A Workbook for Young Scientists: A mentoring tool for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior organizational scientists

This workbook is designed to logically look for and find the solutions to questions about the non-scientific side of a career in science. The goal of this workbook is to provide basic information and sources of other information needed by the younger scientist and to provide a systematic method of decision making in many areas important not only to the individual but also to the family of the scientist. This workbook will help you as you gather the information needed to make life’s decisions. Its purpose is to condense in one short workbook what has been learned from many others in nearly forty years of the author’s scientific career. If you follow the principles found in this book and freely look to others for help in your aspirations, you will have a successful life and rewarding career as a scientific researcher. This workbook can also be of aid to advisors as help younger scientists develop their careers.
A National Academy of Sciences publication in 2000 said, “Those who move from graduate school to postdoctoral appointments stand to benefit greatly from the contributions of their advisers. Many advisers do an excellent, careful and conscientious job of assisting with the professional development of their postdocs. However, some let other tasks of the research enterprise outweigh their mentoring duties.” Unfortunately, the situation has not changed to any high degree.
This workbook is full of exercises, checklists, and lists of suggestions for the areas for which the scientist must make decisions.