Curating your ORCID is essential for researchers aiming to keep a comprehensive and accurate record of their professional activities and achievements. This is a quick overview of effective strategies for maintaining and updating your ORCID profile. Getting Familiar with ORCID ORCID, which stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID, is a unique identifier for researchers ...
Toxic lab environments and PIs can lead to more than just work fatigue -- they can lead to research misconduct, as well.
Every researcher needs a Digital Persistent Identifier (DPI). As a researcher, what is more important to you than a record of your research and scholarship? A Digital Persistent Identifier (DPI) distinguishes you and your work from that of your peers – and having one will be mandated for those receiving federal funding. Let’s take a ...
Understanding the Fly America Act.
The humanities, encompassing language, literature, arts, and history, are often seen as separate from scientific research in universities. However, they hold the potential to contribute to improved health outcomes by fostering empathy, understanding of cultural context, and enhancing human connections. Meghana Trivedi, an associate professor of Pharmacy Practice and Translational Research at the University of ...
Salami slicing, breaking a paper on a single study up into smaller “slices” and publishing them in more than one journal, is broadly discouraged and considered unethical. Why does the practice persist? What do PIs believe are the benefits of doing it? Two problems Breaking up research into smaller slices can have serious consequences for ...
Science, like politics, can elicit polarizing opinions. But with an ever-expanding body of knowledge — and the especially dizzying flurry of findings during the pandemic — is it fair to say that views on science are becoming more extreme? Measuring the polarization “A standard way of measuring polarization in the U.S. is asking Democrats and ...
If you plan to start a new business or already have but you don’t have an office or lab space, why should you consider working with a small business incubator? An incubator is an organization that offers assistance and resources to help newly-formed businesses get started and supports them as they move forward. Small business ...
Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words, ideas, or visuals as if they were your original work. Unintentional plagiarism is plagiarism that results from the disregard for proper scholarly procedures. It’s much easier to commit than one would think, and it has toppled giants in the research enterprise. From 2007-2020, the National Science Foundation ...
If you are a faculty inventor, you’re likely also interested in becoming a faculty entrepreneur. Aspiring to be an entrepreneur is the first step, but what should you do next? Take Action Bruce Fischer, professor of business and economics at Elmhurst University, said in a blog post that “above all, you should take action” and ...
Let’s be honest, it’s always been difficult and now it seems even trickier to get a job in academia with a postdoc. Ending up as a tenured professor is just not in the cards for the majority of Ph.D.s. “In 2020, only 10% of engineering Ph.D. graduates and 16% of those in physical and earth ...
Are you a faculty member at a university? Are you a researcher with an invention that you want to monetize? Do you want to start your own startup company? If you answered yes to these questions, another question you need to consider is, should you leave your research position at the university to lead your company or get ...
The process of opening a small business is already stressful enough without even worrying about how to fund it. But it’s good to start thinking about business costs early in order to know where the money will go. Sammi Caramela, a Business News Daily contributing writer, said in an article to “be realistic” when considering how much starting a business is going to cost. She mentions that ...
In 1996, a physicist at New York University, Alan Sokol, wrote an article that was published in Social Text. It was entitled, “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity.” It sounds innocent enough, if rather obtuse. Except that the entire article was a joke. Relativism in academia According to Eric Kelderman of ...
All research is valuable, but research at the University of Houston that informs policy translates to a qualitative improvement in the lives of Houstonians. For instance, Andrew Stearns, a graduate student, used millions of dollars’ worth of commercially collected LiDAR data to study the erosion and deposition of sediment caused by floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey. ...
In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act that extended Puerto Ricans citizenship in the United States. The first large wave of immigrants from Puerto Rico arrived soon after but were hardly welcomed with open arms by those in the U.S. In fact, they were treated as second-class citizens. Puerto Rican writers have endured ...
The commute, the water cooler talks, the in-person meetings. Have we missed these things? Or can the research enterprise, for the most part, stay virtual? “Many people who have been working from home are experiencing a void they can’t quite name,” said Jerry Useem in The Atlantic. Maybe getting back to our old routine will ...
When the world came to a halt in 2020 due to COVID-19, innovation moved forward as normal day to day operations went virtual. Small business incubators like the University of Houston Technology Bridge, The Cannon and The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, have found that, even during a lockdown, new innovations and leading-edge technologies ...
Who you hire in your lab matters when it comes to employment regulations. Two students stand in a lab, pipetting their hearts out. They look as though they are doing identical tasks, but one is training and one is working. Which is which? It depends on the funding sources and their requirements, and not necessarily ...
Meet Professor Doolittle, a biologist and chair of Genetics at Zoo U. After studying genetic mutations in small-ear pigs to better understand coat color variation for breed preservation and development, Doolittle and his post-doc invented a genetic test and launched a startup called PigMentation. The post-doctoral co-inventor runs PigMentation’s day-to-day business operations; she receives no ...
When does a professor need an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to provide oversight on their project?
Diversity and inclusion is important in human subjects research. You want a "representative sample," not a "convenience sample."
In psychology, “the file drawer effect,” coined in 1979 by Robert Rosenthal, refers to the fact that in science, many results remain unpublished, especially negative ones. Publication bias is more widespread than scientists might like to think.
“Teamwork makes the dreams work”. The well-known phrase has been overused as a company motto. Yet, it remains true and always will. Haven’t heard it? Maybe you’ve heard, “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself,” a quote by Henry Ford. Or maybe, “differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our ...
