Academic Scientists at Work guides the scientist on the journey from the end of a postdoctoral career to the point of promotion to Associate Professor. The book includes valuable advice -Choosing and getting your ideal academic job; -Setting up and effectively managing the lab; -Obtaining funds; -Teaching and mentoring; -The promotion and tenure process. Also offered are template worksheets and point-by-point instructions on how to complete them, with downloadable blank worksheet versions contained in the accompanying CD-ROM. Included are six database program files that can be used to help the reader organize his/her laboratory specific reagents. Academic Scientists at Work is a valuable resource for the Career Scientist who demands and expects the best.
A great introduction and template for the burgeoning academic scientist. Dr. Boss does a wonderful job of explaining some of the important aspects of how to begin your academic career while also keeping the reader entertained with antidotes and story-based explanations with many examples of potential obstacles and questions that young investigators may, and nearly always, find themselves facing. The book comes with a great CD that has many templates utilized in setting up a lab and keeping records and setting up budgets. The book also includes little grey boxes with real answers and suggestions from tenured professors and has a "survey says" section where the answers from a survey of many different professors throughout top research institutions have been compiled. A great book to have going forward and will be a nice resource to use throughout each step of career development in the biomedical science career.
Academic Scientist's career sounds quite boring, and it will be boring if you believe this book.
So why is this book so boring? Because it has nothing beyond trivial views and facts that any junior scientist could randomly guess.
The one thing I agree with the authors is the notion that when you are running your own lab and training postdocs, you are taking responsibility for their careers as well. This aspect of PI's job is mostly ignored in real life.