The Research Seminar Series consists of faculty development offerings delivered as short presentations over lunch. The speakers are usually one or two senior faculty members from the IU School of Medicine. These sessions provide personal perspectives on topics of great importance to research tenure-track, scientist-level junior faculty, and research associates.
View Research Seminar Series
A number of other workshops are offered throughout the year for basic research faculty. Invited speakers will present programs on grant writing, scientific writing, collaborations in science, and other research focused topics. Please look for these important offerings intended to address the needs of IUSM research faculty.
View Basic Research Faculty Development Workshops
Features of the "Guide for Applying for Research Grants" for New IUSM Research Faculty
* Event Completed
Dr. Brenda Grimes from the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics gives a PowerPoint presentation that is an overview of applying for a grant at the IUSM. The idea is to save time and answer obvious (and not so obvious) questions about applying for NIH and other funding source grants. Dr. Grimes will be available for questions both during (and following) this very helpful presentation and has put together a "real" guide (as a pdf file) that can be downloaded from this site.
Two-Career Families
* Event Completed
Let's face it-it is difficult to do both. Especially if both spouses have laboratories, or if the faculty member is a single parent. One needs both humor and support in this delicate balancing act, and there are many perspectives from a number of our IUSM faculty who have "been there and done that". They will be the rich resource for such presentations.
How to Recruit Personnel to Your Laboratory - Timing is Everything
* Event Completed
You are a tenure-track basic science research faculty member in Indianapolis, Indiana, trying to get your research program up and running. How do you attract postdocs and graduate students? How do you recruit research technicians? When is the best time to advertise for all of these? There will be realistic suggestions presented by experienced faculty members who will discuss the good, bad and ugly aspects of recruiting into one's laboratory.
Mentoring Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows - Two Sides of the Same Coin
* Event Completed
For one's laboratory to be productive, you have to be an effective mentor: whether it is as a colleague or coach/motivator, different styles of mentoring will be presented and discussed, and how it is different for a graduate student as opposed to a postdoctoral fellow. In the end, one needs to find his/her own style.
Helping Trainees Get to the Next Level
* Event Completed
As a mentor, your job is to help your trainees make it to the next level. Providing an environment within which they are highly productive is of course essential. However, when they begin looking for jobs, the way you characterize their work in your laboratory can make the difference between a good position and a great position. In the end, their success = your success. Some suggestions and tips on how to make this work will be presented.
Dealing With Personnel Problems in the Laboratory
* Event Completed
Laboratories are not always well-oiled machines; sometimes there are problem people who disrupt the continuity. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. Identifying and taking care of problems before they get out of hand are essential to do. Some examples of real personnel problems and how to deal with them (or how they were actually dealt with) will be discussed.
Choosing a Faculty Mentor
No one has to have only one mentor and can often be helped to a greater extent if they have more than one (e.g., a female faculty member having both female and male mentors. Either-or both-could be research scientists).
Getting Recognized as an Independent Scientist - Without Being a "Photon Magnet"
Our postdoctoral mentors help in our getting a faculty position. However, these "coattails" do not last forever. How does one make a name for him/herself in the field while providing proper credit to others? We at the IUSM value a culture where credit is generously given-being inclusive, rather than being exclusive. This has important ramifications in the service mission of the school and for the professional growth of the research faculty member, as well as those s/he mentors. Some ideas meant to help get one's name "out there" will be discussed.
Patenting Inventions and Other Intellectual Property Elements
* Event Completed
When is something discovered in the laboratory patentable? How should you protect your intellectual property/discoveries? Representative(s) from the Indiana University Research and Technology Corportaion (IURTC) will discuss patenting, technology transfer, etc., and how this works to protect your discoveries in the laboratory from a research scientist's perspective.
Diversity in Science
What is different about being "different" in science? How can one participate in programs aimed at enhancing diversity at IUSM at the graduate student, postdoc and faculty levels? The participation of the IUSM associate dean for diversity affairs in this brown bag workshop will provide important views from the School's perspective.
Keeping Tabs on Your Laboratory Spending
Even if you have no difficulty balancing your checkbook and your departmental business office is great in ensuring that you do not overspend your grant dollars, it is still your responsibility as the PI to know what your financial status in the laboratory is. In this seminar, some suggestions on keeping your laboratory above water (and not overspent) will be discussed.
Service Contributions in the IUSM by Research Faculty
Event Complete
An important component of one's work as a faculty member is their service to the school. This seminar will discuss various avenues in which a research background would be a great help to the school-both the obvious and not so obvious.
Writing a Manuscript and Where to Submit It
Where should you submit your work? Is there a strategy to get your paper more likely to be reviewed by a high impact journal (e.g., Science or Nature)? How do you decide where to submit a manuscript that was rejected by one or more journals? This seminar will address these and a number of other general questions to help enhance the "impact" of your work by doing all you can to increase your chances of publishing a paper in the most visible journal possible.
I’m a Newly-Tenured Associate Professor—Now What?
Event Complete
After the excitement of achieving that all-important first goal (i.e., achieving tenure), what is really expected of you? How do you start preparing for ultimately being promoted to full Professor? Answers to these and other questions will be discussed in helping you understand your role at this rank--and beyond.
Basic Research Faculty Development Workshops
Scientific Writing Workshop
This is an outstanding program that has helped both new and veteran researchers improve their scientific writing in this workshop that is presented by a nationally-recognized, highly sought-after expert in this area. Analyses and critiques of scientific writing samples are also available on an individual basis.
Understanding and Dealing with Grant Review Panel Comments
This seminar will discuss how an NIH study section evaluates a grant application, what the comments on the Summary Statement actually mean, and how to deal with them. What is the difference between a good and outstanding application? What is considered to be important vs. unimportant in an application? Should you send additional preliminary data after the grant is submitted for further reviewer perusal? How do you know that you can?
Writing an IUSM IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee), IBC (Institutional Biosafety Committee), rDNA (Recombinant DNA), and BHC (Biohazard Committee) Study Application - Dos and Don'ts
One of the least "fun" aspects of being a Principal Investigator as a basic scientist is having to write study protocols for recombinant DNA (and other aspects covered under biosafety) and animal experiments. Oftentimes, reviews come back that are not very informative. This workshop will help in the writing of such study applications, things that are important and things that can be avoided, so that the applications do not need to go back for countless revisions.
Navigating the P & T Process for Research Faculty
Although there are fundamental, common requirements for faculty going up for promotion and tenure, there are unique elements specific for research faculty. This workshop will explore and discuss some myths (and stark realities) of what it takes to be promoted and tenured if research is one's declared area of excellence.
