Janani Sampath
There are a lot of great resources online about navigating the academic job market, and right off the bat, I want to list some that I found useful (this list is not exhaustive, a simple search online will generate a lot of results):
Before I started applying, and all through the application process, I read up as much as I could about the academic job market, specifically about tenure track (TT) positions in R1/R2 institutes. It was important for me to get a broad perspective, that included people who were successful the first time they applied, people who went on the market multiple times, as well those who tried and called it quits! This is an account of how I approached the process - I’ve focussed on the big picture without going into specific details.
Timeline:
In my final year of grad school, I set a timeline for myself, keeping personal/visa related constraints in mind. These were my limitations:
F1- OPT is valid for three years after graduation, which means I needed at least a year to look elsewhere if my faculty job search failed. I didn’t want to move to an academic H1 either. This is because if you are on an academic H1 visa at a university or national lab and wish to transition to an industry position, you are going from a visa that is not capped to one which is capped (and therefore has a lottery process that begins in April every year). While this can be done, it’s risky because you essentially only have 1 shot, and you need to give up your OPT extension time - I thought it best that I don’t take this chance.
To be in the same city as my husband as soon as possible - at this point, we were almost a year into a long distance marriage (he was in Portland, OR and I was in Columbus, OH).
Considering the points above, I decided to apply for faculty positions a year into my postdoc (2019-2020 cycle). I also told myself that I’ll give it my best shot, but only do it once - if unsuccessful, I’d start applying for industry positions early in 2020, so that I could transition to a new position and still have 1.5 years on my STEM OPT.
I graduated in May 2018, and started my postdoc in July. While looking for postdoc positions in the final year of my PhD, I made it clear to prospective PIs that I would be looking for an academic job. What struck me the most about Jim was his offer to mentor me on all aspects of the job application process - this was important because I heard from a lot of people that mentorship is crucial, in addition to getting a solid scientific record with papers, presentations, etc. Additionally, I was also looking for someone who had a lot of collaborators, so that I could work closely with research groups outside my own. I was also open about being in a long distance marriage, and asked if I could occasionally work from home every Mon/Fri, when I travelled between Seattle and Portland. In a nutshell, selecting a postdoc group is a vital step in the road to securing a TT position, and I chose PRG because I felt that I could pick up skills to complement what I had learned in my PhD, while not sacrificing my happiness too much! I was also fortunate to work in a great group of collaborative, supportive people, and had a lot of opportunities to hone my managerial skills along the way as well. Below, I’ve listed what I did at PRG from Jul 2018 to when I accepted an offer at the University of Florida (March 2020), explaining parts of the process along the way.
July 2018 - Oct 2018: Met with Jim and senior graduate students to understand open projects in the group, started thinking about my first few papers, started mentoring graduate students, had meetings with collaborators. Jim and I went over my CV, and tried to assess gaps that needed to be filled in a year's time so that I would have a competitive application package.
Oct 2018 - Jan 2019: I spent this time focusing on science, co-wrote a short review chapter for a book (this helped me learn about the methods I would later implement). Decided to attend APS in Mar 2019, submitted an abstract for a talk (I regularly attended APS as a graduate student and didn’t want to miss a networking opportunity even though I knew I’d be the only PRG member there). Jim had an invitation to submit a paper in May 2019, and this gave me a realistic deadline to work toward. I filled out my first 6 month IDP with Jim, and we both decided that I needed 2 first author papers, in addition to the co-author projects that I was working on (at this point, I was working on 2-3 collaborative projects). We also started thinking about who will write my letters of recommendation, in addition to Lisa (my PhD advisor) and Jim. During this time, we attended the kickoff meeting for the EFRC center that I would be a part of, and thought that it would be helpful to get a letter from the directors of the center (provided I was a productive member of the center). So I made a mental note to be more vocal during meetings, and actively present my work during center meetings.
Jan 2019 - April 2019: On the job front, I read up extensively about applying for TT jobs, and looked closely into the profiles of people who were hired in R1 institutes in the last 2-3 years. Something that stood out to me was that most PIs were affiliated with a top 10 institute, or came from a lab of a well known (= National Academy member) PI. I spent a considerable amount of time fretting over this, and Jim and I had many conversations about this as well - ultimately, I realized that this was out of my control, and chose to focus on things that I could control (full disclosure, this was constantly in the back of my mind)! I also started to think about my future research, as the AIChE deadline was fast approaching (more about AIChE later). I attended APS, and that was fun. I realized that machine learning was a big focus in many of the sessions I attended in my division of polymer and soft matter physics. I started to wrap up the simulations for my first paper, and made a writing timeline. I also taught 3 stat mech/MD simulations classes.
April 2019 - Jul 2019: I submitted 3 abstracts for AIChE - 1 poster (meet the faculty candidate session) and 2 talks. In retrospect, the extra talk was a lot of unnecessary effort. I would advise focussing on 1 talk and of course, the poster. The poster abstract was very different from any other abstract I’ve submitted, “As far as this abstract, we assume the main goal for you is to get a job. We recommend that you do not format it like a regular AIChE submission, but instead make it an advertisement of yourself as a faculty candidate.” Jim’s feedback on this abstract was invaluable, because I had no idea how to ‘sell’ myself. We submitted my first first-author paper from the group (at this point, I also had 3 co-author papers). I attended a brown bag lunch hosted by Elizabeth Nance (who happened to become an awesome mentor), who talked about the timeline for faculty applications in ChemE, and gave me some insight about the other side, i.e. the review process. I also attended a future faculty workshop - this was really helpful as well, and everyone should attend at least one such workshop in the year that they are applying, imo.
