So you want to be more involved in the ChemEd community…now what? by Thomas Bussey, University of California, San Diego ChemEd can sometime be an isolating and uphill battle. For those of us in a science department, many of our colleagues/other students, however supportive, may not really understand what it is that we do.  For those of us fortunate enough to have ChemEd colleagues/group members, we may find that the diversity of our field leads us to very different research agendas while the demands of teaching/coursework take up a significant portion of our time.
Why I chose an instructor position after graduation by Daniel Cruz-Ramírez de Arellano, Ph.D. A little over a year ago I graduated from a doctoral program in chemistry education research. It was a long road filled with challenges and triumphs. Of course, it is easy to generically call them “challenges and triumphs” when one is looking back on an already completed goal; but when one is living it, going through the daily trials, the process might seem more arduous than what was anticipated. In order to keep my motivation up, I found it extremely helpful to keep my eye on the prize, to constantly remind myself why I had decided to embark on the journey through graduate school. In my case, I wanted to be a college professor.
Considerations for Choosing Stat Packages in CER by Jordan Harshman *A list of stat program acronyms that I use throughout this blog is at the end. Chances are, sometime in your CER-related career you’ll end up with the need (possibly even the desire) to analyze quantitative data. In the analysis and visualization of quantitative data, you have a growing list of statistical programs to choose from. The impetus for writing this blog post is something that I hope I can convince you of: which program(s) you choose to analyze your data directly influences the quality of your analysis, therefore your research.
What’s Behind Door Number Two? Other Chemistry Education Research Career Options – Part 2 By:  Stephanie Ryan, Ph.D., Science Test Development Specialist, American Institutes for Research Welcome to Part 2 of the “What’s Behind Door Number Two? Other Chemistry Education Research Career Options” series. Check out Part 1 for introductory material and a discussion about teaching opportunities. Research is your passion? If you answered the question “What do I enjoy doing?” with: Research is my passion but teaching isn’t really my thing, this section is for you!
How I Survived My First Year as a New Faculty Member by David Wren, Assistant Teaching Professor & Director of the Chemistry Center at Wake Forest University, Department of Chemistry Congratulations, you have a “real” job in academia. Prepare for the crushing weight of expectations, doubt that you really belong in front of the class, and unmatched excitement that you have finally “made it”. My first year teaching at Wake Forest University was the most difficult year of my life. It was also one of the most exciting. What I expected to be hard was much easier than what expected to be easy. Here is my autoethnographic study of my first year of as a new faculty member in a Chemistry department.
You Will Never Know Never You Ask: Undergraduate Research in Chemistry Education by William Marmor, Rochester Institute of Technology An Unexpected Beginning So many people wonder how the influential and prestigious men and women of the world end up where they are today. Who would not want to be successful and admired for years of hard work finally paying off. For some it happens, accepting a Nobel Prize in front of your family, friends and that one high school teacher who never believed in you. As you reach out and grasp that medal a grin comes across your face as cameras flash and an applause erupts! Then, the sound and lights instantly disappear as the medal shoots out of your hand. Your grin slips away and your eyes open wide, as only the sound of the shower head fills your ears. Groggy and tired you bend down and grab the bar of soap, once a gold medal, off the shower floor. Brought back to reality, you can’t help but enjoy the day dreams of an early morning shower. Time to get ready for work.
Need a job? 7 Steps to Consider During the Process by David Wren and Sonia Underwood    Introduction: Congratulations! You worked hard and finished your degree and are now ready to put all your dedication and hard work to practice. In other words, you need to get a job. A real one. Scanning through pages of ambiguous job postings, you are not sure what jobs entail, what are the qualifications (what does “or related field” really mean, anyway?), and how to filter those for which you can be competitive. Added to the fish-out-of-water feeling, you may have other restrictions of location or coordinating a job hunt with a significant other (see “Navigating the Two-Body Problem”). Applying for jobs can be daunting, especially when you are in the middle of finishing up your Ph.D. program, post-doctoral fellowship, or teaching 5 classes a semester. Your application writing will most likely not happen in a nice coffee shop during the morning, but at night, while your friends/significant other are laughing at the new season of Orange is the New Black. But there is good news! Actually, two very good bits of news for you. Good news bit one: your degree sets you apart from most applicants, which is HUGE in the screening process. The second bit of good news is there is a process that can maximize your success in your job hunt (see below).
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