Compiled list of questions and answers from the 2020 DBER-Sit Virtual Career Panel

Workshop via the Zoom chat feature.

Questions asked to panelists and answered in the chat feature.

1. What are you most excited to do with research? Where do you see the first steps of
that work?

a. Good question. We are focusing our efforts right now on inclusive teaching.
We have a few studies around this ongoing right now supporting faculty in
their efforts.
Being the teaching center director and building relationships has
been a great opportunity to work with faculty on their teaching

2. Is it difficult to earn grants for science education research?


a. There are several NSF funding possibilities for transitioning to education
research. For example, I have a post-doc coming in in January who is being
funded on a supplement grant off the NSF grant that funded her dissertation
work (hard science).

3. As a PhD student I saw right away that a bulk of days/weeks are filled with endless
meetings; how helpful do you all think all those meetings are? Would they be more
efficient communicating by email?
a. I personally find most meetings I'm in helpful (whether they are face to face
to by zoom), but it has been important for me personally to identify when it's
OK to have 15-30 minute meetings. Email is great for small things (or
phone!) but sometimes a conversation generates new ideas and plans that
are harder to emerge by email. But re: meetings taking up too much time -
it's been important for me to block time off for no meetings, and that then
sometimes means I have to say no to some meetings and requests.


4. Can you tell us briefly what the outreach/sci comm grant landscape looks like?
a. Sci com and outreach grants are very different from research grants - they
are much shorter! Ultimately, the grant itself is just a formality. You have to
meet with the organization at least a couple of times to “sell” the program.
These types of foundation or corporate grants are interested in funding the
person/program more than the idea. So meeting me in person (or on zoom
right now) so I can convince them this is important and I’m competent
enough to get it done is the footwork before filling out the actual
application/grant. (Which is usually just a series of short answer questions)

5. What is an “AA transfer degree”?


a. AA - is an associates of arts - a general education 2-year degree to transfer
to a 4 year institution with general education requirements completed.
6. Do any of the panelists have advice for someone graduating from a traditional
bench-research phd program who wants to transition into education research? Any
tips on finding post docs in those areas?

a. The SABER listserv often has postings for positions, that's one place to start
to get a sense for what opportunities are out there, or for past opportunities
what they were looking for.
Also, if you hear or read bio ed research you are
interested in, reach out to that person to see if they know of opportunities or
if they can connect you to other groups.
b. For educational development, this is a nice paper that refers to useful skills.
See Figure 2
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1023/A:1010934420457.pdf

7. It feels like academic job hopefuls are supposed to be willing and able to move
anywhere for a position, but sometimes it isn’t possible/the right choice. What advice
do you have for graduates searching for a position but are tied to a given geographic
location due to familial circumstances?
a. Many people are place-bound, including most CC students, so we have to
look for local opportunities
b. When I was tied to a location one thing that worked for me was networking
as much as possible in that local region. Reaching out to folks I knew, and
didn't know, and starting conversations on what I could offer, what my goals
were, what they might be looking for. For me personally it took a bit of work,
but eventually conversations turned into opportunities.
c. Being a single parent, I had the same issues. Looking for advice from
panelists, but if it helps anyone, I was given advice to look at active grants
for stem ed in communities of interest to find individuals with funding as one
possible step, and asking researchers for connections in those areas, too.
d. If your ideal job exists in your geographic location, be patient. It might be
occupied, but eventually it will open up. Or, be strategic and find a way to
create the job you want, where you want it. That might mean finding your
own way to fund it. No institution is going to run away someone who shows
up with enough funding to fund their position.
e. I knew that location and comfortability was important to me when going on
the job market. As academics, we spend a great deal of time moving and
being away from family. Because of that I only looked at institutions that were
in a certain mile radius of where I wanted to live. I searched for job postings
in those areas but I also networked at conferences with individuals who were
currently at institutions that I was interested in. You can offer to come and
give a guest talk or to come and see the institution. This allows you to get to
know other faculty members at the school. I have known people to be offered
positions after their guest lectures even if there was no job posted!
Compiled list of verbal questions asked panelists from the 2020 DBER-Sit Virtual Career
Panel Workshop. Answers to each verbal question can be found in the workshop
recording: https://youtu.be/e_bAXlZ2KyA.

Questions asked to panelists (whole panel).

1. What does a day in your job look like? What are your primary responsibilities/roles?
How do you balance these different roles?
2. What advice would you give to a trainee who was interested in a job like yours? What
kinds of experiences or skills should they be cultivating now, as grad students and
postdocs?
3. If you could boil it to one thing, what was the driving ""factor"" that led you to your
current position? What is it about the work that you do that you value, which led you to
pursue it?
4. What advice do you have for someone trained in basic science research who wants to
transition into your career?
5. How can we better advocate for equity and inclusion in SABER and in your field?
6. Of the steps you took as an undergrad and grad student, what best prepared you for
your current positions and why?
7. Is it difficult to earn grants for science education research?

