Hello PhD

Hello PhD


Latest Episodes

116: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Summer Students
June 17, 2019

Ten weeks is not a long time. It feels even shorter when you’re tossed into the deep-end of a top-tier research lab. If you’re spending your summer as a Research Assistant between semesters, or you’ve graduated and want to get some summer experience be...

115: PhDown Under – 4 Ways a PhD is Better in Australia
June 02, 2019

It’s no secret that post-secondary education is a rough road to walk. Graduate students rack up debt for the privilege of working long hours for an unpredictable number of years with very little faculty support. Well,

114: Grad School Should Have a Time Limit
May 17, 2019

Here’s a controversial idea: what if graduate school finished on a predictable schedule the way (checks notes) every other academic training program does! Since kindergarten, your education has had fixed milestones.

113: All Work and Some Play – Isaac Childres on Following Your Passion After a PhD
April 30, 2019

Sometimes, a graduate school education follows the strait and narrow path through dissertation, postdoc, and faculty position. And sometimes, it sprouts wings and takes you somewhere else entirely. That was the experience for Isaac Childress.

112: Listener Mailbag – Leaving Home, Avoiding the GRE, Finding Collaborators, et al!
April 15, 2019

It’s that time again… Let’s open the mailbag and see what you, our listeners and friends, have sent in! You asked for it… We start out with a couple of questions from David, who is considering going back to grad school for computational biology after a...

111: Empowering the Impossible with Citizen Science
March 31, 2019

It looks like a cross between an anteater and a hedgehog, but don’t let that description fool you into believing it’s easy to spot an echidna in the wild. These denizens of the Down Under know how to hide. “They’re really understudied in Australia beca...

033: It’s Tax Season – Here’s What You Need to Know (R)
March 12, 2019

You might believe that because you’re in grad school and receiving a research stipend, you don’t really need to worry about paying an income tax.  You don’t have a ‘real job’ and no one asked you to fill out any paperwork so you’re off the hook,

110: The Secret Life of Pets (in Grad School)
February 24, 2019

After a tough day of negative results and an ornery PI, it can be nice to come home to someone who thinks you’re amazing, loves you unconditionally, and wants nothing more than to cuddle with you on the couch. Of course,

109: HelloPhD Guide to Grad School Applications – Understanding Your Offer Letter with Dr. Emily Roberts
February 04, 2019

It’s been an exhausting journey, but you’re nearing the end. You slogged through reams of application forms, personal statements, and letters of reference. You gave up every weekend for two months, traveling to interview at different schools.

108: My Green Lab with Allison Paradise
January 21, 2019

It’s Monday morning and you arrive in lab a little late. No worries, you drop your tissue culture media into the warming bath, turn on the hood, and head down the hall while things ‘warm up.’ Next stop is the -80 freezer.