The Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program at UMBC, and PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP (the National Science Foundation’s PROMISE AGEP – Maryland Transformation, AGEP-T) for the State of Maryland, proudly present Dr. Hélène Hodak, Scientific Editor, Journal of Molecular Biology, Elsevier Inc. on Friday, Feb. 6, 2015.

Dr. Hodak will be talking about writing for high impact journals. We’ve often heard the term “publish or perish.” Many people are afraid of that term, and many are nervous about the idea of needing to publish in order to have their work deemed worthy. The Elsevier journals are known for being high-impact, and they have a global reputation for showcasing the best work in science. They have offices in NY, Amsterdam, and London. People from all disciplines are invited to come to the workshop and use the content of this talk to learn more about how to think about publishing, and how to dismiss fear of the process. Dr. Hodak’s background and training hail from the following institutions: Yale University, Institut Pasteur de Lille, Regional Hospital Center of Lille, France, Université Lille 2 – Droit et Santé; France. You can read more about Dr. Hodak’s scientific contributions on ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Helene_Hodak2/citations

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Details for the talk:

• Friday, February 6, 2015
• 4:30 – 6:00 PM
• UMBC Campus, Public Policy Building, Room 206
• Afternoon refreshments will be served.

To RSVP/Register:  

• UMBC students/postdocs/faculty/staff: Login to your MyUMBC account. Click the green “I can attend” button at the bottom of the MyUMBC website for this event: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/29770. If you have logged into MyUMBC, and you don’t see the green “I can attend button,” then please be sure that “join” the PROMISE group.
• Visitors (Visitors from any school within the University System of Maryland and the region are welcome to attend.): Use the comment section below to let us know that you are coming. Please add your name, school/organization, and discipline, as applicable.

Photo Credit: http://www.chimit09.org/images/PUP01.jpg

Public Policy Building, UMBC, atrium hallway. Photo credit: http://www.appam.org/assets/1/7/publicPolicy.jpg

Directions, parking, and other information will be posted in the comments below.

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Why is Elsevier so important? Here are some of the latest stats from 2014:

Journal Impact Factor Highlights

Amsterdam, 14 August, 2014

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the highlights of its journal Impact Factor performance in 2013. According to the 2013 Journal Citation Reports® (JCR) published by Thomson Reuters, Elsevier saw 61% of its journal Impact Factors increase from 2012 to 2013, well ahead of the aggregate across all other journals at 55%. Furthermore, 21% of Elsevier journals are in the top 10% of their subject category.

In 2013 Elsevier journals occupied the top position by Impact Factor in 61 subject categories, up from 58 in 2012. In addition, 14 Elsevier journals have risen to the top of their subject category and 40 journals have received an impact factor for the first time. Among these is Nano Energy, which published its first issue in 2012 and received an impressive first impact factor of 10.211.

- See more at: http://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/research-and-journals/elsevier-announces-2013-journal-impact-factor-highlights#sthash.NtkiXGPK.dpuf

More about Elsevier: Elsevier Inc., 600 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A.  ElsevierConnect,  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00222836.  Contact Dr. Hodak: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-molecular-biology/editorial-board/helene-hodak/

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Acknowledgements:

This workshop comes to UMBC through Dr. Michael Summers, and Ms. Justine Johnson of the Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program. http://my.umbc.edu/groups/meyerhoffgrad/events/28224. Additional sponsors include: PROMISE AGEP, The Graduate School at UMBC, and the UMBC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.

About the Meyerhoff Graduate Fellows Program

Funded by an NIH-MBRS Initiative to Maximize Student Development (IMSD) grant, the Meyerhoff Fellows Program focuses on promoting cultural diversity in the biomedical sciences at the graduate level. Now in its 18th year, the program attracts students from such institutions as Duke, Emory, Stanford and the University of Delaware.
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Dear PROMISE Participants,

Our friends at Northeastern University have shared this event with us:

Northeastern University STEM Future Faculty Fellowship Program

Northeastern University invites nominations and applications from candidates in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields for the Northeastern University STEM Future Faculty Fellowship (Postdoctoral) Program. 

