YSM Science Fellows Info Session 2023

September 22, 2023

ID10734

To CiteDCA Citation Guide

00:15Hi, everybody.
00:16Thanks so much for joining.
00:17You are all welcome to to turn
00:20on your cameras if you want.
00:21We're really hoping this
00:22to be a discussion.
00:23We've made some slides, but
00:27this will be I think more useful the more
00:30each of you feel free to to to join in.
00:37Absolutely. Hi everyone.
00:41I'm, I'm sorry.
00:43I was gonna say we should start
00:44with introduction, so go ahead.
00:47Yeah, I was just gonna say I'm in fat Levy.
00:49And with me is Kristen Bernard and we're
00:52both the Co directors of the program.
00:54Would you wanna say anything
00:56else, Kristen? Yeah,
00:57I think all of you know this is
00:59the second year of the program,
01:00so you were all much less Guinea
01:02pigs than last year's class.
01:04We have a much better idea this
01:06year about what the application
01:07structure will look like.
01:09And I think we realized last year that
01:12we didn't give enough information to
01:14those of you who were applying to make it
01:17even footing in the applications, right?
01:20Because we just said they wanted a
01:22personal statement and diversity statement
01:24and CB and we didn't explain what we
01:26meant by those or why we wanted them.
01:28And so this year,
01:29we really wanted to level the
01:31playing ground a bit better
01:33and make sure that all of you,
01:35regardless of how good your mentor
01:37is or how invested your mentor is
01:39right now on your application,
01:41that you all get the same
01:44information from us,
01:45like directly from us about what
01:47we think these sections mean and
01:49why we're asking for these sections
01:53exactly. And we have a few
01:55slides to start with or
01:57just give you a general introduction
01:58to the program and some information.
02:01But really the main focus of this
02:03meeting is to let you, to give you
02:06an opportunity to ask us questions.
02:07So we just feel free to ask,
02:10unmute yourself and ask or write in the chat.
02:14Let me share my my screen.
02:28Everybody can see the big orange slide. OK.
02:35OK. So this is our agenda for today.
02:37We'll give you some brief
02:39introduction to the program.
02:40We'll describe the application process,
02:42the selection process,
02:44give you some advice on how
02:46to write a good application.
02:48And of course, the most important
02:50thing is the questions.
02:54So as I think you probably know,
02:56our goal in this program is to recruit,
02:58support, retain outstanding scientists
03:00from diverse backgrounds. So there are,
03:03there are two things here, right?
03:04We're looking for people who are really
03:07exceptional scientists and at the same time,
03:09also contribute to diversity,
03:12equity and inclusion.
03:13And as Kristen has already said,
03:16we're very successful the first
03:18year attracting 3 wonderful
03:20fellows that have just started.
03:23These are their names on the screen.
03:25And we are hoping to do
03:27the same thing this year.
03:30And so let me tell you a
03:32little bit about the program.
03:35And the idea is to recruit
03:38fellows at a very young stage,
03:40right out of the PhD.
03:41Recruit them as postdocs and give
03:45them mentoring sponsors, sponsorship,
03:47support from the university,
03:50from the department.
03:52The idea is to have that
03:54phase for three to five years,
03:56and during which you'll get
03:59mentoring from at least one mentor,
04:02maybe more.
04:02You'll have a mentoring committee that
04:04will support you and make sure that
04:06you're on track and that you were getting
04:09everything that you're supposed to get.
04:11You'll get support from individuals
04:14with similar life experiences,
04:17individually tailored training,
04:20workshops on leadership,
04:22mentorship,
04:23grant writing,
04:24anything that you need for your career.
04:29Importantly,
04:30there'll be generous salary research funding.
04:34And then after this phase,
04:37the plan is to transition you to an
04:40independent tenure track position.
04:41This is the goal.
04:43So, yeah, I'm going to jump in
04:45with a few more details here.
04:47One, you don't have to have named this
04:49prospective mentor when you apply.
04:51That's all part of the interview process,
04:53right? So what we want you to
04:55describe is what you're going to do.
04:57We'll talk more about that.
04:59But the, the mentor and the mentoring
05:01committee are both things that you,
05:04you know that the the finalists will
05:07kind of put together in the new year.
05:10I want to talk about generous salary.
05:12We're talking 90K a year,
05:13so substantially better than
05:15the average postdoc. Sorry.
05:17Can you go back about one more thing?
05:20Oh, and then transition to independence.
05:25The the previous fellows had
05:27a lot of questions about this.
05:29They were really worried that we were
05:31trying to trick them that by transition
05:33to independence we were talking about.
05:35We will be looking for any excuse
05:37not to give them a promotion
05:41to to an independent track.
