November 27 - December 2, 2022
Boston, Massachusetts
December 6 - 8, 2022 (Virtual)
2022 MRS Fall Meeting

Symposium BI01-Early Career Development—Insights from Academia and Industry

When it comes to finding a job in academia or industry that fits one’s skills and passions, we dive into uncharted waters as there are many variables. In order to be successful one needs to learn a lot more after even landing the desired job.

This symposium is geared towards the next generation of professionals in academia and industry by providing technical instructions on different aspects of career development. Job applications will be discussed and the technicalities of such applications will be of primary focus.Guidance on how to write successful proposals and grants needed for research in Early career will be discussed . SpringerNature journal editors will share their vision on writing impactful papers, followed by a panel discussion. We plan to bring professionals from all stages of their life and career to provide perspectives. This symposium will also include talks on novel and successful teaching and mentoring strategies.

Direct interaction with the attendee of the symposium will be promoted in panel discussions around work-life balance (maintaining good mental health, coping with pressure, combining family and career)

Mobility in early careers, discussions will be on the following: Should I move? When is it a good time? What issues will I face? How to get funding for my work? Also - What's next after my PhD? Is postdoc a correct decision? How to shift from industry to academia? Is my profile more suited for industry or academia? What other options are there besides industry and academia? An informal networking session will be organized at the end of the symposium.

Topics will include:

  • Early career perspectives
  • Faculty application
  • Mentoring strategies
  • Teaching methods
  • Writing impactful research articles
  • Grant proposal writing
  • Job application
  • Work-life balance
  • Mobility in science

Invited Speakers:

  • Shelly Arreguin (Hitachi Energy, Switzerland)
  • Jonathan Fauerbach (Miltenyi Biotec, Germany)
  • Michael Irwin (Hunt Perovskite Technologies, USA)
  • Jina Ko (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
  • Riccardo Marin (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain)
  • Aditya Mohite (Rice University, USA)
  • Wanyi Nie (University of Buffalo, US)
  • Zehra Parlak (Qatche Technologies, USA)
  • Patrick Shamberger (Texas A&M University, USA)
  • Martin Wilkovitsch (Technische Universität Wien, Austria)
  • Jihui Yang (University of Washington, USA)
  • Alex Zevalkink (Michigan State University, USA)
  • Xingcai Zhang (Cell Press, USA)

Symposium Organizers

Isabel Gessner
Miltenyi Biotec
Chemical Biology
Germany

Katherine A. Mazzio
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Germany

Shayandev Sinha
Intel Corporation
TD Defect Metrology and Yield Engineering
USA

Qing Tu
Texas A&M University
Department of Materials Science & Engineering
USA

Topics

Education government policy and funding informal education outreach