Northeastern University’s mission emphasizes translational research that addresses global challenges and enhances social wellbeing.  Northeastern University strives to create a vibrant and diverse community, characterized by collaboration, creativity, and unwavering commitment to excellence and an equally unwavering commitment to exhibiting respect for one another.  Northeastern celebrates diversity in all its forms and fosters a culture of respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds community. 

Consistent with Northeastern’s mission, vision and core values, the objectives of the STEM Future Faculty fellowship program are:

1)      to encourage and promote excellence and diversity in the pool of future faculty candidates in the STEM fields at Northeastern;

2)      to introduce to Northeastern’s academic community qualified postdoctoral researchers in the STEM fields who are considering faculty careers;

3)      to enhance opportunities for academic careers in the STEM fields for persons from diverse backgrounds who have demonstrated a commitment to an inclusive faculty and an inclusive academic experience for all students;

4)      to prepare Future Faculty Fellows for possible tenure-track appointments at Northeastern;

5)      to enhance the academic environment of Northeastern’s STEM fields by providing opportunities for students and faculty to gain experience in multi-cultural, broadly diverse and inclusive work settings and research collaborations that improve the capacity of all their members.  

The details are here: http://www.northeastern.edu/advance/recruitment/northeastern-university-stem-future-faculty-fellowship-program/  

If you plan to apply, please send email to promisestaff@gmail.com with the subject “Northeastern STEM Future Faculty Fellowship Program,” so that we can follow-up on your application.

Dear PROMISE Participants,

Our friends at Northeastern University have shared this event with us:

Northeastern University STEM Future Faculty Fellowship Program

Northeastern University invites nominations and applications from candidates in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields for the Northeastern University STEM Future Faculty Fellowship (Postdoctoral) Program. 

Northeastern University’s mission emphasizes translational research that addresses global challenges and enhances social wellbeing.  Northeastern University strives to create a vibrant and diverse community, characterized by collaboration, creativity, and unwavering commitment to excellence and an equally unwavering commitment to exhibiting respect for one another.  Northeastern celebrates diversity in all its forms and fosters a culture of respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds community. 

Consistent with Northeastern’s mission, vision and core values, the objectives of the STEM Future Faculty fellowship program are:

1)      to encourage and promote excellence and diversity in the pool of future faculty candidates in the STEM fields at Northeastern;

2)      to introduce to Northeastern’s academic community qualified postdoctoral researchers in the STEM fields who are considering faculty careers;

3)      to enhance opportunities for academic careers in the STEM fields for persons from diverse backgrounds who have demonstrated a commitment to an inclusive faculty and an inclusive academic experience for all students;

4)      to prepare Future Faculty Fellows for possible tenure-track appointments at Northeastern;

5)      to enhance the academic environment of Northeastern’s STEM fields by providing opportunities for students and faculty to gain experience in multi-cultural, broadly diverse and inclusive work settings and research collaborations that improve the capacity of all their members.  

The details are here: http://www.northeastern.edu/advance/recruitment/northeastern-university-stem-future-faculty-fellowship-program/  

If you plan to apply, please send email to promisestaff@gmail.com with the subject “Northeastern STEM Future Faculty Fellowship Program,” so that we can follow-up on your application.

We’re heading to the ATL this coming October 2014 for the SREB Compact! If you went to the PROMISE SSI this year, think of The Compact as PROMISE SSI quadrupled! Yes, there are nearly 1000 students from around the country at the conference. As a group, PROMISE has traveled with graduate students to past SREB conferences in Atlanta, Tampa, and Crystal City. This year, we return to Atlanta. In order to go, you need to be nominated by the PROMISE AGEP. Read some of our former posts for the SREB conference here.

YOU have a chance to go with us to Atlanta, but PROMISE must nominate you. You cannot nominate yourself. We guarantee that we will take at least 8 people; we may take more. One year, we had so many great responses that we received additional funding and we took 30 people!

Here are some facts about the conference:

1.  This is the 21st Institute on TEACHING AND MENTORING/Compact for Faculty Diversity, October 30 – November 2 , 2014, Omni CNN Center, Atlanta, GA. We tend to refer to this conference as “SREB.”