05:43And they wanted to see,
05:44you know from their future chairs in
05:46writing exactly how many papers and
05:48exactly what amount of funding was the
05:51minimum that they would need to be promoted.
05:53And the chairs were actually really
05:55reluctant to write that down,
05:56but not because they were trying
05:58to trick the the the trainees,
06:00but rather because they wanted the
06:02flexibility to keep these people that
06:04they had picked as complimenting
06:06their department,
06:07even if the paper was just owned
06:09by archive and not accepted,
06:10or if the grant had gotten really good
06:13scores but hadn't been funded yet.
06:15And so it really is about the chairs
06:18are picking out scientists that they
06:20want to be in their faculty 5 years from now.
06:24We are requiring of our department
06:26chairs to hold a hiring slot,
06:29startup funds and space in reserve
06:32on the expectation that the fellows
06:34will win like so not win that the
06:36fellows will will earn them and
06:39achieve this position.
06:40And so I want to stress that this
06:42is not about us looking to find any
06:45loophole to keep you from transitioning.
06:48The goal here is the assumption
06:50of transition.
06:51Sorry, I thought you can go ahead now.
06:53Yeah, it was great and really,
06:54really important.
06:55So going back to the funding
06:57during the fellow stage,
06:59as person said that general salary
07:0390,000 a year plus benefits,
07:06in addition 10,000 and discretionary
07:09funds for things like moving expenses,
07:13a lot of things you know extra
07:15childcare that you you require
07:19anything really to support you.
07:21In addition, the department will give you
07:2550,000 a year for your research funds,
07:27and again, that could be used for
07:30different things to find your research.
07:33It could be paying your research
07:35assistant salary.
07:36It could be animals, human subjects,
07:39materials, reagents,
07:40anything that you need.
07:42Anything above that your mentor
07:44is not already providing, right?
07:45Like this is that you don't
07:46have to ask for permission.
07:48Your mentor, of course,
07:48is going to make the same available reagents
07:50to you as everybody else in the lab.
07:52We want to allow you to be able
07:54to fast track and not have to
07:56ask if you wanted a Sun RN,
07:58A/C or a Sun data set, right?
08:00Like you don't have to convince them,
08:01you could just do it
08:04exactly. And if you need more than that,
08:08the program will have a funding for
08:12additional research funds for you,
08:14which you will have to apply
08:16to get up to 100,000 a year
08:23okay So application process.
08:24The deadline is November 1st
08:26and this is really important.
08:29There are 4 components for the application,
08:31one of them is the letters of recommendation,
08:333 confidential letters that you.
08:36If you haven't done that already,
08:37you should arrange for these
08:39letters as soon as possible.
08:41Let your letter writers know that
08:43you're applying and they should
08:45submit a letters by November 1st.
08:48I would say on average,
08:50one of these letter writers is
08:52going to be your PhD mentor,
08:54and the other two are probably going
08:56to be either current collaborators.
08:58In all likelihood, the chair of your
09:00thesis committee is a typical one.
09:02We want them to people who have known
09:04you for more than a summer, right?
09:05We're not looking for that
09:07summer undergrad research mentor.
09:08We're looking for people who've
09:10known you your whole grad school
09:12time on rare occasions,
09:13and we've seen this for like the
09:15regular faculty interviews too.
09:17There are trainees who have had a
09:20disastrously catastrophic relationship
09:21with their mentor and they can't
09:24use those letters. That is Okay.
09:26We've all seen this, right?
09:27Like, in those cases,
09:28trainees will often need a letter
09:30from their chair who will discreetly
09:32kind of hint at there being something.
09:35Or like I don't want you not to
09:37apply because your PhD mentor and
09:39you have had something right?
09:40Like that is not necessarily reflection
09:43on your future and your potential.
09:46But don't just skip a letter,
09:48right Like your letter.
09:49We all as faculty know the drill on letters.
09:52We can put things in letters that
09:54you guys can in no way politely
09:55put in a personal statement so
09:57you don't have to talk about it
09:58in your personal statement.
09:59The letter writers will if
10:01they know they need to.
10:02And if you're in a position where something,
10:04either your daily mentor has gotten ill,
10:07passed away, or there's no relationship,
10:10this is not the first time
10:11this has happened in science.
10:13It is negotiable.
10:14And somebody in your community should be
10:17able to help guide you through that too.
10:22And then the other parts are
10:26pretty straightforward and
10:28simple research statement,
10:30one page where we want you to
10:33tell us what you've done before,
10:35what you're currently doing and what
10:37your vision is for your future at Yale.
