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EARLY CAREER SCIENTIST WEEKLY
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Compiled for student and postdoc members of the Genetics Society of America by the Early Career Leadership Program
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This week’s newsletter focuses on inclusive language and was written by Sarah Bay, Scientific Editor and Program Manager at GSA and staff liaison to the Equity and Inclusion Committee.
Tailoring language to include instead of exclude
Our world, including the overall scientific enterprise in which we study and work, is rife with inequity—right down to our language. Intentional or not, the words we use can either passively uphold the status quo of systems of oppression or explicitly welcome and include those who have been disenfranchised.
When discussing sensitive topics like race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, and other identity markers that interact with power dynamics, it’s easy to feel intimidated and unsure of the “right” words to say. Language is constantly evolving, and the language we preferred a decade ago may no longer be inclusive today. However, a little education and a mindset shift can help you communicate both inclusively and confidently.
Here are a few tips:
- Omit unnecessary descriptors when they aren’t relevant to your subject. If someone’s race or sexuality isn’t pertinent, you don’t need to mention it. If such descriptors are pertinent, use them for everyone to avoid unintentionally centering one identity as “default” and another as “the Other.”
- Avoid making assumptions about the identity of others. If you aren’t familiar with a person or don’t know the identity of every person in a group, gender neutral terms are most inclusive. Additionally, a person’s identity is not always visible in a photo or indicated by their name, so choosing inclusive language is a good practice.
- Say what you mean, and mean what you say. Relying on overly broad descriptors for race/ethnicity upholds the idea of the Other and reduces individual experiences to a monolith. If you are speaking about the experiences of people in Japan, using the term Asian would be too broad to be meaningful.
- Take your cue from members of the relevant community. Disabled people are the correct people to decide on disability language—and not every disabled person prefers the same language. Listen respectfully and use the language requested.
- If you make a mistake, apologize and move on. Don’t call greater attention to the mistake by making a show of how sorry you are. Accept correction with grace, and stay open to learning. When you know better, do better.
Further reading:
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GSA Early Career Leadership Program Resources
NEW! The Career Development subcommittee is back! #WorkshopWednesday is next week on March 8 at 1 p.m. EST, and this edition will feature three prominent scientists in BioTech. Learn more and register here!
Interested in presenting a talk or poster at the 24th International C. elegans Conference? Your opportunity is here! The #Worm23 submission site is now open. Submissions are due by March 8, 2023.
NEW! David Daesung Lowe, Career Development subcommittee member, discusses the origins of his passion for science and how vital it is to support low-income and diverse students in science, in the latest Early Career Leadership Spotlight on Genes to Genomes.
Faith Onditi, Communication and Outreach subcommittee member, talks about her research interest in pregnancy-related malaria on Genes to Genomes, as well as the importance of translational research to her work and the scientific enterprise.
Got five minutes? GSA’s newly launched audio series summarizes fascinating insights from bright minds in our genetics community into bite-sized "SNPets." Season two of SNPets with Nobel Laureate Carol Greider is available now!
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A sampling of jobs currently available for PhD scientists.
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MSCA Postdoctoral Fellow | Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) | Aas, Norway
Postdoctoral Position | School of Plant, Environmental, and Soil Sciences at Louisiana State University | Baton Rouge, LA, United States
Clinical/Metabolic Geneticist | Loma Linda University Faculty Medical Group, Department of Pediatrics, Loma Linda University School of Medicine | Loma Linda, CA, United States
Research Specialist | The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) | Ashburn, VA, United States
Instructor Position | Washington University | St Louis, MO, United States
Research/teaching Postdoctoral Position | The Ellison Laboratory in the Department of Genetics at Rutgers University | New Brunswick, NJ, United States
Research Technician | Huynh lab at University of Wisconsin – Madison | Madison, WI, United States
Research Assistant | Rashkovan lab at Sainte-Justine Research Center | Canada
Postdoctoral Researcher | Singh lab at Columbia University in the City of New York: Columbia University Irving Medical Center | New York, NY, United States
Postdoctoral Researcher | Sutton lab and Iwase lab at University of Michigan Medical School | Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Is your lab hiring? GSA members qualify for a discounted rate to post job openings and can post student and postdoc positions at no cost on the GSA Job Board!
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NEW! Apply now for the ‘Rising Stars Symposium’ happening May 3–5, 2023. The symposium will highlight junior faculty and postdoctoral candidates interested in pusuring career opportunities at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla, California. Applications are due March 13, 2023.