1. Scholars nominated to attend the Institute should ONLY be individuals who have an expressed interest in pursuing a career as faculty in a college or university (any postsecondary institution.) All of the sessions at the Institute will focus on topics and issues related to teaching at the postsecondary level. Consequently, scholars who are not interested in becoming a member of the faculty at the postsecondary level will not benefit from attending this Institute.

1. Nominated scholars must be minority or underserved STEM majors enrolled in a Ph.D. program. SREB will not accept nominations from students. (We will consider select masters students who are on track for Ph.D. programs. Note that Social Sciences are part of the “Science” in STEM.)

1. The conference will be in Atlanta, GA. Hotel rooms at the CNN Omni Center will be available at no cost to you. Single rooms will not be available for scholars. Students will be placed in double rooms. 
2. UMBC’s President, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski will be this year’s Keynote Speaker.
3. Nominees must be part of the PROMISE: AGEP-T. This means that you must be a graduate student at one of the institutions within the University System of Maryland. If you are interested, you must show evidence of participation in a PROMISE AGEP event prior to September 8, 2014.

TO APPLY: 

Write a comment to this post (below) with the following information (do not send email, email will not count). Please follow this order:

a) YOUR NAME

b) University & Department (no abbreviations). You must be a graduate student in a STEM field from one of the universities listed here: http://www.usmd.edu/institutions/. Include the link for your department and your laboratory.

c) Provide at least one link for your professional website. If you have more than one, you may provide up to three links, e.g., LinkedIn, department website.

d) Planned year of graduation for your PhD

e) One paragraph that describes the reason why you want to be a professor.

f) Which PROMISE events have you attended, and what have you learned?

g) If you’ve been “The Compact” in the past, what did you learn?

Once you apply using this format, send an email to promisestaff@gmail.com with the subject “SREB 2014 application, now online” so that we will have your email logged in our database for this event.

——————–

We’re heading to the ATL this coming October 2014 for the SREB Compact! If you went to the PROMISE SSI this year, think of The Compact as PROMISE SSI quadrupled! Yes, there are nearly 1000 students from around the country at the conference. As a group, PROMISE has traveled with graduate students to past SREB conferences in Atlanta, Tampa, and Crystal City. This year, we return to Atlanta. In order to go, you need to be nominated by the PROMISE AGEP. Read some of our former posts for the SREB conference here.

YOU have a chance to go with us to Atlanta, but PROMISE must nominate you. You cannot nominate yourself. We guarantee that we will take at least 8 people; we may take more. One year, we had so many great responses that we received additional funding and we took 30 people!

Here are some facts about the conference:

1.  This is the 21st Institute on TEACHING AND MENTORING/Compact for Faculty Diversity, October 30 – November 2 , 2014, Omni CNN Center, Atlanta, GA. We tend to refer to this conference as “SREB.”

1. Scholars nominated to attend the Institute should ONLY be individuals who have an expressed interest in pursuing a career as faculty in a college or university (any postsecondary institution.) All of the sessions at the Institute will focus on topics and issues related to teaching at the postsecondary level. Consequently, scholars who are not interested in becoming a member of the faculty at the postsecondary level will not benefit from attending this Institute.

1. Nominated scholars must be minority or underserved STEM majors enrolled in a Ph.D. program. SREB will not accept nominations from students. (We will consider select masters students who are on track for Ph.D. programs. Note that Social Sciences are part of the “Science” in STEM.)

1. The conference will be in Atlanta, GA. Hotel rooms at the CNN Omni Center will be available at no cost to you. Single rooms will not be available for scholars. Students will be placed in double rooms. 
2. UMBC’s President, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski will be this year’s Keynote Speaker.
3. Nominees must be part of the PROMISE: AGEP-T. This means that you must be a graduate student at one of the institutions within the University System of Maryland. If you are interested, you must show evidence of participation in a PROMISE AGEP event prior to September 8, 2014.

TO APPLY: 

Write a comment to this post (below) with the following information (do not send email, email will not count). Please follow this order:

a) YOUR NAME

b) University & Department (no abbreviations). You must be a graduate student in a STEM field from one of the universities listed here: http://www.usmd.edu/institutions/. Include the link for your department and your laboratory.

c) Provide at least one link for your professional website. If you have more than one, you may provide up to three links, e.g., LinkedIn, department website.

d) Planned year of graduation for your PhD

e) One paragraph that describes the reason why you want to be a professor.

f) Which PROMISE events have you attended, and what have you learned?

g) If you’ve been “The Compact” in the past, what did you learn?

