuroethical issues, and which ones tend to arise in particular neuroscience specialties? How can these neuroethical issues be used to drive curriculum or undergird experimental design? Several neuroscientists who have come to neuroethics by different paths and for different reasons will share their experiences, their learning process, and how their science has benefitted. They will also take questions and collaborate with the audience on how to incorporate neuroethics more seamlessly into neuroscience education/training. 

Teaching Neuroscience: New Approaches to Electrophysiology Labs

Organizer/Moderator: William Grisham, Richard Olivo
Speaker: Jennifer Segawa, Bruce Johnson, Ashley Juavinett, Tim Marzullo, Ilya Vilinsky

Recording activity from neurons is a valuable experience for undergraduates. But teaching electrophysiology has been difficult due to the expense of equipment and needed expertise. Resources are now available to remove these barriers. This workshop, aimed at present and future faculty, will present low-cost, accessible, and cutting-edge techniques such as optogenetic stimulation, recording human EEGs, mining data from the Allen Brain Institute, and extracellular recording from invertebrates using computer-based data acquisition and low-cost recording devices.

Inclusion in Higher Education: Designing Training Environments to Serve All Students

Organizer/Moderator: Taralyn Tan
Speaker: Corey Harwell, Alycia Mosley Austin, Angeline Dukes, Melissa Wynn

This workshop combines short talks and breakout discussions to highlight multiple facets of inclusive educational practices: pedagogy; institutional policies; mentoring; academic programming; and inclusion in the research lab. Faculty, administrators, and trainees will leave this workshop armed with knowledge of evidence-based best practices to promote inclusion and equipped with resources and professional connections to facilitate implementation of those practices at their home institutions.  

Neuroscience Departments and Programs Workshop: Skills and Best Practices for Transition Periods for Trainees and Junior Faculty in Academia

Organizer/Moderator: Paul Katz, Jay Bikoff, Christophe Mulle, William Grisham, Lique Coolen, Wilma Friedman, Gonzalo Torres, Elizabeth Glater, Margaret McCarthy
Speaker: Marco Venniro, Shannon Stephens, Anne West, Nermin Bayin

Many new scientists seek workforce and managerial understanding as they are setting up their own labs. At this interactive workshop geared towards senior trainees and junior faculty, experts will discuss challenges in various academic transition periods, as well as recommendations for managing time, budgets, and personnel with a focus on equity. Attendees are encouraged to bring relevant questions/problems.