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• BBSP705: “Best Practices for Rigor and Reproducibility in Research” – This introductory class covers topics related to rigor and reproducibility in research. Offered as five 90-minute classes over two weeks in May each year.
• BBSP710: “Introductory Statistics for Laboratory Scientists” – Introduces basic concepts and methods of statistics with an emphasis on applications in the experimental biological sciences. Emphasis is on mastery of basic statistical skills and familiarity with situations in which advanced analytical skills may be needed, and on mastery of graphing and statistical analysis of data sets using GraphPad Prism. Tuesday lectures and Thursday Prism workshops. Fall semester.
• Curriculum in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology – Offers some biostatistics courses.
• The Department of Biostatistics offers .
• The Department of Statistics and Operations Research offers some .
• The training program summarizes useful courses offered by other departments and also offers modules of their own.

 

• offers biostatistical collaboration, short-term consultation, statistical methodology support, assistance with grant and manuscript preparation, and education in various topics relevant to biomedical researchers.
• :聽The Department of Statistics and Operations Research offers free statistical consulting services, in the context of a course on statistical consulting, STOR 765. This graduate level course aims to both serve the university community, and to instruct students in the art of consulting. Instructor solicits projects at the start of the fall semester.
• : The BIOS Core provides a full collaborative scientific resource focused on providing 黑料网 Lineberger members support for the design, conduct, analyses, and generation of manuscripts for their research.
• CGBID Biostatistics Core: Starting with consultation, study design, and data management, the Core then assists with the collection, analysis and integration of biological and epidemiological data. It provides assistance with database implementation and maintenance, web applications, validated and secure data capture, quality control, and statistical analysis.

. The 鈥淗elp鈥� materials in GraphPad Prism are really good. Even if you don鈥檛 have the software, there are free resources at the website. You can purchase a Prism license from 黑料网 Software Acquisition for $55/year.

. A gentle introduction to R for biostatistics.

. Practical resource for quantitative data visualization. Solid overall and available for free online from the author in its entirety.

Biostatistical Analysis by Jerrold Zar

• Pollard DA, Pollard TD, Pollard KS. Empowering statistical methods for cellular and molecular biologists. Mol Biol Cell. 2019; 30(12):1359-68. PMID: 31145670.
• Klaus B. Statistical relevance鈥搑elevant statistics, part I. EMBO J. 2015; 34(22):2727-30. PMID: 26392568.
• Klaus B. Statistical relevance-relevant statistics, part II: presenting experimental data. EMBO J. 2016; 35(16):1726-9. PMID: 27436873.
• Richardson BA, Overbaugh J. Basic statistical considerations in virological experiments. J Virol. 2005; 79(2):669-76. PMID: 15613294.

• Leek J, McShane BB, Gelman A, Colquhoun D, Nuijten MB, Goodman SN. Five ways to fix statistics. Nature. 2017; 551(7682):557-9. PMID: 29189798.
• Weissgerber TL, Milic NM, Winham SJ, Garovic VD. Beyond bar and line graphs: time for a new data presentation paradigm. PLoS Biol. 2015; 13(4):e1002128. PMID: 25901488.
• Nuzzo R. Scientific method: statistical errors. Nature. 2014; 506(7487):150-2. PMID: 24522584.
• Furuya Y, Wijesundara DK, Neeman T, Metzger DW. Use and misuse of statistical significance in survival analyses. mBio. 2014; 5(2):e00904-14. PMID: 24595371.

. Clear explanations for many stats topics from Josh Starmer, a former faculty member at 黑料网.

provides a good reminder that correlation is not the same as causation.

is a collection of articles, columns, and resources published in Nature journals.

. Fantastic (and free) accompanying lecture series.

Elements of Statistical Learning by Hastie & Tibshirani

We strongly encourage all MCRO students to create and maintain an聽Individual Development Plan (IDP), using a resource such as聽.聽 The Medical Scientist Training Program requires M.D./Ph.D. students to have an IDP.聽 黑料网 Chapel Hill requires postdoctoral scientists to have an IDP.聽 Thinking about your career goals and regularly discussing them with your advisor can help you intentionally engage in activities that will lay the foundation for future career success.