Once you apply using this format, send an email to promisestaff@gmail.com with the subject “SREB 2014 application, now online” so that we will have your email logged in our database for this event.

——————–

The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) is proud to announce a new round of the now biennial UMBC Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity. This postdoctoral program is a two-year in-residence fellowship that supports promising scholars committed to diversity in the academy and prepares them for possible tenure-track appointments at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). During the two-year appointment, UMBC provides teaching and research mentors and professional development opportunities across campus. Fellows also receive a stipend, health benefits, and additional funding for conference travel and the preparation of scholarly work, as well as office space with a computer, library, and other privileges at the university. The application period closes on November 14, 2014, and UMBC will appoint recent recipients of the Ph.D as Postdoctoral Fellows for a two-year term beginning July 1, 2015. 

To download the flyer, click the image above, or click here.

UMBC’s Postdocs for Faculty Diversity will participate in activities of the PROMISE AGEP, which will facilitate connections to scholars at events at a variety of institutions within the University System of Maryland. 

For more details and application Instructions, visit, http://apply.interfolio.com/25252

The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) is proud to announce a new round of the now biennial UMBC Postdoctoral Fellowship for Faculty Diversity. This postdoctoral program is a two-year in-residence fellowship that supports promising scholars committed to diversity in the academy and prepares them for possible tenure-track appointments at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). During the two-year appointment, UMBC provides teaching and research mentors and professional development opportunities across campus. Fellows also receive a stipend, health benefits, and additional funding for conference travel and the preparation of scholarly work, as well as office space with a computer, library, and other privileges at the university. The application period closes on November 14, 2014, and UMBC will appoint recent recipients of the Ph.D as Postdoctoral Fellows for a two-year term beginning July 1, 2015. 

To download the flyer, click the image above, or click here.

UMBC’s Postdocs for Faculty Diversity will participate in activities of the PROMISE AGEP, which will facilitate connections to scholars at events at a variety of institutions within the University System of Maryland. 

For more details and application Instructions, visit, http://apply.interfolio.com/25252

Throughout the last several years, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students who participate in PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP have given various reasons for and against planning to choose careers in the academy.  Among reasons against becoming a faculty member, students have told us that “professors don’t make any money” or that “professors are poor.”  Students may be surprised to learn that they are often making assumptions without any data.  We’ve found it interesting that students who really wanted to teach and have a research program were considering going to industry because they thought that they wouldn’t make a decent living as a professor.  To combat this notion, over the years, PROMISE has been giving students opportunities to hear from, and talk with, STEM faculty  from around the country during our PROMISE Summer Success Institutes (SSI).  The students learned that not only were many of the professors making a very comfortable salary, but that many were, by their own admission, “living large!”  Students were not aware that many faculty salaries are based on a 9 month scale, which means that faculty can do something else for 3 months in the summer, including taking advantage of other opportunities to make even more money.  Some faculty choose to supplement incomes through grant funding, teaching a summer class, or working on a project in another university/industry/government lab.  Some faculty choose to take the summer off to travel, spend time with family, or as PROMISE  faculty “Mentor-in-Residence”  put it, “go fishing.”

The following table presents a sample of faculty salaries from a few STEM fields at different ranks:  Assistant Professor (entry-level, immediately following completion of a PhD or postdoctoral appointment), Associate Professor (after tenure, which generally requires 7 years of experience and a strong record of research and publications, teaching, and service), and Full Professor (promotion after having the qualifications of Associate Professor, achieving national/international reputation for scholarship, continued service to the university.) For more information on faculty rankings, see the 2011 “Promotion and Tenure” policies for UMBC as an example:   http://www.umbc.edu/provost/Faculty_Handbook/section6.pdf.  The numbers in the table showcase a range of salaries based on faculty rank for a few STEM fields. Some of the ranges represent high end or top levels of salaries, and others are medians. The time frame also varies as some numbers represent salary paid out over 9 months, while others represent an annual 12 month salary.