10:40Why don't you go one slide forward
10:41and we'll go into more detail on
10:43both of those if you thought, OK,
10:46so I want to really talk about research
10:49statement because this is where we saw the
10:52most variability in quality last year.
10:54I think some people saw this and
10:56thought that they should just describe
10:58their current research for a page.
11:01Some people thought they should just
11:03describe their future research for a page.
11:05And what you really need to do is both of
11:08these, and you have to contextualize why.
11:11Why is this an important problem?
11:14Why did your PhD training prepare
11:16you to address it?
11:18How will your future experiments
11:21with expected outcomes address it?
11:23Right. So what have you done?
11:26What will you do?
11:27And why is it important that you're doing it?
11:30All of that has to fit into one page.
11:32I think we put 11 point font
11:35.5 margins in the application.
11:38So it's a dense page.
11:39One page though.
11:40Paul, I see a question.
11:44Yeah, so usually these are 12 pages.
11:47How is this going to be
11:49like a two step process?
11:51We're going to be applying for
11:53like just with the one page of
11:55research statement right now and
11:56then it'll be like a second round,
11:58it'll be more like 10 pages or something.
12:00Or do you like, I just don't
12:02know how to really cover enough
12:04information off of just one page past,
12:06present and future?
12:08Well, I mean this is a part
12:09of the challenge, right?
12:10Like maybe you haven't had to do this before,
12:12but it will look a lot like
12:13an aims page potentially where
12:14you have summarized it right.
12:16And so keep in mind, last year we had
12:20six committee members screen 120 apps.
12:23I believe our goal is to have
12:26everybody read all the apps, right?
12:28So if you each give us 12 pages,
12:31we are we're we're screening
12:33them in a different way.
12:34We are trying to take a lot of the bias
12:37and the randomness out of this process.
12:39And so yeah,
12:40it is a challenge to do this in one page.
12:44And I'm really trying here to give you
12:46the insight, don't skip on premise,
12:48don't skip on why feasibility,
12:51that's your past and don't
12:53skip on impact in the future.
12:56I see another question in
12:58the chat references.
13:00I don't really care.
13:02They can go on a separate page.
13:03Figures are included,
13:04yeah,
13:04so you're probably not going
13:05to get to put them in.
13:10I'm also going to add that the research
13:14statement and the diversity statement,
13:15the initial round of screening
13:17is done just on these two things,
13:20blind to where the papers are,
13:22right? Like, so I think
13:26we really want you to in one page.
13:29What is the punchline about why you
13:31can do this cool research and why you?
13:34Why should we invest in you as a person? And
13:40then the next thing is
13:42the diversity statement.
13:43One more question,
13:44the background expertise of the committee.
13:46So we've got four people who have
13:49been involved in the El fellas.
13:51From the beginning. I fought myself,
13:54Darren Lattimore who is the head of
13:56CEI and Neil Med and Tony Kolesky,
13:59the Dean of Basic Research.
14:01So it's that.
14:02And then we are going to have
14:04departmental representatives,
14:06probably one per department that is
14:08most invested in the program this year.
14:10So we've had a handful of departments
14:13say they very much expect and
14:15want to take a fellow this year.
14:17And so we will have those representatives.
14:19So we can of course can't have
14:21one faculty from every department
14:22that's like 30 departments.
14:24The committee would never get anything done,
14:26so we wanted to buy it in terms of
14:28departments that were really vested.
14:30So again, you should write this.
14:32If you're a cancer biologist,
14:34write it like me as a neuroscientist
14:36is reading it right.
14:37I don't know why anything
14:38is important in cancer.
14:39You better make sure you spend
14:40a little bit of language telling
14:42me why it's important.
14:44Darren.
14:46Go ahead Paul,
14:48one more question.
14:49Do we have to make it as a as an aims
14:51page in this context because or can we,
14:53you know, be a little creative in
14:55a way that we actually categorize
14:56and separate all of the topics to
14:59discuss in the research section.
15:00You know, like your plans for the future,
15:04what are we currently doing and etc.
15:06As opposed to you know like AIM 123,
15:10the only criteria are one page 11
15:13point aerial half inch margins.
15:15However structure it just
15:17get those goals across.
15:18Why is this important?
15:19What are you doing?
15:21Thank you.
15:27Yes, I just, yeah,
15:30I was just wondering if the
15:32departments that are really invested,
15:35if that has any weight on the
15:39selection process in some way.
15:41Let's say that you're from a department
15:44that maybe is just hearing about this
15:46or it's not like fully get there.
15:48I'm just curious about how that
15:50works in and if also just like what
15:53departments are those that are,
15:55you know, heavily invested.
15:56Yeah, so that's a good question.
