The SRA Symposium - College of Medicine

Papers
Karl: During my time at the NMRC I realized that networking is a very important aspect of developing
my career. Since broadening my professional network was one of our objectives throughout
my internship, I was provided with an opportunity to talk to many other scientists about the best
ways of accomplishing my specific experiments. Moreover, many scientists advised me about
medical schools as well. I also met many medical school students, who where simply doing their
internships or working as regular employees in order to pay back the military for their education.
They gave me their perspectives as students, and advised me on ways to prepare for the MCAT.
But more importantly, they became quick friends, whose influences may help me in my future
career. A student’s networking must start with a good mentor effectively conveying the notion that
professional networks in science can be immensely helpful throughout a scientist’s career.
Brent: A short summer internship, like Karl’s, does not present a great opportunity to set up a
broad professional network. But certainly Karl was able to meet with many people here at the
NMRC and at the NNMC and build friendships that will hopefully serve him in the future. Karl
will finish his internship understanding the importance of networking throughout his career.
Teach Basic Skills. There are several basic skills a scientist needs to acquire if he or she wishes to
be successful. Unfortunately, many mentors take these for granted and do not sufficiently provide
training for these basic skills:
1) Many beginner scientists have little experience in planning, organizing tasks, and making
good use of their time. The mentor can help them acquire this skill, possibly beginning
with simple scheduling, where the mentoring appointments are used as a basic framework.
2) Clear writing is essential to most careers. In science, writing is especially significant, as
most scientists participate in writing research articles, review articles, grant proposal applications,
article reviews, recommendation letters, etc. Very early on, the mentor should
therefore engage students in writing tasks, provide meaningful feedback, and emphasize
its importance.
3) Public speaking is also a much-needed skill. Scientists have a huge advantage in their
fields of study when they are able to present scientific ideas and results effectively to other
scientists and engineers, as well as to the lay public and specialists in other fields. The
training required will vary greatly from trainee to trainee. Some may be naturally confident
in front of groups, while others may display varying levels of anxiety towards giving
public or class presentations. In extreme cases, trainees may benefit from professional
training, via speech classes or consultation.
Karl: Dr. House not only taught me the basic laboratory techniques, but he also understood the
importance of basic skills such as planning, writing and speaking. Before I came to the NMRC,
Dr. House prepared a schedule with all the things I had to do during my internship. However, the
schedule was open to change, therefore we were able to move things around and adjust them to
be more convenient and useful. During my stay I had to write a scientific paper, which was a very
new experience for me. I also prepared and gave a presentation about Malaria to the entire NMRC
Malaria department.This was the first big public presentation that I have given. Practicing all these
basic techniques at an early stage will contribute greatly to my future career.
Brent: Before Karl arrived, I organized a calendar of projects that he would have while he was here.
Karl wrote a research paper, created a poster and gave a PowerPoint (PP) presentation, learning
some basics about writing and public speaking.
40 2005 Symposium Proceedings Book