NEW! Apply now for the ASAPbio Fellows Program from now until March 24, 2023. The program will run from April until November 2023 and provide an overview of the preprint publication and review process with ASAPbio. Learn more about the program and initiatives available for fellows here.
AAAS is currently recruiting for a writing internship at Science. The paid, full-time position is for 6 months, with opportunity for remote or in-person work. As a member of the news team, the intern will write for the Science website, including feature pieces for the magazine. Applications are due March 4, 2023.
NEW! Interested in building a more inclusive science education? Join an upcoming webinar hosted by pgEd on “Exploring Difference in the Biology Classroom: Engaging with Genetic Disability and Difference.” In this session held on March 8, 2023 at 6 p.m. EST, two leading disability scholars will provide an introduction to the evolution of disability language, discuss current trends, share insights from their work in clinical settings, and identify practices that can support inclusive education and engagement around disability and difference. After the session, participants are invited to join pgEd for a 30-minute discussion about resources, experiences, opportunities, and potential hurdles for including this content in the classroom.
Apply for the Stanford School of Medicine’s Propel Postdoctoral Scholars Program. This program is for incoming and early postdoctoral scholars who come from backgrounds historically underrepresented in academia and who have an interest in becoming faculty in the biological, biomedical, or population-based sciences. The Propel Program provides scholars with funding support including salary, full benefits, and supplemental professional development funds; community-building activities and support to foster a sense of belonging at Stanford and in the larger academic community; and career, professional, and personal development opportunities designed to prepare scholars for success as postdocs, on the academic job market, and in faculty positions. Applications are open until June 1, 2023.
Registration is now open for the National Postdoc Association National Conference taking place April 21–22, 2023 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. Registration for the in-person event also includes free participation in the virtual conference happening May 11–12, 2023. Register by April 28, 2023 for the event here.
Current professional development and training opportunities
Applying for a postdoc or considering applying for one soon? Check out these Unwritten rules of applying for postdocs on Genes to Genomes.
NEW! Join the “Understanding the media: A starter guide for scientists” seminar on Wednesday, March 15 from 2–3 p.m. EST. The free training opportunity is being conducted by SciLine, based at AAAS. The session is being run by a scientist and a journalist and will help prepare scientists to engage with a variety of media sources. Learn more and sign up here.
Support and empower the next generation of STEM leaders! Volunteer to be a guide or a judge for eCYBERMISSION this March 15–29, 2023, a web-based STEM competition for students in grades six to nine. Find out more about the competition and register to judge today!
Join MDI’s Science Cafe and Andrew Revkin, former New York Times climate reporter and Guggenheim Fellow, for a discussion of social media and science communication, networking, and education on April 10, 2023. The cafe will consider strategies and tactics that scientists, and the rest of us, can deploy to make research relevant, heard, and trusted. Our very own Elisabeth Marnik, faculty advisor for the Communication and Outreach Subcommittee, will be joining in the discussion. Don’t miss it!
The NIH needs your feedback on postdoctoral positions. From now until April 14, 2023, the NIH is seeking input on the challenges preventing trainees from pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship. Share your feedback here.
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine are seeking nominations on “Equitable and Effective Teaching in Undergraduate STEM Education: A Framework for Institutions, Educators and Disciplines.” Find more information about this project and nominations!
Sign-up now to join the Skype a Scientist program for 2023. As a scientist, you can connect with students and the public around the world to share your research and develop your science communication skills.
Looking to strengthen your scientific writing skills? Check out this essay from Brevity Magazine on developing scientific stories. The author invites scientists to integrate play and creativity into the writing process to help expand beyond the more rigid traditions of scientific writing.
Are you interested in science communication? Sign up for this virtual workshop from The Open Notebook: The Craft of Science Writing. These 90-minute workshops will include planned presentations, interactive discussions, and opportunity for discussing or workshopping real-life editing challenges and solutions.
The Academic Career Readiness Assessment rubric is a tool developed by the Office of Career and Professional Development at the University of California, San Francisco with the goal of providing graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with the information they need to explore, plan for and apply to faculty positions at different types of institutions, regardless of their understanding of the intricacies of the US education system and independently of the mentoring they receive.
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Know of a great opportunity for early career scientists? Please let us know! We particularly welcome hearing about opportunities outside of North America. We share news about resources, awards, fellowships, grants, courses, and other opportunities applicable to early career scientists. Contact us!
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