NOTES.  Information has been compiled from the following sources:

• Salaries 2009: Analysis of the American Chemical Society‘s 2009 Comprehensive Salary and Employment Status Survey, published by the American Chemical Society. Range in table represents median salaries. http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/careers/salaries/surveys/CNBP_026817
• Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) Faculty Salary Scale, FY 2010.   Range in table represents Grade 13, “High or Top” level. http://www.ccbcmd.edu/media/hr/faculty_salary_ranges.pdf
• “The Bent” Magazine of Tau Beta Pi, Engineering Honor Society, Spring 2012, reporting American Society for Engineering Education salary data from 2010-2011. Range in table represents median salaries.   http://www.asee.org/papers-and-publications/blogs-and-newsletters/connections/2012March-special-issue.html#Faculty
• Salaries of PhD Physicists and Related Scientists During Spring 2006: Summary Report, published by the American Institute of Physics.   Range in table represents “Top” level. http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/highlite/salary/salsum06.pdf

Related articles

• 15 Things to Consider as You Prepare for Your Faculty Interview (promiseagep.wordpress.com)
• Postdoc and Faculty Jobs “Down Under.” Consider Australia! (promiseagep.wordpress.com)

Throughout the last several years, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students who participate in PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP have given various reasons for and against planning to choose careers in the academy.  Among reasons against becoming a faculty member, students have told us that “professors don’t make any money” or that “professors are poor.”  Students may be surprised to learn that they are often making assumptions without any data.  We’ve found it interesting that students who really wanted to teach and have a research program were considering going to industry because they thought that they wouldn’t make a decent living as a professor.  To combat this notion, over the years, PROMISE has been giving students opportunities to hear from, and talk with, STEM faculty  from around the country during our PROMISE Summer Success Institutes (SSI).  The students learned that not only were many of the professors making a very comfortable salary, but that many were, by their own admission, “living large!”  Students were not aware that many faculty salaries are based on a 9 month scale, which means that faculty can do something else for 3 months in the summer, including taking advantage of other opportunities to make even more money.  Some faculty choose to supplement incomes through grant funding, teaching a summer class, or working on a project in another university/industry/government lab.  Some faculty choose to take the summer off to travel, spend time with family, or as PROMISE  faculty “Mentor-in-Residence”  put it, “go fishing.”

The following table presents a sample of faculty salaries from a few STEM fields at different ranks:  Assistant Professor (entry-level, immediately following completion of a PhD or postdoctoral appointment), Associate Professor (after tenure, which generally requires 7 years of experience and a strong record of research and publications, teaching, and service), and Full Professor (promotion after having the qualifications of Associate Professor, achieving national/international reputation for scholarship, continued service to the university.) For more information on faculty rankings, see the 2011 “Promotion and Tenure” policies for UMBC as an example:   http://www.umbc.edu/provost/Faculty_Handbook/section6.pdf.  The numbers in the table showcase a range of salaries based on faculty rank for a few STEM fields. Some of the ranges represent high end or top levels of salaries, and others are medians. The time frame also varies as some numbers represent salary paid out over 9 months, while others represent an annual 12 month salary.

NOTES.  Information has been compiled from the following sources:

• Salaries 2009: Analysis of the American Chemical Society‘s 2009 Comprehensive Salary and Employment Status Survey, published by the American Chemical Society. Range in table represents median salaries. http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/careers/salaries/surveys/CNBP_026817
• Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) Faculty Salary Scale, FY 2010.   Range in table represents Grade 13, “High or Top” level. http://www.ccbcmd.edu/media/hr/faculty_salary_ranges.pdf
• “The Bent” Magazine of Tau Beta Pi, Engineering Honor Society, Spring 2012, reporting American Society for Engineering Education salary data from 2010-2011. Range in table represents median salaries.   http://www.asee.org/papers-and-publications/blogs-and-newsletters/connections/2012March-special-issue.html#Faculty
• Salaries of PhD Physicists and Related Scientists During Spring 2006: Summary Report, published by the American Institute of Physics.   Range in table represents “Top” level. http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/highlite/salary/salsum06.pdf

Related articles

• 15 Things to Consider as You Prepare for Your Faculty Interview (promiseagep.wordpress.com)
• Postdoc and Faculty Jobs “Down Under.” Consider Australia! (promiseagep.wordpress.com)