For a graduate student, making a CV – shorthand for Curriculum Vitae, a longer form of résumé – can be a daunting task. Those of us who have seen the CVs of eminent scholars might be intimidated that our first CV will look comparably weak. The CV offers an opportunity to define a professional identity, but when someone with power sees that someone else has violated unwritten rules, the CV could be quickly thrown into…
This short, accessible work outlines a typical tech transfer office at a university. Research universities drive innovation across entire industries and local economies, and smart companies can figure out how to leverage partnerships for commercial successes. The university office that facilitates that is called “tech transfer.” These offices received increased momentum when a federal act in 1980 allowed universities to license their innovations for profit while under federal funding. At 31 pages, this book is…
Tech transfer offices in American universities attempt to translate innovations from their research labs into industry and the wider marketplace. Tech transfer’s successes tend to be counted in patents and revenue, but most scientific advances run through larger pipelines of graduating students and journal publications. The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 attempted to increase the transfer of patents from universities’ labs into licensing to industry. However, as Melba Kurman notes, successful tech transfer has been around…
Soon after Emancipation, large efforts were required to meet the needs of formerly enslaved people. A medical college was founded in Nashville as a department of Central Tennessee College to train black doctors to address the needs of the underserved blacks across the country. Now called Meharry Medical College almost 150 years later, the school continues to educate healthcare professionals and advance “the worship of God through service to man.” This book chronicles its history…
With so much Internet data available through social media, social networks have entered the popular consciousness. They have long been used by social scientists to analyze complex research questions, so the theories are robust and tested by time. Still, many of us worry about reading about a technical topic that’s not in our traditional field, but this book proves accessible and engaging. It introduces the topic while exciting readers’ minds with relevant concepts that can…
Research and publishing stand as core disciplines in the academic work. Tenure and accolades depend on them. While writing remains central in this task, many academics get carried away in teaching and service-oriented components of a professorial life, and these distract from the solitary pursuit of writing. Outside of one’s institution (and perhaps region), however, reading a scholarly product continues as the main way others interact with research. Even conference presentations rely on good rhetoric…
Recent research has made it clear that mentorship plays an incredibly strong role in launching careers in STEMM. However, much of education remains organized around traditional missional axes of teaching, research, and service. Mentorship plays a determining factor in all three aspects. It accelerates and perpetuates careers. The National Academies, filled with the most outstanding scholars in America, supplied this consensus statement about the research around this topic. Based on evidence, they summarize findings and…
The act of research – whether in the natural sciences, social sciences, or humanities – undergirds so much of modern society. The skills help us think and then test those thoughts in light of outside information (data). Without a rigorous set of methods, this act can become mere people pleasing, but with a firm framework, it continues to transform the way the world lives. This book, an educational standard for almost three decades with five…
Much of academic literature and advancement revolve around biomedical publications. Researchers focus on peer-reviewed publications, but other forms of writing abound: grant proposals, books for healthcare workers, books for the reading public, and journals for healthcare workers. The issues posed by medical writing are relatively common across the entire enterprise. Here, Robert Taylor attempts to distill insights from his writing career into one succinct book. The resulting education can inspire readers, anticipate potential issues, and…
Academic life is tough because one’s professional impact is hard to put into numbers that determine success. Results extend beyond the bottom line into many intangible factors. A lot of data are involved. And there are nit-picky relationships with colleagues that will last beyond the promotion decision. Research, teaching, and service can combine into an uncomfortable triad that doesn’t always yield fruit. In this book, Anne-Wil Harzing, a professor at Middlesex University London, offers career…