Welcome to the Science Careers Forum

[Carlton Saffell]

Science Careers would like to welcome you to our forum. If you have any questions, please ask our moderator, Dave Jensen. Happy Posting...!!!

[ronie]

I`ll be finishing my PhD in Biotechnology within a few months but instead of proceeding to a postdoc position in the same field, I think my core competence is in the 2 areas:

1) science journalism (writing on popular science)
2) biological/social anthropology

Any suggestions for the best places to apply for a job or train in these areas?

Thanks,
Ronie

[Bill L. & Naledi S.]

Hi Ronie --
Most people in the field say that science journalists get their jobs because they know and love science (like you) and have gotten some (any!) kind of experience with the written communication of science (college newspaper, volunteer writing, contributing op-eds, etc). If you don't already have this experience, you should get some. There's a terrific AAAS Fellowship program for Science Mass Media Communication http://www.asanet.org/student/massmed.html

With regard to potential employment sectors for people with training in social/medical/biological anthropology, it seems most opportunities are going to be within academic institutions, but you might want to also think about policy think tanks, government agencies, etc. Check out the articles on Science Nextwave in this area:
http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/trn.dtl?open=53#53

Best wishes --
Bill L. and Naledi S., Advisors

[Dave Jensen]

Ronie,

See our frequent poster Jim Gardner's comments on this topic. He's a great resource if you can shoot him a line directly. In this forum, if you see a person's name underlined, its a live link to their email (without opening the door to spam).

Personlly, I had a similar background, though not the PhD. I loved science journalism, but fell into something else. I would urge you to hang in there and sorry that I cant help with the anthropology interest.

By the way, I get a TON of value out of my membership in the NASW (National Assoc of Science Writers). Lots of educational programs, networking, etc.

Dave Jensen, Moderator

[khush]

Hello - I'm just starting my undergrad studies and I want to ask what sort of job one can get after doing biotech education: Is it like a general 9 to 5 office job full of paperwork or not?

[Bill L. & Naledi S.]

We think some of the best general answers about the the kinds of jobs available in biotech can be found at http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/CC/
Click on "Job Descriptions 1" and "Job Descriptions 2".

Bill L. and Naledi S.

[Iris Ben-Efraim]

Hi there,
I've completed my post-doc at the Scripps research institute and would
like to have a career in patent law.
My backgound is in Cell biology, Biochemistry and Biophysics and I also
had a collaboration with industry which gave me some insight into it's
workings.
I wonder what kind of a resume I should send law firms that specialize in
patent law?
I would appreciate guidelines and any pertinent information.
Sincerely,
Iris Ben-Efraim