2016-Building a Research Career: From New Investigator to Present
Building a Research Career: From New Investigator to Present
Organizer and Chair: Martin Lysy (University of Waterloo)
[PDF]
Organizer and Chair: Martin Lysy (University of Waterloo)
[PDF]
- JAMES RAMSAY, McGill University
The Art of the Awkward Question (and Some Psychology, Too) [PDF]
- Sciences advances by questions, not answers, and a recent biography of James Clerk Maxwell makes this case superbly. This talk will focus on the awkward questions that shaped my career, including an early one in the Princeton bookstore that still haunts me.
But accolades in science are given for answers, and those who ask awkward questions can expect consequences for their relationships with their colleagues. And perhaps even for their careers. One way out is to avoid asking questions, but there are better ways, most of which I have yet to discover.
- JEFFREY ROSENTHAL, University of Toronto
Lessons From a Twisted Career Path [PDF]
- In this talk, I will reflect upon the unique twists and turns of my own academic career path, which took me from enthusiastic pure-math undergrad, to worried Harvard PhD student, to struggling junior probability professor, to ultimately receiving the COPSS Presidents' Award for outstanding contributions to statistics. I will try to use my story to provide lessons and insights for budding statistical scholars and researchers.
- MARY THOMPSON, University of Waterloo
Early Career Research Back Then and Now [PDF]
- In many ways the research culture has changed radically from the early 1970s, when reading was done in the library, papers were handwritten for a typist, and manuscripts were submitted through the post. In fact in some ways it is quite a challenge to find the commonalities between then and now. I will discuss how the environment at the University of Waterloo influenced the course of my research career, following graduate studies at a US university. For a beginning researcher today it is certainly necessary to employ different strategies, but the fundamentals would be the same: follow what is fascinating, and find one's collaborative strengths.