CHEM H90 Lecture 23: Lecture #23
Life of Scientists
• types of work experiences
o job
o career
o vocation
• fundamental scientific research
o universities
o National Labs
▪ mostly run by Department of Energy
o industry
• academic career at university
o Bachelor of Science – 4 years
o PhD – 5-6 years
o postdoc – 3-6 years
o assistant professor – 6 years
o tenured professor
▪ associate professor
▪ professor
▪ distinguished professor
▪ chaired professor
• types of institutions
o elite private schools
o about 50 research I universities
▪ UC top public university in world
▪ UCI in middle of UC’s
o about 100 research II universities
o liberal-arts colleges and other non-PhD places
o community colleges
• life cycle
o academic age begins with PhD
o most graduate students would like to become Professors, most at Research I
universities
o as a postdoc, need to publish high-impact work, and a lot of papers to get faculty
position
• typical activities doing research
o work with students/postdocs/senior collaborators on particular project
o junior folks do the actual work, senior folks set directions, ask questions, train the
younger ones
o meet frequently to discuss progress and directions
o when near completion, write up a scientific paper
o when published, give talks at universities and conferences
o use track record and new ideas to apply for funding to continue research
• publish or perish
o typical activities doing research
▪ work with students/postdocs/senior collaborators on particular project
▪ use track record and new ideas to apply for funding to continue research
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