Yale Ciencia Academy for Career Development Application Deadline November 2nd, 2018

Program Description

The Yale Ciencia Academy is a FREE year-long (January - December) program that provides graduate students with opportunities for mentoring, peer support, and networking; for developing skills that are important for career advancement; and for contributing to their communities through science outreach.

The program has several components:

• Conversations with successful scientists and mentors – Online video chats with role models and mentors who are in a variety of academic and non-academic careers. These conversations include Q&A sessions where professionals share their experiences, insights, and practical advice on diverse topics, including having careers in and outside of academia, getting funded, securing a postdoc, and work/life balance.
• Moderated peer discussions – Online video discussions between program fellows to facilitate networking, peer mentoring, and community building. During peer discussions, participants have the opportunity to discuss topics including mentoring concerns, important milestones, and common challenges in graduate training, and addressing the imposter syndrome.
• Workshops for skills development – The program features professional development workshops (online and in-person) on topics including:
  • Defining and working towards professional goals
  • Mentoring
  • Scientific teaching
  • Effective communication
• Science outreach & leadership – Participants have the opportunity to impact their communities through science outreach activities like the publication of popular science articles or podcasts or visits of local schools. See examples of our fellows' outreach projects from 2016 and 2017.
• Annual face-to-face meeting – In-person meeting of all participants during the AAAS conference in February, to extend opportunities for networking and professional development.

Eligibility

A maximum of 40 participants will be selected each year. Participation in the program is limited to doctoral students who:

• are enrolled at a fully accredited PhD, MD/PhD, DSc or PsyD training program;
• are U.S. citizens or permanent residents (as required by the NIH);
• have demonstrated interest in biological, biomedical or behavioral research; and
• state their commitment to developing skills for continued professional advancement.

All participants must commit to:

• Participating in at least 6 of 8 video-chats with science role models, to be scheduled one weekday per month from 7:00-8:30pm ET;
• Participating in at least 4 of 5 peer-discussion chats, to be scheduled one weekday per month from 7:00-8:30pm ET;
• Participating in 3 of 4 online professional development workshops per year (lasting 2-4 hrs);
• Attending an annual in-person workshop at the Annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference (February 14-17, 2019);
• Completing a science outreach activity of the student’s choosing (e.g. contributing a science article for the general public, visiting a school, recording a podcast, etc.). See examples from 2016 and 2017.

Students who complete all required activities will receive a certificate, commemorative pin, and LinkedIn badge in recognition.

This program is available to all individuals regardless of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, economic status, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation or military status.