For everyone
- Keep your eyes on the prize, by Ron Vale
- A Critique of the Hypothesis, and a Defense of the Question, as a Framework for Experimentation, by David Glass. A good explanation of why model-building, not hypothesis-testing, is the most productive form of science.
- How to choose a good scientific problem, by Uri Alon
- A wake-up call: How failing a PhD led to a strategy for a successful scientific career, by Bruce Alberts. I love this piece because it emphasizes the value of good scientific questions and practical approaches rather than specific hypotheses.
For students
- How to be a graduate advisee, by Indira Raman at Northwestern. This is incredibly valuable and correct advice that everyone should re-read every year!
- 7 Tips for making presentations, by Ruthie Johnson
- Fantastic advice on overcoming uncertainty in your career, and the importance of professional growth, by Jen Heemstra
- What to bring to a meeting with your advisor, by Prachee Avasthi
- Resources for new PhD students, by Matt Hauer (but talk to me about learning Python, not R!)
- Seven steps toward health and happiness in the lab, by Fernando Maestre
- You do not need to work 80 hours a week to succeed in academia, by Meghan Duffy
- How to find and apply for a postdoc position, by Guy Tanentzapf
On scientific writing:
- Incredible resources on grant writing from Northwestern's CLIMB office. I especially recommend "5 Principles for Writing Readable Sentences" and "Creating Coherent Paragraphs: Topic Sentences, Echo Words, Transitions".
- Simple rules for concise scientific writing, by Scott Hotaling
- The art of writing science, by Kevin Plaxco
- Friends Don't Let Friends Make Bad Graphs (some short and very good advice!), by Chenxin Li
Research on bias in science
This is not exhaustive, but a starting point for educating our lab members and others.
- What Happens Before? A Field Experiment Exploring How Pay and Representation Differentially Shape Bias on the Pathway Into Organizations. Katherine L. Milkman et al, J App Psychol. 2015
- How Gender and Race Stereotypes Impact the Advancement of Scholars in STEM: Professors' Biased Evaluations of Physics and Biology Post-Doctoral Candidates. Asia A. Eaton et al, Sex Roles 2020
- Race, Ethnicity, and NIH Research Awards. Donna K. Ginther et al., Science 2011. See also commentaries here, here, and here (of many) by Drugmonkey (Blog, Twitter)
- Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Racial inequity in grant funding from the US National Institutes of Health. Michael A Taffe and Nicholas Gilpin, eLife 2021 (related to the above).
- Males Under-Estimate Academic Performance of Their Female Peers in Undergraduate Biology Classrooms. Daniel Z. Grunspan et al. PLoS One 2016
- Science faculty's subtle gender biases favor male students. Corinne A. Moss-Racusin et al. PNAS 2012
- Quality of evidence revealing subtle gender biases in science is in the eye of the beholder. Ian M. Handley PNAS 2015
- The Myth That Academic Science Isn't Biased Against Women, by Joan Williams and Jessi L. Smith. A rebuttal to Williams and Ceci 2015, National hiring experiments reveal 2:1 faculty preference for women on STEM tenure track. There's a lot to learn from thinking about the findings of Williams and Ceci, the media response, and the critique.
On building a better scientific community
- Beyond a seat at the table (on improving diversity in faculty hiring), by Tamra Blue
- Collectors, Nightlights, and Allies, Oh My: White Mentors in the Academy, by Marisela Martinez-Cola
- Strategies to improve equity in faculty hiring, by Needhi Bhalla
- Race Matters, by David Asai
- Language Matters: Considering Microaggressions in Science, by Colin Harrison and Kimberly D. Tanner