Hosted by the Franklin Institute
This fall, we will be featuring blog posts written by PhD students who participated in Career Services’ Career Exploration Fellowship (CEF), a program that helps doctoral candidates explore their career interests through networking opportunities with advanced degree professionals. Click here to learn more about CEF.
Working with Dr. Das at the Franklin Institute was a great experience and wonderful opportunity to learn about what goes into communicating science, not only in a classroom setting, but also to a more general audience. We met once every other week to discuss science communication, the creation of their upcoming exhibit, and the development of new course material to meet updated common core standards for the state of Pennsylvania.
I learned about the Career Exploration Fellowship through fellow graduate students who had either participated in the past or who planned to apply, most of which I knew through my involvement in graduate student government here at Penn. The CEF experience provided me with information on a career path that I was not entirely aware existed for STEM PhD graduates. Being able to sit in on the curation and execution of scientific exhibits for the sake of nurturing an improved understanding of science among the general public sparked a drive in me to not only contribute to efforts in scientific literacy whenever possible, but also to potentially pursue a future career in science education.
The most valuable portion of the CEF experience was getting a chance to ask my host a litany of questions about her career path, as well as a variety of operational questions about her day-to-day and the actual logistics of creating and executing a museum exhibit. Her answers not only enlightened me about processes I had never considered, but also changed the way that I view science communication as a whole. Many of the techniques and considerations we discussed are things I plan to work into my teaching moving forward.
The CEF is one of the best ways to make connections amongst established professionals in a career that you are interested in learning more about. The hosts are hugely knowledgeable and kind, the workshops offered through the program are super helpful in transitioning your application materials towards a career outside of academia, and there are a multitude of chances to connect with your peers and learn from them as well. Ultimately, the highlight of the experience was the connections that I made throughout the program.