15:58I just put on the screen the departments
16:01that already explicitly said that
16:03they are interested or invested.
16:05They want to hire fellows this year.
16:08This doesn't mean that other
16:10departments are not interested.
16:11So if your research is in
16:14line with other departments,
16:16definitely still apply.
16:18But if you can align your research or
16:21present your research in a way that
16:24is consistent with these departments,
16:26we encourage you to do so.
16:28Remember that we are requiring the
16:30departments to have a faculty slot,
16:32so not all departments this year
16:35have a faculty slot, right?
16:36So the IT it's not that they've
16:39just heard about Yale fellows,
16:40they've they've heard about Yale fellows.
16:42We've presented to them a couple
16:43times a year for the last few years.
16:45They're all aware of it.
16:46It's about who's got money in the bank
16:48or space in the bank because they
16:50don't have to also hold space, right.
16:52And so this,
16:53this process is really a matching process.
16:56I want to say that last year,
16:58and I think we'll get into this later,
16:59we had, you know, maybe 15 semi finalists.
17:02And from there we picked finalists
17:05that were both the scientifically
17:06strongest but matched with
17:08departments that had good interest.
17:09And a lot of the final selection we made
17:11at the department's reciprocally prepare a
17:13plan to ensure the success of the trainees.
17:16And the final decision actually came down
17:19to which departments had the best plan.
17:21Now I know that can feel chaotic to you.
17:23That's out of your control.
17:24But the flip side being you don't
17:25want to go to a department that
17:27doesn't have a good plan.
17:28You want them scored on this.
17:29If you're admitted,
17:30you want to know that somebody vetted this.
17:33And so, yeah,
17:34there's a bit of this process
17:36that's independent of you,
17:38but that's cuz we don't want
17:39to hang anybody out to dry.
17:42Exactly. Paul, do
17:43you have another question
17:44or is your hand still up?
17:48I actually just forgot to put it down.
17:50Sorry about that. OK.
17:53I also we wanted to talk about the
17:56diversity statement because not all of
17:57you will have written one of these before.
18:00What we don't want to hear so much
18:03is what you feel about diversity,
18:05what your beliefs are about diversity.
18:07What we want to know is what your actions
18:11have been and will be around contributing
18:14to a diverse and inclusive environment.
18:20Any questions?
18:23Just to add one thing to this.
18:25This includes both your actions,
18:28what you have done to contribute
18:31to diversity, what you're planning
18:33to do to contribute to diversity,
18:35and also anything about your own
18:37background that is relevant and will
18:40increase diversity among faculty. Attl.
18:47Any questions? What's in
18:49the chat? I saw a two. Now,
18:52you're better than if the research
18:55areas about behavioral health,
18:56behavioral science,
18:57is it appropriate to apply?
18:59At this point,
19:00I would not tell anybody not to apply.
19:03I will point out that if you're
19:05writing to the School of Engineering
19:06or the School of Public Health,
19:08these are not part of the School of Medicine.
19:10So unless there are clear faculty
19:12who are both in engineering and
19:14the School of Medicine or in public
19:16health and the School of Medicine,
19:19it's not going to fit the
19:20School of Medicine specific
19:24you know, program. And so if you're
19:26coming on the boundary of that,
19:29make sure. And so I guess
19:30that's both Allison and Thomas.
19:32If you're coming on the boundary of what you
19:34think is part of the School of Medicine,
19:36make sure there are faculty in the School
19:37of Medicine who would be appropriate mentors.
19:39I think here the onus is on you a little
19:41bit more to show that it's relevant,
19:43but there's the department and
19:45some faculty mentors who exist
19:47in the School of Medicine.
19:49There is another question about
19:52MD candidates without PhD.
19:54So unfortunately this program
19:56is for PhDs or MD PhD.
20:00Yale does have a strong
20:02physician scientist program,
20:04so MDS are encouraged to
20:07check out that program.
20:13On a on a similar question for
20:15that for MDPH D's in particular,
20:17is there a particular timeline
20:19in which they should apply?
20:21For example, once we finish our PhD,
20:23we we still have to finish our
20:26our medical school training.
20:28We usually go back to finish that
20:30and then apply to residency.
20:32So I wasn't sure how you know where
20:37in that timeline might be the most
20:39appropriate time to to apply to to this.
20:43That's a good question.
20:46I don't think we've talked about
20:48this one yet to be honest.
20:49I think you'll force us to talk about
20:52it this year if you apply this year.
20:54I can't see you not being eligible
20:56if you decide to wait a year because
20:58your hands were too full as well.
21:01OK, thank you.
21:05And candidates with more than
21:07five years posted experience.