All MCRO students are required to discuss their career plans and interests with their thesis committee at every meeting.

The Graduate School听() offers a framework for thinking about how to develop broadly applicable core competencies in communication, academic development, leadership/professionalism, and career development across early, mid, and late stages of graduate school.聽 A useful matrix of聽Core Competencies for Graduate Students聽is here:聽Core Competencies for Graduate Students

The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs offers information on聽core competencies to be developed by postdocs听(), including discipline-specific conceptual knowledge, research skills, communication, professionalism, leadership & management, and responsible conduct of research.

Eventually you will need at least three letters of recommendation for fellowship and job applications.聽 The best letters come from people who know you well enough to take the time to write a compelling individual letter.聽 You can lay the foundation for good letters of recommendation now by building strong relationships with specific faculty members.聽 Your research advisor is the easiest and most important source.聽 Your other letters should come from independent sources outside your lab.聽 Students have natural access to thesis committee members, whereas postdocs will need to make an effort to reach out to faculty.聽聽 Avoid the temptation to get a letter from a famous scientist who does not know you well 鈥� the superficial quality of such a letter will be obvious to the reader.聽 If a potential reference says they are happy to sign a letter but are too busy to write it themselves, then get someone else!聽 Ghostwritten letters have a high probability of being discovered, which will disqualify your candidacy.

Start by building a strong relationship with your research advisor.聽 In the rare cases when trainees change labs, two avoidable causes are mismatched personalities between trainee and advisor (which hopefully can be figured out before the trainee joins the lab) and mismatched expectations about work conditions (e.g. hours, vacation time, responsiveness to requests, etc.).聽 There is substantial variation in practices between labs, so explicit conversations between trainees and advisors about mutual expectations can minimize problems.聽 Some labs use written documents to avoid any misunderstandings.聽 The Department of Microbiology & Immunology encourages faculty to use documents as they think appropriate for their lab.聽 Generic examples that could serve as the foundation or inspiration for lab-specific documents include one provided to BBSP students and rotation advisors (BBSP Expectations), as well as sample compacts between research advisors and graduate students (AAMC Student Compact) or postdocs (AAMC Postdoc Compact) provided by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

TIBBS听() offers one-on-one career coaching for聽graduate students聽with Beka Layton (rlayton AT med.unc.edu) or Patrick Brandt (pdb AT unc.edu).

University Career Services听() offers free information about exploring careers, networking and social media, job searches, interviewing, cover letters/CVs, etc.聽 They also offer personal appointments for聽graduate students聽with career counselors.

罢丑别听黑料网 Office of Postdoctoral Affairs听() offers a number of tools for聽postdoctoral scientists聽to assess potential careers that match with individual strengths and interests.聽 They also offer individual meetings with career counselors.

LinkedIn聽is widely regarded as an appropriate social media platform for professional purposes.聽 We strongly encourage all trainees to create and regularly update a LinkedIn account as a way to establish and expand your professional network.

We also encourage all trainees to join the聽黑料网 Microbiology & Immunology LinkedIn Group听() as a way to keep up with department news and items of interest, now and long after you leave 黑料网.聽 Membership in the group (currently ~700) is limited to people with a direct connection to our department, so membership requests must be approved by the group owner/manager.

Membership in professional societies is another useful way to build your professional network.聽 Your support for professional societies that publish journals is also relevant to the current conflicts over unaffordable commercial journals.聽 Annual membership dues for students/postdocs in 2020 are relatively inexpensive:聽American Society for Microbiology听() is $35/$40,聽American Society for Virology听() is $15/$30,聽American Association of Immunologists听() is $64/$85, and聽American Association for the Advancement of Science听() is $65/$65.