Aug 2019 - Nov 2019: Stressful times. AIChE was on Nov 10. Working my way back, I realized that I had to get in my applications at least 3 weeks before AIChE (~Oct 15), to ensure that the review committee looked at my application and (hopefully) met with me during the poster session. An application packet to R1/R2 institutions for TT positions consists of research, teaching, and diversity statements, a cover letter, CV, and 3-4 references. I wanted to make sure that my research statement was reviewed by multiple faculty members (I sent it to 5). So I had to be ready with a nearly perfect draft by Oct 1. I also had to focus on writing up and submitting my second first author paper from my postdoc, so that I didn’t have it listed under ‘MS in preparation’. I also met with Elizabeth Nance and Stephanie Valleau multiple times for tips and tricks. I quickly realized that 1 mentor isn’t enough (even though Jim was absolutely awesome)! In the end, I applied to 30 schools before AIChE.
Nov 2019 - Mar 2020: I networked as much as I could at AIChE - this was really tiring. But, I had people with me at all receptions, and I’m really grateful for that. Networking alone would’ve been an absolute nightmare. Selective networking is key (you can’t talk to everyone from every school you apply to). I made sure I carried business cards with details about my presentations to hand over to faculty that I spoke to. I applied to 5 more schools in this period (35 schools in total). After AIChE, the wait was tough. I would CONSTANTLY check my email. I made a spreadsheet of all the places I applied to, keeping track of schools that had requested for recommendation letters. I didn’t want to start working on my job talk and chalk talk unless I had an invitation. Once I got 1 onsite offer, I went full steam ahead. I had multiple practice sessions for my chalk talk, both with faculty in the department and PRG members (shout out to Lilo Pozzo and Elizabeth Nance who had to witness my first practice chalk talk which was a DISASTER). In the end, I had 5 on-site interview offers. The closest school was in Texas, everything else was on the east coast, and traveling was tiring. I made it a point to mention that my husband was also looking for an opportunity at all places that I interviewed at (this was something absolutely crucial). Ultimately, University of Florida turned out to be a great fit, and I accepted their offer (they also offered my husband a teaching faculty position). Unfortunately, we couldn’t go on a second visit, but that’s a small price to pay considering everything that was happening in the world at that point.
Retrospection:
I feel very fortunate to have had 3 offers in the year that I did. I believe if I interviewed later, even by a week or two, I could very well have had none, because of the hiring freezes that were happening due to the pandemic. It goes without saying, but I couldn’t have done this without Jim’s mentorship. He always made time for meetings, even if it meant meeting over lunch, or when he was en route from one meeting to another. I’m glad I never hesitated to ask him for help! I am also glad that I reached out to other faculty members in the department who were hired recently, because this is a dynamic process where things are constantly evolving. No two paths are the same, from putting your application packet together, to negotiating an offer.
Planning ahead of time helped a lot, and having contingency plans in case plan A didn’t work out really helped keep my anxiety in check, because I knew that I didn’t put all my eggs in 1 basket. Everyone is different of course.
Apart from the months leading up to AIChE, and the months that I was interviewing (~5 months in total), I would say that I had a pretty stress free postdoc. I took time off to travel, hike, and generally enjoyed my time in the PNW. I tried my best to not work on weekends. In my almost 2 years in the group (before quarantine), I always looked forward to coming in to work everyday because of my awesome group mates. All this was important, because I find myself needing a lot of energy as I’m starting my new job (wrapping up my postdoc, grant writing, planning my first course, recruiting my first students).
I think it was helpful that I participated in activities not directly related to research. I was selected as the Early Career Network (ECN) rep of our DOE center, was part of the ChemE chair’s advisory board, and was an active part of the UW postdoc network. At the end of 2019, I was selected to be a part of the Science Teaching Experience for Postdocs (STEP) cohort, where I learned about active learning methods, and co-taught a seminar class in Summer 2020 (my first experience teaching online). These were all valuable lessons that I will take into my new position - they taught me the importance of time management, and effectively utilizing a calendar (something I didn’t do as a grad student).
I might have done two things differently (1) tried to get papers out faster (5 papers from my postdoc were published early in 2020, after I applied). But on the flip side, I feel like there’s never a limit to how many papers one can publish. (2) Helped Jim write a grant or two - this is definitely an area that I am struggling with now.
Closing Remarks for PRGs who want to go down this route:
You can do this! Plan ahead, and stick to your timeline. This is a long process and doing anything in the last minute will make things harder than they need to be.
Postdocs - don’t hesitate to ask Jim for help. Make sure you meet with him about your Individual Development Plan (IDP) periodically, and ask him what you can do to strengthen his recommendation letter for you.
Having 1 mentor is not enough (even if that mentor is Jim). Seek help, don’t be afraid to ‘hoard’ mentors. You will need this network of mentors even after you get a faculty position -- this is just the beginning!
Find a peer network, and support each other. I joined the ‘Future PI Slack’, and it’s been so rewarding going through this with others.
Good Luck!!!