8. Did any of you have to convince any of the places you work at of the importance of
your position? If sock how did you do this? I’m asking because my advisor noted that
some universities may not understand the importance of a DBER professor.
9. What about applying to universities that currently do not have DBER positions or
instructors. Any advice on trying to create a niche for some of us interested in teaching
and researching biology learning?
10. Wondering about the utility of having done a post-doc for each of these positions if
there's time to address it

11. Does the teaching have to be undergrad focussed? Or does grad student focussed
teaching experience count?

Questions for Panelist: Science Communication

1. What is the most exciting part of working in science communication?

2. How do you find science communication positions? If you do not have a degree in
communications, how do I convince someone either in the CV or interview that I am
qualified?
3. What experience would you recommend a graduate student or postdoc to get to be
competitive in this field? (may have already been asked in main session)
4. Are you able to conduct research in your position? If so, what does that look like, and
how is it different than working at a university?
 5. How can we better advocate for equity and inclusion in science communication?

Questions for Panelist: Academic Teaching in a Community College

1. What are the differences between standard public universities and community
colleges? What encouraged you to choose a position at this school, rather than at a
four-year university?
2. Did you need to adjunct before securing a full-time faculty position? If so, how long?
3. What kind of instructor support is there at community college especially if you are
designing your first course?
4. Is it feasible to do scholarship in the community college teaching setting?
5. What is your strategy for creating a community of student support when students will
eventually transfer to a different institution? How have these communities impacted
students' desire to pursue a four-year degree and helped them make a successful
transition to earn their undergraduate degree?
6. Are you directly assigned a group of students to advise at community colleges? Or is
this more of a role assumed by the counseling center

Questions for panelist: Research and Teaching at an HBCU

1. What are the differences between standard public universities and minority-serving
institutions?
2. Do you have a favorite strategy that you wish you knew had during your postdoc that
prepared you for balancing your teaching responsibilities and mentoring
undergraduate researchers?
3. What kinds of support do you see at the HBCU that you really wish you could see for
underrepresented students at other institutions?
4. What encouraged you to choose a position at this school, rather than at a larger
university?
5. How can we better foster equity, inclusion, and collaboration with HBCUs and
beyond?

Questions for Panelist: Tenure Track at a Research University

1. Does your teaching focus on Biology Education Research, or do you teach standard
science courses, then conduct research using your existing students?
2. How is your time divided up between teaching, research, and service? What was
required for you to earn tenure?
 3. How have you introduced and tested evidence-based teaching strategies into your
courses and what kind of data, if any, do you collect, analyze and publish?
4. What type of interaction do you have with discipline-specific faculty (i.e. professors of
biology, chemistry, etc) at your university? Do you collaborate with them?
5. How can we better advocate for equity and inclusion in research universities and
how we conduct research in BER?
6. What are some of the benefits of working in both biology education research and
chemistry education research?

Questions for Panelist: Center for Teaching and Learning

1. How much of your own research are you able to do in your position? Is it feasible to
do extensive scholarship in a CTL with time constraints as you provide assistance
with course design for faculty etc?
2. Do you do any teaching (of undergrads or grad students) yourself in your position?
3. Is there a skill from your grad school experience or postdoc that prepared you for
your job search? What advice do you have for someone interested in this career
path?
4. Have you had to work hard to build community around teaching professional
development and what strategies have worked best for you if you have?
5. What's your favorite part of your job?
6. What do your interactions with students look like?
7. How can we better advocate for equity and inclusion in how faculty are trained and
how we teach?
8. Are there networks other than the POD network for people interested in jobs at
teaching and learning centers?
9. How can DBERs build relationships with Teaching and Learning Centers and
together look for new funding opportunities to support those collaborations.

Questions for Panelist: Academic Teaching at an R1 University

1. As a DBER-focused faculty member within a cell/devo department, do you feel

well-integrated within the broader faculty community or is there a division between
the teaching faculty and [non-DBER] research faculty?
2. How does one navigate teaching and scholarship in an academic R1 teaching
scenario? In a typical semester, approximately how much of your time is spent
teaching, researching, or doing service within the dept?
3. Is a postdoc expected/required to get a job like yours?
4. What kind of classes are you able to teach? Does your teaching focus on Biology
Education Research, or do you teach biology courses?
5. What were your tenure requirements like as a teaching professor?
6. Do you mentor graduate students and/or postdocs in your role as a teaching
professor at an R1?
7. What suggestions do you have for postdocs to continue developing as instructors
while satisfying the research component of their postdoc appointment?
8. How can we better advocate for equity and inclusion in academic teaching and at
R1s?