Regardless of your career path, you will benefit as a scientist by attending scientific conferences to share your results, learn about the latest knowledge in your field, meet potential collaborators or postdoctoral mentors, etc.聽 This is a routine activity for Microbiology & Immunology trainees.聽 MCRO聽students聽can help extend their lab鈥檚 resources by applying for one-time聽travel awards from our department (contact Student Services Specialist Jamie Desoto, jamie_desoto@unc.edu) or transportation grants听() from the 黑料网 Graduate School.聽 Both will require proof that you are giving a talk or poster presentation.

罢丑别听Training Initiatives in Biological & Biomedical Sciences (TIBBS)听() program offers a wide variety of professional development opportunities geared to life scientists.聽聽Activities generally open to students and postdocs.

罢滨叠叠厂听career cohort聽interest groups () explore careers in business and consulting, science policy and advocacy, science writing and communication, science education, academic and research intensive careers, and medical science liaisons.聽聽Open to students and postdocs.

罢滨叠叠厂听programs听() offer career planning workshops, career skills workshops (research, leadership, teaching, industry, science policy, science communication), and career exploration symposia. 聽Open to students and postdocs.

TIBBS offers funding for 160-hour聽ImPACT Internships听(), which can be in a field of your choice.聽 The trainee has to identify the internship, with help from TIBBS.聽 You can also arrange an internship on your own.聽 MCRO students have done internships in research at local biotechnology companies, teaching at local colleges and universities, science policy, science communication, technology transfer, clinical trials management, life sciences consulting, etc.聽聽Currently only open to students.

The Graduate School has a new competency-based program called聽CareerWell听() intended to provide holistic preparation for a future in which the work environment faces substantial uncertainties.聽聽Activities generally open to students and postdocs.

罢丑别听黑料网 Graduate School听() offers professional development opportunities that are more broadly applicable than TIBBS.聽聽Activities generally open to students and postdocs.

The Graduate School offers a series of聽business courses听() (mostly 1.5 credits) taken by many MCRO聽students:

GRAD710 Professional Communication 鈥� Writing

GRAD711 Professional Communication 鈥� Presenting

GRAD712 Leadership for the Workplace

GRAD713 Applied Project Management

GRAD714 Introduction to Financial Accounting

GRAD715 Building Your Leadership Practice

GRAD725 Build Your Professional Brand

GRAD726 Special Topics in Business Fundamentals

GRAD735 Regulatory Toxicology

GRAD750 Innovation to Impact

GRAD751 Advanced Consulting Fundamentals

GRAD755 Technology Commercialization

GRAD770 Introduction to Digital Transformation

and a聽Certificate in Business Fundamentals听().聽 Contact the Student Services Specialist (jamie_desoto@unc.edu) to develop a registration strategy that minimizes tuition costs for your advisor.

The Graduate School offers a busy calendar of聽workshops and other events听() covering a wide variety of professional development topics.聽 Upcoming events are displayed; click on Past Events to get a sense of typical offerings.聽 You can contact Brian Rybarczyk (brybar AT unc.edu) to sign up for a listserv to be notified of upcoming events. 聽Open to students and postdocs.

A variety of career services for聽postdocs聽offered by the聽Office of Postdoctoral Affairs听() are summarized here.

The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs offers聽seminars, panels, and workshops听() on career and professional development.聽 Use the back button on the calendar to get a sense of the type of events offered in the past.聽 To subscribe to the OPA listserv and receive notification of upcoming events, send an email message to opa AT unc.edu with 鈥渟ubscribe to listserv鈥� in the subject line.聽聽The listserv is only available to current 黑料网 postdocs.

OPA maintains an extensive listing of聽career resources for postdocs听() including networking opportunities, professional development activities, and job listings.

There are many opportunities for MCRO students to obtain additional specialized training in scientific areas of particular interest. A complete list is available at page. Some specific programs of particular interest are listed here:

• Graduate Training Program in Translational Medicine. More MCRO students have participated in the translational medicine program than from any other Ph.D. program.
• .
• .