21:08Still algebra. No. We're
21:11looking at. There's not a hard line,
21:13but I would say one to two years Max.
21:15We're really looking at.
21:17I'm about to graduate in 2024,
21:19I graduated in 2023 and and
21:23maybe I graduated in 2022,
21:25but that's kind of the window
21:26that we'd like to keep it to.
21:28I think by the time you've
21:29done five years of postdoc,
21:30you're not eligible for a lot of these
21:33transitionary fundings that we're
21:34hoping to be preparing the fellows for.
21:38Another question about next year.
21:40So yes, the plan is to have this
21:42program for at least five years.
21:44We are now at year two,
21:46so we're planning to continue.
21:49And then is there a minimum limit
21:52to publications and citations?
21:53No, there is no hard limit on anything.
21:57It's the quality of your research,
21:58not how many publications
21:59you had and where they were.
22:01The School of Public Health is not under YSM.
22:04Neither is the School of Engineering.
22:06Does it matter if a faculty member
22:09has multiple appointments? Nope.
22:10They just have to have an appointment
22:13into the School of Medicine.
22:14It can be a primary or a secondary.
22:17That's fine.
22:23Any other questions?
22:33My current Yale postdoc, Year one.
22:36What level of independence from the
22:38faculty's research are you looking for?
22:40I mean, we're really looking for a
22:43plan here. So I think if you are.
22:49So last year in fact,
22:51one of our accepted fellows was
22:55currently a Yale postdoc and she did an
22:58amazing job of talking about how she
23:00was going to take her PhD research,
23:03which was different and her postdoc
23:05research at Yale and combine
23:06them in a new direction. Right.
23:08So that's why you can have past,
23:09present, future.
23:10And I think here you.
23:12I mean in all cases you want
23:13your future to be different than
23:15your postdoc research, right?
23:16Like you, you can never duplicate
23:19your postdoc mentor and and expect
23:21to be funded by the NIH or to be
23:24hired at the same institution.
23:26A part of the plan really has to be
23:29how are you going to differentiate yourself.
23:38Any other questions about the
23:42proposal? Just to give you, Oh
23:45yes, a letter can be from
23:46your current post doc mentor.
23:48No problem. Absolutely.
23:50And just to give you a little
23:53more information about the OK,
23:54so we talked about this.
23:56The only thing we didn't talk about
23:58was the NIH style BIOS sketch.
24:00Some of you have written this
24:02already for grant applications.
24:04If not, we have pretty
24:07detailed instructions on
24:09this because it's a known format.
24:12It's very consistent.
24:13We were fearful that if we asked for CVS,
24:16we would get 100 different
24:17sets of information.
24:18So again, in order to minimize bias,
24:21this is the format we're going with.
24:23No CVS to allow everybody the exact
24:25same opportunity to present themselves?
24:29No, The application also has
24:33fields for entering potential
24:35departments and potential mentors.
24:37Now potential departments we ask you to
24:40insert at least one would be more than one,
24:43and that will help us in the review process
24:45to know who should review your application.
24:48For mentors, you don't have
24:50to enter any faculty mentors.
24:52If you think of people.
24:53If there are names that you have in
24:55mind that could be good mentors for you,
24:58do mention them.
24:58You don't have to contact them.
25:00You don't have to coordinate
25:02anything with them.
25:03It just again,
25:04helps us to know more about
25:05your research and what will be
25:07a good fit for your research.
25:10Please don't go asking them to
25:11be a letter if they've never
25:13met with you or worked with you.
25:14It is not going to advantage
25:16your application at this point.
25:17We want letters from people who
25:19know you and know your potential,
25:21not a vague letter who's never met you
25:23saying they're open to hosting you.
25:25We're assuming if you're free to them,
25:27they're going to be open to hosting you,
25:28right? You don't have to demonstrate
25:30that to us.
25:35We have no issues with visas.
25:39All comers are eligible.
25:42We
25:46went over the departments already.
25:48Any other questions on
25:50the application process?
25:55Have you a little bit about
25:57the selection process?
25:59You've heard clinical departments,
26:03Yeah, yes. Then definitely absolutely
26:06anything in the School of Medicine.
26:10So you've heard about
26:12the selection committee.
26:13We expect to invite between 10 and
26:1615 applicants to give short zoom
26:19to to for short zoom interviews
26:23with the selection committee,
26:24and out of those we'll select a few,
26:26probably 7 to 8,
26:28and invite them for in person visits.
26:31Again, this is not just
26:33based on the interviews,
26:34not just based on the applications.
26:35It's also based on matching
26:38with available departments
26:43and we hope to make up to
26:45four offers this year.
26:53OK. I think we're done with the slide.
