John Champaign

A postdoctoral researcher, also known as a postdoctoral scholar or postdoc, is someone who has a Ph.D., then goes to work for someone else – typically an established professor.  The pay is modest, considering the credentials of most postdocs.  When I worked at MIT, I was paid $55k / year as a postdoc.   Many […]

I previously posted the details about applying for an assistant professor position.  This post focuses on specific advice for your application materials. Probably as you approach the end of your PhD studies, it will be natural to start thinking about finding a position.  Although it varies from year to year, even at the best of times […]

I’ve warned my graduating bachelor and terminal masters students that for those who are entering the workforce for the first time, their first job hunt will be the hardest.  This isn’t much comfort when you’re in the middle of it, but I tell them to keep in mind that it should never be this hard […]

A while back, on the same day as a court ruling on the Steven G. Salaita case, the UIUC chancellor, Phyllis Wise resigned.  She was embarrassed by being caught in a self-plagiarism case.  Most graduate students are well aware of plagiarism, copying someone else’s work without citing it, but self-plagiarism can be confusing.  How do you copy from yourself? […]

Often times people talk about graduate school and assume that it’s the same for everyone everywhere.  I’m as guilty of this as anyone, as I usually assume a STEM subject and a thesis-based Masters degree followed by a Ph.D. when I refer to graduate school.  In this post, I want to identify a few of […]

I’ve previously written about applying to a Ph.D. program, where I talk more about the logistics of the application.  In this post, I’ll write about a few things people try that are a bad idea, in my opinion, and my suggestion for how to apply if you’re really serious about it. Spamming Many students will send […]

Pursuing a Ph.D. is a big undertaking and it’s worthwhile to consider WHY you want a Ph.D.  One of my friends referred to our having gotten Ph.D.’s as “financial suicide”, which I certainly don’t agree with.  HOWEVER, I think there’s some merit in the perspective that you should only pursue a Ph.D. if you want […]

People’s relationship with their supervisors during their Ph.D. is a complex issue.  There are elements of teacher / student, boss / employee, friends, and sometimes even quasi-parental.  Every pair seems to have its own dynamic. Dysfunctional Relationships It isn’t hard to find graduate student / adviser relationships that don’t work.  One man I know from […]

A big part of academia involves making a case for yourself, I hesitate to say selling, when you apply for a graduate program, grant, job, or submit to a conference or journal.  Eventually, this comes down to someone saying “yes” or “no”.  For many people in academia, who have been quite successful in their life, it can […]

It’s very common, once a thesis is written and submitted, to start thinking about finding an academic position.  Oftentimes, while waiting for committee members to read the work and for the defense to happen, doctoral candidates will have more free time than they’ve had in years.  So, why not start job hunting? I don’t think it’s […]