Microbiology & Immunology faculty members lead multiple NIH T32 grants, which can provide one or two years of support for students and/or postdocs, depending on the specific grant. Each program typically involves additional training activities relevant to the particular discipline. Contact the appropriate faculty member for more information about their program and how to apply:

• Basic Immune Mechanisms (Roland Tisch)
• Molecular Biology of Viral Disease (Mark Heise)
• Infectious Disease Pathogenesis Research Training (David Margolis)
• Gasteroenterology Research Training (Balfour Sartor)
• Immunotherapy Training (Jon Serody)
• Infectious Disease Epidemiology (Steve Meshnick)
• Training in Toxicology (Illona Jaspers)
• Trauma Research (Bruce Cairns)

There are many resources to gain more knowledge or become certified in skills relevant to your future career plan. A good place to start looking are professional societies related to your field, which often offer workshops and other training programs, both in person and online.

• 黑料网 has a site license to thousands of free courses through .
• online courses (Must be AAAS member).
• Duke University offers a free six-week online .
• offers thousands of online courses, certifications, and degrees at varying cost (some are free).

Many trainees in our department are interested in teaching. Teaching effectiveness is an important aspect of professional development for both teaching-intensive and research-intensive career paths. There are many resources available at 黑料网 to learn how to become a better educator:

• TIBBS offers a career cohort for to develop job application materials, career exposure, and to build skills/experience relevant to teaching-intensive careers. Open to students and postdocs.
• offers an eight-session Summer Teaching Series in alternate summers consisting of pedagogical training for best practices in teaching, including topics such as: Interactive Team Learning, Learning Assessment, Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), Teaching Statement, Portfolio, and Application Material Development, Classroom Management, Syllabus Design, Challenges of First Time Teachers, and Active Learning.
• TIBBS offers funding for 160-hour , which can be in teaching. The trainee has to identify the internship, with help from TIBBS. MCRO students have taught full courses at Durham Technical Community College, Meredith College, and William Peace University. Currently only open to students.
• The professional development section of the Graduate School offers . All upcoming events are displayed. A search of Past Events using the keyword 鈥淭eaching鈥� shows typical offerings: an eight-week summer online course on 鈥淎n Introduction to Evidence-based Undergraduate STEM Teaching,鈥� a four-hour Course Development Institute for Teaching Assistants, an eight-hour workshop on Effective College Teaching, a one-and-a-half-hour workshop on Writing Effective Teaching Statements, a one-and-a-half-hour workshop on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusive Teaching in the Community College Setting, a one-hour workshop on Energizing the Classroom: Active Learning and Evidence-based Teaching, etc. Open to students and postdocs.
• The is part of a national network of research universities to develop teaching skills in future faculty members. There are three levels of accomplishment/certification (Associate, Practitioner, Scholar) that can be earned through participation in various events, workshops, teaching experiences, reflective statements, etc. Open to students and postdocs.
• There is a graduate-level . They recruit a cohort every other year. The program takes about 2.5 years to complete and includes coursework, a team-taught and jointly designed grad-student led course, and an immersive teaching experience.
• BBSP First Year Groups use volunteer Student Peer Mentors. This is a way to get mentoring experience, which is an important aspect of teaching. Contact Director of BBSP David McDonald (David.McDonald@unc.edu) if interested. Open to students only.
• IMSD provides tutors for individual students needing extra help with class work. This is a way to get non-classroom teaching experience. Contact IMSD Director Ashalla Freeman (ashalla@unc.edu) if you would like to volunteer. Open to students and postdocs.
• An overview of teaching resources for students and postdocs.
• IDST890 The American Professoriate is a course co-taught by the 黑料网 Chancellor that discusses current issues in higher education. Students are nominated by their departments and then invited to register. Students only.
• GRAD810/811 Teaching Skills for International Teaching Assistants cover English language skills and understanding American culture. Postdocs can audit if space is available.

TIBBS has records of for more than 1,300 graduates of 黑料网 Ph.D. programs in the life sciences. You can see the job sectors and career types of students from specific Ph.D. programs and time periods.

OPA is starting to collect on 黑料网 postdocs as part of the Coalition for Next Generation Life Sciences. So far the data include ~100 former 黑料网 postdocs.