2017-2018 Professional Development Workshops

September 14, 2017

Part I: 10:00am – 11:15am

Title: Preparing Your CV for the Job Market

Description
Writing effective application materials is crucial to any job search. In this first part of the workshop, participants will learn creating effective CVs for printed and online versions. Time will be reserved to work on your documents, so please feel free to bring a job description and your CV. Dr. Witelski will feature live demos of CVs available online drawing examples of CVs from candidates from leading math and stat departments. This session will address considerations for participants applying to academic positions.

Presented by: Prof. Thomas Witelski, Duke University

Part II: 11:15am – 12:00pm

Title: NSF Expectations for a Successful Proposal

Description
Writing creative and effective grant proposal is challenging as it requires balance between intellectual merit and broader impact of the grant proposal. In this second part of the workshop, drawing upon his experience as a former NSF program director, the Dr. Ghosh will share the “Do’s and Don’t s” of writing grant proposal, primarily focused on NSF style proposals (e.g., CAREER grants).
**NOTE: Presentation not available for this speaker**
Presented by: Prof. Sujit Ghosh, NC State University

Location
SAMSI Classroom, SAMSI, RTP, NC.

October 12, 2017

10:00am – 12:00pm

Title: University Faculty Member Panel

Description
A panel consisting of faculty members from major universities will discuss about the faculty hiring process at a department in mathematical sciences. The panelists will introduce themselves with introductory remarks about their own departments. The panel will then open into a Q&A session on discussing the details on the faculty and postdoc hiring process at a department in mathematical sciences.

Presented by:

  • Merlise Clyde (Dept of Statistical Sciences, Duke University)
  • Jan Hannig (Dept of Statistics and Operations Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  • Pierre Gremaud (Dept of Mathematics, North Carolina State University)
  • Adam Monahan (School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Canada)
  • James Rosenberger (Dept of Statistics, Pennsylvania State University)

Moderated by:

  • Elvan Ceyhan (SAMSI Deputy Director and North Carolina State University)

Location
SAMSI Classroom, SAMSI, RTP, NC.
**NOTE: Lunch will follow at 12:05pm at SAMSI**

November 1, 2017

10:00am – 12:00pm

Title: Interview Skills

Description
The Interview Skills seminar will instantly help scientists make a stronger impression during a job interview. In this highly interactive workshop, we cover the 10 most common questions and how to formulate the best answers. There are follow up assignments for answers and resumes to ensure that participants feel confident before their next interview.

Presented by:
Scott Morgan, (The Morgan Group)

Location
SAMSI Classroom, SAMSI, RTP, NC.
**NOTE: Lunch will follow at 12:05pm at SAMSI**

November 15, 2017

10:00am – 12:00pm

Title: Industry and Government Scientists Panel

Description
A panel consisting of scientists from local industry and government agencies will discuss the job opportunities and recruitment process at industry and government agencies. The panelists will introduce themselves with introductory remarks about their own work. The panel will then hold a Q&A session discussing the details of the work environment at industry and government agencies.

Panelists:

Bio: Fang Chen is a Senior Research Statistician at SAS Institute; http://www.sas.com/. Among his responsibilities are development of Bayesian analysis software and MCMC procedure. He has written about Bayesian modeling using the MCMC procedure and taught continuing education course on Bayesian computation at JSM. Prior to joining SAS, he received his degree in statistics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004.

Bio: Elizabeth Mannshardt earned her PhD in Statistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at SAMSI, then a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at North Carolina State University under the Statistics in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (STATMOS) research network. Elizabeth is now a Statistician at the US Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.gov, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at NC State. She works at The Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards: https://www3.epa.gov/airquality/ and her Group’s website is: https://www.epa.gov/air-trends

Bio: William LeFew joined Metabolon’s growing Data Science team in May 2017. Bill’s data science background has allowed him to work in relatively diverse disciplines resulting in publications ranging from physics to toxicology to remote landmine detection. A veteran of several successful start-ups and federal organizations, Bill has done computational work in optical films, sustainability, mixtures, ad-tech, oil & gas, and, currently, metabolomics. He has a BS in applied mathematics from Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and a PhD in mathematics from Duke University.

Moderated by:

  • Elvan Ceyhan (SAMSI Deputy Director and North Carolina State University)

Location
SAMSI Classroom, SAMSI, RTP, NC.
**NOTE: Lunch will follow at 12:05pm at SAMSI**

January 31, 2018

11:00am – 12:00pm

Title: Strategies for Being a Post-Doc

Description
Some postdoctoral fellowships work out well, and some do not. This talk reviews strategies for tailoring a successful post-doc experience that aligns with your career goals. The talk also gives some general career advice, and compares the pros and cons of different career paths.

Presented by:
David Banks, NEW Director of SAMSI and Professor of Statistics, Duke University

Location
SAMSI Classroom, SAMSI, RTP, NC.
**NOTE: Lunch will follow at 12:05pm at SAMSI**