Focus on Future You(s) is a 3-part workshop series (each part is 90 minutes) for PhD candidates in natural sciences and engineering who have already completed their general exams. In this series, you will self-reflect, identify your professional interests and future possibilities, and come away with lots of affirmation, allies, and approaches! Postdocs are welcome to join. Learning goals: You will learn and discuss how to- - identify pathways that resonate with you, - build and leverage connections to explore options, - develop and translate skills and experiences for multiple future/s - create goals and plans for professional development and lifelong learning Part 1: In the first part, you will reflect on purpose and meaning in your past and present professional life to extrapolate future professional paths that will fulfil you. Further, using ideation, group problem-solving, and design-thinking methods, you will create multiple “future you” scenarios under variety of circumstances and material conditions. 

Lunch included!

This research communication series is developed through a collaboration between the Council on Science and Technology (CST), Office of the Dean for Research-Princeton Innovation and GradFUTURES-Graduate School and will launch in Wintersession via a two half-days - workshop, and continue in spring 2024. Through lessons and applications of this series, graduate students and postdocs will learn and practice dynamic methods and effective approaches to communicate their research to diverse audiences. This series will also assist participants in preparing for Princeton Research Day.

At Wintersession, graduate student and postdocs in science and engineering will gain knowledge of foundational concepts and theories of communicating research to non-technical audiences, apply those skills to create dynamic research narratives for different audience types, receive feedback from experts and learn about the goals and format of Princeton Research Day.

Day 1: Theory of effective science communication.

In this interactive 3-hour workshop, participants will learn about the following:
- Princeton Research Day - Goals, Expectation and Rubrics
- Clearly Communicating Complex Ideas: Discover key tips for how to make the most of your three-minute presentation at Princeton Research Day.
- Simplifying the language of Science: Making your Scientific Story Engaging and Accessible. Critically analyze different pieces of science communication media to determine characteristics that are most effective in engaging participants from a broad audience and that you can employ in your Princeton Research Day presentation.

Day 2: Putting Theory into Practice.

In this 3-hour interactive workshop, participants will apply theories and lessons from Day 1 to
- adapt their talk to different audiences (e.g. academics in different fields, policymakers, funders)
- workshop with, and receive feedback from experts in: STEM Communication, Storytelling, Scripting, and Data Visualization

Lunch included on both days!

The formal scientific method tells you how to rigorously and objectively test a hypothesis. But where do hypotheses come from in the first place? Posing fruitful new questions, ideating novel hypotheses, and inventing new experimental technologies all require scientific creativity.

Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher have been exploring the hidden side of the scientific process in editorials and a podcast. In this 1-day interactive workshop, participants engage with Profs. Cliff Brangwynne and Itai Yanai for the generation of scientific ideas.

Topics

• Introduction to the creative process

• Improvisational science

• Finding question & contradictions

• The two languages

•  Import/export of ideas

• A hypothesis is a liability

•  Puzzle switching

Workshop included on-site lunch and coffee break. A networking reception will follow the workshop. This workshop is co-sponsored by the Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute, GradFUTURES and the Office of Technology Licensing. 

The Humanities Expedition & Lab exposes you to the many ways in which a graduate degree in the humanities and social sciences can have an impact in the academy and beyond, before you even begin your coursework. Join the GradFUTURES Team for a day long trip to New York City to visit the city's attractions.