26:56So now we're just open for only questions.
26:58Whatever you want to know.
27:02I thought maybe you want to stop sharing
27:03and we can see more of the window.
27:07Yeah, feel free to raise your
27:08hand if you've got questions.
27:10We have about 30 minutes that
27:12Thought and I are both free.
27:14We are happy to talk about anything.
27:18I we are mindful that that
27:20you know there's some similar
27:23fellowship opportunities out there.
27:25The Gilliam, so I know the Hannah Grays
27:27announced they'll also be due in the spring.
27:30The F-90 Nines are due December 1.
27:33We're hoping our N1 deadline will
27:36facilitate those of you getting
27:38organized for those other ones
27:40but also not hit all of you with
27:42too many deadlines all at once.
27:44So I know last year we had an extension
27:47that was because the first year there
27:48will not be an extension on this one.
27:50Do not expect us to delay
27:52till December or January.
27:53We've already got our
27:54committee meeting scheduled.
27:55It will be a N1 deadline.
27:58Alan,
28:00hi. Just as a follow up on
28:03my question in the chat.
28:05So I work in an infectious
28:06disease department as a PhD
28:08simply because my mentor
28:09is an MD PhD and she has a clinical
28:11role as well.
28:12I think it's somewhat unlikely for
28:15a PhD to be hired in a clinical
28:17infectious disease department.
28:18So do you know if that's the case?
28:22Or is it possible for for someone like
28:24that to be hired in a clinical department?
28:26Or would it be like a
28:28slightly different department
28:29that I might be transitioning into
28:30if I were to go through this program?
28:33Well, infectious disease probably
28:35fits in like ibio or micro.
28:38So I I don't know whether it would
28:40necessarily be infectious disease
28:42or like I said ibio or micro.
28:46But there are certainly do not
28:48limit yourself based on working
28:49currently today with a mentor
28:51who is in a clinical department.
28:53It doesn't mean that's your only fit.
29:06Yes, absolutely.
29:07Psychiatry and child study center count.
29:09I don't feel like I'm in this
29:12department of psychiatry
29:13primary and I'm a PhD only.
29:15I please don't think you have to have
29:16an MD to be in a clinical department.
29:23So just public health. Maybe a
29:26confusion about public health is
29:28that it used to be part of the School
29:30of Medicine until very recently and
29:33now it's an Independent School.
29:34So This is why it's not
29:35included, unfortunately.
29:39Question for ibio, is it?
29:41I know it wasn't listed
29:42on as one as one of the,
29:45I guess heavily interested ones,
29:47but I was just wondering if if
29:49there were slots there or not,
29:51you know, or yeah,
29:52if one were applying to that department.
29:56Ibio took 2 Yale fellows last year.
29:58They're very committed to this program.
30:01So I would not rule it out,
30:04but I think there's some thought
30:05that we should share the wealth,
30:19structure of the mentoring support.
30:21So one of the things that, you know,
30:24I have felt like is that we
30:27necessarily aren't very good at having
30:30consistent mentoring between labs.
30:31And so when the department's
30:33putting together their proposal,
30:35the area proposal includes questions
30:36about who the lab mentor will
30:39be during the postdoc years.
30:40It includes questions about who the
30:42postdoc mentoring committee will be.
30:44So that's like having a thesis
30:45committee in grad school,
30:46but a postdoc committee.
30:47And it has questions from the
30:49department about how they're going
30:50to make sure you know the skills in
30:53lab management and grant writing are
30:54trained to you On the in parallel,
30:58we have access to a number of
31:01programs that focus on some of
31:03these other skills as well.
31:04And so you'll you'll know you'll
31:05benefit from the thought and I in
31:07terms of mentorship and guidance
31:08outside of the scientific realm,
31:10since we're unlikely to be
31:11experts in what you do,
31:12your department's going to be
31:13committing a lot of mentoring support.
31:15And the the big point here
31:16is that it's not just coming
31:18from your mentor or mentors.
31:19We had a couple last year
31:21shows to be Co mentored
31:25and I can just add that the chair of your
31:27department will also be part of this.
31:29So it is all done in
31:33coordination with the chair.
31:34The chair is the chair plays a
31:36very important role in this and
31:38is committed to your mentoring.
31:39And in some cases it's part
31:41of the mentoring committee,
31:42depending on what the specific arrangements
31:43that are made in the department.
31:48Yes, Camilo, I so I'm thinking
31:52about how granular should we be for
31:54the research statement in terms
31:56of should we go be going for.
31:58These are the things I'm
31:59interested in and I'm planning.
32:03I think ABC&amp;D experiments are
32:04a way to answer that should be,
32:06this is what I'm interested in.