Most inventors, whether they are university faculty or not, want to eventually start a company and capitalize on their inventions and research. For university faculty, this could be, or at least seems like a much more difficult thing to do. Why? Well, they already have a full-time job as a professor. There are several things faculty need to think about before even considering spinning out their ...
Travel Do’s and Don’ts for Research Projects Travel expenses can be confusing. There are four main things to consider when deciding whether to engage in business travel. Scan this list for answers to pressing questions regarding expenses and travel audit red flags, which is brought to you by Beverly Rymer, University of Houston Director of ...
best to contribute and move at warp speed,” said Madhukar Pai, a tuberculosis researcher, in Nature Medicine. He also stated, “There is a fear of missing out. And it’s turned into a feeding frenzy.”
Have you ever thought about opening your own business, but you didn’t know when to do it? Maybe you’ve heard the phrase: “the best time to start a business is today.” Is this actually good advice? Yaro Starak, entrepreneur, blogger and podcaster, answers this question on his blog. Starak highlights three things aspiring entrepreneurs should do first when they decide to open a business. What to do Today 1. Get Prepared Starak believes there is some truth to ...
The Chronicle of Higher Education, “would the Constitution look like if we rewrote it with the people that make up the American fabric today?
We all have heard “you learn from your mistakes,” so, why do a lot of startup blogs warn entrepreneurs of the mistakes they shouldn’t make when starting a business, but not very many tell them what mistakes they should be making? Some mistakes teach us more than our successes and some of those mistakes are bound to happen anyway, so why not embrace them? Ben Wiener, a startup ...
Aristotle, one of the most famous philosophers and scientists of all time, once said, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” Sound familiar, researchers?
Is your lab environmentally sound? Learn how scientists are making their labs greener!
Exploding refrigerator? Chemical splash on the face? These incidents -- and near-misses! -- can be personally devastating and expensive.
Finding balance in your professional life and your dreams can be hard for anyone. Faculty in academia, hoping to become entrepreneur and start their own companies, find this especially difficult. Finding this balance is essential to having success both professionally and in entrepreneurial endeavors. Amy J. Ko, a professor at the University of Washington Information School and Co-Founder of AnswerDash, said in a post on her Bits and Behavior blog that she ...
Dunbar's Number is 150 -- that's how many meaningful connections the normal person can handle. Do you need more in your network?
“Closed-toe shoes are mandated by the CDC through the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) publication and should be worn by people within the labs,” stated David Brammer, D.V.M.; DACLAM, executive director and chief veterinarian for Animal Care Operations at the University of Houston.
Trying to start a business as a faculty member in academia? Don’t fret. As daunting as starting a company can seem, this blog will aim to give any prospective entrepreneur useful insights to getting started. Jason Eriksen, Ph.D., an associate professor of Pharmacology at the University of Houston, has founded three different Biotech companies since ...
Other than being unhygienic and just messy – leading to unsanitary conditions such as sticky keyboards in a computer lab where shared equipment resides (yuck!) – it is extremely dangerous to swallow any number of things found in a lab.
It's Team Science to the rescue! Multiple Principal Investigators make teamwork fun!
At the University of Houston and other institutions, summer pay is calculated in a very specific manner.
You know sponsors read your financial reports, but did you know they audit your technical reports, too?
Most principal investigators spend many hours laboring over proposals to fund their research programs – and for good reason. While competing for funding is the big business for researchers, some have opted to fund their programs in other ways, like building a research consortium. The word “consortium” means a group of individuals, companies or governments ...
Upping the Game for Future Researchers By Lindsay Lewis and Sarah F. Hill “When you allow yourself to fully relate with another person, you’re listening and engaged, riding the waves of uncertainty inherent in any conversation,” said Alan Alda in an interview with Scripps Research in 2020. “When you embrace that uncertainty, rather than try ...
Understanding How the Public Consumes Science and Research By Lindsay Lewis “When scientists are able to communicate effectively beyond their peers to broader, non-scientist audiences, it builds support for science, promotes understanding of its wider relevance to society, and encourages more informed decision-making at all levels, from government to communities to individuals,” writes Mónica I. ...
A data management plan is invaluable to researchers and to their universities. “You should plan at the outset for managing output long-term,” said Reid Boehm, research data management librarian at University of Houston Libraries. At the University of Houston, research data generated while individuals are pursuing research studies as faculty, staff or students of the ...
Being mindful of inclusive language practices is more important than ever. Education is growing rapidly on this important topic to help writers – in fact, anyone writing words – avoid potentially harmful language. Universities are growing pockets of diversity, often representing faculty, staff and students from different backgrounds who have varying life experiences. Therefore, the ...
Balancing your research checkbook is like managing your personal finances. However, it’s much less common these days to do so with a paper bank statement and check register, as many people now use digital resources to follow their money. Regardless of how you do it, managing your income and expenses is important if you want ...
Simple steps to avoid an audit when you have one funding source but multiple projects.
Material transfers are nothing new to university research operations. But there continues to be reluctance among faculty to get the right paperwork in place for it. Why? “Material transfers take time and faculty just want to move on with their research,” said Laura Gutierrez, research compliance specialist at the University of Houston. “Negotiations between institutions ...
Charles Lieber was the head of Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology until he and two additional Chinese academics in Boston were arrested last year. According to a U.S. Department of Justice press release: “These cases are part of the Department of Justice’s China Initiative, which reflects the strategic priority of countering Chinese ...