Careers
fromItsnicethat
in 2 weeks"Your current set-up may not be aligning with where you want to be"
Transitioning into a new industry can be challenging, requiring time to adjust and align with personal values for creative motivation.
Social anxiety and depression had other plans, leaving me in an ugly cycle of self-isolation and rumination. Terrified of rejection, I'd meet someone interesting during one of my English lectures and invite them out for frozen yogurt in my head.
Modern scientific societies are increasingly vulnerable due to their dependence on membership fees and journal subscriptions, which are being challenged by the rise of virtual networking and open-access publishing.
Computer programs that check mathematical arguments have existed for decades, but translating a human-written proof into the strict programming language of a computer is extremely time-consuming, often taking months or even years.
The past 10 years have seen the number of women in the UK's tech sector creep up from 16% in 2015 to 22% in 2025, and black women still only account for 0.6% of people in tech roles. There are countless reasons for this, including a lack of inclusive culture in the sector, limited visibility of career role models, insufficient flexibility in the workplace and misconceptions about the type of people who work in tech roles, along with the influence of unconscious bias.
The quality of life [provided by] my current stipend (same amount as for 10 years ago) definitely has not been maintained with the rising cost of living. Within a few years I think most people would struggle and need to begin a side hustle or second job.
Academia can be incredibly, overwhelmingly, demanding. Many feel that they have to dedicate all their time and energy to establishing and sustaining a successful career. But many don't want an all-encompassing career. And there are profound parts of life that can get pushed to the sidelines by these demands. And of course, for many, this includes parenthood. Today, we're going to speak with several researchers about the strain academia places on parents and those hoping to become parents.
The fewer solicitations you have, the less time grant applicants have to figure out which of our pigeonholes they fit into. In the past, a solicitation might have been for an individual program, which means it's attached to an individual program officer and a specific dollar amount. Now, instead of going to one program officer's area, the NSF will use technology to better route applications to wherever within the agency they can best be reviewed.
Known as ExStra, this is a permanent national funding programme designed to strengthen research at the nation's top universities and make them more competitive internationally. While the ExStra programme allows for up to 15 "Excellent Universities" (Exzellenzuniversitaten), only ten institutions have made the grade for the next round of funding.
I've achieved all this while flying nearly every 'red flag' that people say is antithetical to a successful academic career. I am a woman, am young-ish for an academic, have three children (now aged 9, 12 and 14), have moved internationally for my education and career, have worked in industry and now work in interdisciplinary research.
Engineers who love building, mentoring, and solving complex problems don't need to manage people to keep growing. You can lead through influence instead. Technical mastery once guaranteed advancement. For engineers, data scientists, designers, and other experts, the career ladder used to be clear: learn deeply, deliver reliably, and get promoted. But at some point, progress begins to feel less like learning new tools and more like learning new ways to influence.
Search beyond major job engines by using niche job boards, Google X‑ray searches, industry trade directories, company filings, supplier and client lists, local business registers, conference speaker lists, and professional association directories; cross-reference these sources, build a prioritized spreadsheet, and set email or RSS alerts to track when small employers post trainee or entry-level opportunities, and monitor sector-specific hashtags and community Slack/Discord channels for unadvertised roles.
A tweet can travel far, but it cannot spark a spontaneous conversation in the hallway. Conferences offer in-person engagement, but they are infrequent and often exclusive or too busy. Hanging a paper on your office door? That's immediate, local and quietly powerful. It is a symbolic gesture that brings your research into the physical space of the university, something rarely done in today's digital culture.
For nearly 100 years, the United States has been the world's leader in a wide variety of scientific fields. No other country has: invested as much in fundamental scientific research, has made more scientific breakthroughs and scientific advances, has attracted more scientific researchers to move there to conduct their research, or has conducted more projects and been home to more scientists that have won Nobel Prizes.
Young people are "experiencing higher education differently, and that is shaping much of what parents are saying," said Lammers. "[Parents] are reacting to the questions their children are asking and trying to find the best way to help them navigate the next steps."
Postdoctoral researchers are an essential part of academic science and the knowledge Cornell brings into the world. They often mentor students and lead projects, helping advance discoveries in areas like quantum materials, genomics and biomedicine - work that will fundamentally transform technologies, medicine and public health," said Gary Koretzky '78, vice provost for research, who will administer the grant to researchers in the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Veterinary Medicine and Cornell Engineering.