32:08And these are techniques I would be
32:11interested in using like how detailed
32:13are we thinking for describing because
32:15that'll also impact how many different
32:17projects we propose for example.
32:21So sorry, go ahead, well go ahead.
32:23You started.
32:24No, no, I was just going to say
32:25that I know that it's challenging
32:27in such a short document,
32:28but we we're basically looking
32:31both for your longterm vision,
32:34what you know, what is your direction,
32:36what you see is the most exciting,
32:38significant innovating research
32:40questions that you want to work on.
32:43And at the same time,
32:44something more concrete that
32:45will have an idea of what you're
32:48going to do once you start.
32:50There's kind of a hybrid of
32:52both the long term vision and
32:54the more practical ideas.
32:56Yeah, I don't wanna know whether you're
32:58using mass back or western blotch or
33:00what your favorite antibodies are.
33:01And with a one page limit,
33:03you don't have time to tell me, right?
33:05Like I think you're focusing
33:07on the overarching questions.
33:09You know, like even if you're
33:10talking about a crisper screen,
33:11you're not gonna be able to talk about
33:14necessarily the the bioinformatic
33:16pipelines that you're going to use, right?
33:18You're going to, you're sketching
33:19this out for non experts, right?
33:21At best you're going to have
33:22one person in in your department
33:24or in your field reading this,
33:26and potentially none.
33:27So you want to assume that you can
33:30convince a bunch of Yale faculty that
33:32what you're doing is important and feasible,
33:35but the time to convince the experts in your
33:37field would be the in person interviews.
33:47Actually, the zoom interviews
33:48will also will specifically
33:49have for every zoom interview,
33:51at least some at least one person
33:53from that perspective department.
33:55So there'll be somebody in
33:56your field for sure then too.
34:02Julio,
34:04Julio. But that's OK.
34:07So I think it probably goes
34:10along with Pam Pam Rios's
34:12question but in the chat.
34:15But essentially I was just
34:16curious about whether or not the
34:20OR like the mentoring committee
34:22if that it could include the the
34:25person that you did your PhD with
34:27and like how how that you know
34:30demonstrating your independence.
34:31I guess in in or like your work
34:33toward independence in the letter,
34:35but whether or not that that
34:37person can serve as as you know,
34:39one of your your mentors during this process.
34:45So usually we recommend to kind of have
34:48your new direction in your postdoc phase,
34:52but I don't think there is an issue with
34:55your graduate advisor kind of being part
35:00of your committee in the future. Kristen,
35:02let me know if you think differently.
35:04I think if they're part of the
35:06committee and support your mentoring
35:08throughout his fellow stage,
35:11but your scientific direction is,
35:15you know, clearly different than
35:16what you did as a graduate student,
35:18then that should be fine.
35:21I would say your your committee
35:22is meant to do a couple of things.
35:24One, provide scientific knowledge
35:26if there's something that your
35:28primary mentors can't answer.
35:30Right. So it's a depth of resources.
35:32If your primary mentors and immunobiologist,
35:34but you want to use mass spec a lot,
35:36maybe your committee has a mass spec person.
35:38It should reflect the things
35:39you feel like you need to learn.
35:41So you might deliberately put
35:42a brand new faculty,
35:44someone familiar with being on the job
35:46search lately and the senior faculty,
35:48somebody who's been doing and leading
35:50job searches for 40 years, right.
35:53So you might specifically you
35:56know like if your research is in
35:58neuroscience but has implications to
36:00metabolic disorders and you can see
36:03that being a direction that like.
36:05So it's about filling out the
36:07things that you want to learn from.
36:09This is like scheduled time where
36:11you get access to people who have
36:14answers relevant to you.
36:15But again,
36:16you don't have to write down the
36:17committee in the application.
36:18This is something that will come
36:20out like next spring.
36:21There's
36:24a question about lab space.
36:27Great question.
36:28So the departments that take fellows,
36:32that means that they agreed to
36:35provide space for this fellows lab
36:38once they become independent faculty,
36:41and even before that as fellows,
36:43they'll have space during the laboratory.
36:45So that's definitely something
36:47that will be discussed between.
36:49Once you get an author,
36:51this means that there is a space
36:53dedicated for you and there'll
36:54be a discussion between you and
36:56the department about this space.
37:02Carissa, hi. Yes, thank you so much. I'm
37:06wondering about the extra research funding
37:09and kind of the
37:10scope of that and if there's any
37:12limitations on that. Specifically,
37:14I'm a computational neuroscientist and
37:17I'm wondering if like compute resources,
37:21space of the compute cluster,
37:22that kind of stuff would be covered.
37:24And also I'm specifically interested in
37:27training if that would be part of it.
37:32I think it's all up for grabs.
37:33So the the 10,000 is discretionary
37:37straight up, but you can put that
37:39towards your life, not your lab.
37:41The 50,000 is antibodies, technician,
37:45cloud computing, whatever you want.
37:48And then the 100,000 is going to be annual
37:51pilot fund applications where it'll be
37:54competitive amongst the other fellows.
37:56And and I don't know whether
37:57we'll start having those rounds
37:59next year or the following,
38:00but I I think they will become
38:03open as the program matures.
38:05And that will be a chance for you to
38:07pitch a project that is different than
38:09what's happening in your mentor's lab
38:11and fund it separate from your mentor.
38:17With that, I was curious like could
38:19you end up having a Hannah Gray along
38:21with this sort of Fellows program?
38:24And if so, does that detract from
38:27funding or anything like that or how?
38:29How is that looked on?
38:31Yeah, that's a good question.
38:33We encourage people to apply
38:35for fellowships like this.
38:36And if, and that's actually
38:38part of the the idea,
38:40part of the part of what you're supposed
38:42to do is is get this extra funding
38:45and then this will give you advantages,
38:47for example, in applying to this
38:50pooled funding you will get.
38:52I mean we will take into account
38:54the fact that you have already
38:56secured funding on your own.
38:59That being said, there are issues with a
39:01lot of funding sources on double dipping.
39:03So if you get 90,000 and stipend
39:06from Hannah Gray, you can't also get
39:0890,000 and stipend from us, right?
39:11There's 1FT E per person.
39:14And so there there's going to be
39:17some boundaries to holding both,
39:19but the funds will be there
39:21in whatever nature. There's a
39:24question about flying for R1,
39:27so it is possible.
39:29So post docs in general.
39:31They are not Pis on other ones at TL,
39:35but they can get a π status.
39:37It's just a technical
39:39thing that that we can do,
39:41so that's definitely doable.
39:42We do encourage you to maybe
39:44start with a K application,
39:46a career award,
39:491st 99, right? Some of you might still
39:51be F99 eligible or F32 eligible.
39:54So no need to start with an R
39:5601 for your first grant, right?
39:57Like, start where you're eligible,
39:59build your experience.
40:13I mean, I I again,
40:14we don't care what you're graduating from,
40:17we care where you're going.
40:18Is your future research going to fit in a
40:23A department here in Cal School of Medicine?
40:26So if you are a chemist who's
40:28coming into metabolism, fantastic.
40:29You're a chemist staying in chemistry, No.
40:33If you're an engineer coming into,
40:35you know, Biostatistics,
40:36great, But not if you're going
40:39to stay in engineering.
40:41Can you apply for early independence awards?
40:43Anything that you were eligible for,
40:44we will support you in applying.
40:48And just to add to the previous question,
40:50if you identify appropriate faculty mentors,
40:52you don't need necessarily to identify them.
40:55It will be great if you do,
40:57but even if you don't, we may think
40:58of people that you don't think about.
41:23Apologies, I may have missed this,
41:25but are there requirements for the
41:28individuals that we identify as mentors?
41:30So do they have to be associate
41:32assistant professors, research track,
41:34tenure track, anything like that?
41:36And again, some of us will come from
41:38the department and not from you,
41:39right? Like you do not have to
41:40name a mentor at this stage.
41:42You have to describe a research plan
41:44that fits in the scope of the department.
41:49Thank you. I don't know that it would be
41:53to your advantage to work with a faculty
41:55member who is not research tracked,
41:56but if that is what is essential to
41:59your research and the department chair
42:01is amenable, I would rule nothing out.
42:19We're we've been recording this,
42:22so we will post the video on the website
42:24and if you have additional questions,
42:26you are welcome to e-mail us if they
42:28all come in 12 hours for the deadline.
42:30You might not all get responses, but we are.
42:34We're doing our best to make everything
42:37transparent and straightforward,
42:39so hopefully you won't need to reach out.
42:42But if you do, we will.
42:43Like I said, unless it's coming in at 11:00
42:46PM before the deadline and we're asleep,
42:48we will do our best to help.
42:53Thank you. This is been
42:55exceptionally helpful.
42:56This has been really great.
42:58Yeah. Thank you so much. Thanks everyone.
43:06Good luck. Thank you.
43:13All right, Chelsea,
43:13I think we can stop recording.
43:15Thank you so much. Thank you.
43:20And I thought we'll probably
43:21just post the slides in the video
43:23once we have them put together.
43:24I think so.
43:27OK. Hi, Chelsea. Thank you again.
43:30Bye. Thank you. So I take care too.