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Summary Description The
doctoral training program of the Center for Neuroscience at the
University of Pittsburgh (CNUP) is designed to develop research-focused
and scholarly neuroscientists. We acknowledge that research is not
complete until it is communicated, that research funding cannot be
obtained without effectively communicating ones' ideas, and that
scientists often need to serve as educators in the classroom and in the
community. Therefore, our training program strives to train students in
scientific communication, both oral and written. We have incorporated
into our training program a variety of mechanisms for students to
further develop their oral and written communication skills, and we
seek to add more opportunities for students to practice oral
presentation of their research. However, the role of the mentor in
training students is essential, and therefore we must also explore ways
to insure that our training faculty can effectively train students in
this dimension.
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Tools and Resources Oral Communication Our
program is designed to have several elements in place to help students
become comfortable and adept at presenting and critically evaluating
research findings. The training includes: One-on-one mentoringConferences during the 1st year core coursesMandatory journal club for the first 3 yearsAdditional speciality journal clubs Opportunities
for senior students to give research presentations outside of committee
meetings is an area we hope to expand. We do not give formal training
regarding poster presentations or research presentations, but instead
rely on the strong one-on-one interactions between students and their
mentors. While
we do not give training on presentation contact or style, we encourage
our students to take advantage of the Survival Skills and Ethics
Program which is run at the University of Pittsburgh (see link for more
details). Also, almost every scientific organization has useful
guidelines for preparing effective presentations (for example see SfN Presentation Tips). Throughout their graduate career most students will present their research findings at: Annual CNUP retreat poster sessionLarge annual conferences, such as the Society for Neuroscience MeetingSmaller annual conferences (i.e. Gordon Conference, Winter Brain, etc.)
Journal Club Guidelines
An excerpt from our student guidelines detailing the requirements of journal club.
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An image of the poster session floor during the 2004 annual SfN conference in San Diego, CA (over 31,000 attendees)
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Goals for Students We
believe that training in research is the most critical component of
graduate education. However, outstanding research is lost without
effective communication. Thus our program strives to train our students
to develop a general professional competence in oral and written expression. This aim is explicitly stated in the objectives of our graduate program. Upon
completion of their degree, students should be comfortable in sharing
their research findings in a variety of settings and formats, including: Publications in peer reviewed journalsPoster sessionsResearch seminars to focused or diverse audiences
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Tools and Resources Written Communication Despite
the importance of clear and concise writing, little formal training is
ever given regarding this topic. No classes are solely devoted to
teaching students how to write. Instead, students gain most of their
guidance and feedback regarding writing style directly from their mentor.
As with oral communication some formal training is available through
the Survival Skills and Ethics program, which hosts a series of
Saturday workshops at the University of Pittsburgh. Like
most things, writing is something that becomes better with practice.
Throughout their graduate career students will have many opportunities
to write, which include: Writing and submitting manuscriptsVarious assessments, including annual review reportsApplying for funding (such as NRSA applications)Assisting their mentor with grant writing, requested reviews, and book chapters
Survival Skills and Ethics Program
A training program at the University of Pittsburgh aimed at assisting
professionals in the development of the skills needed for success in
research such as "Writing Research Articles" and "Making Oral
Presentations".
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Unanswered Questions We have identified several key topics that we will be discussing in the near future:
How do we create opportunities for students to present their own research findings without eating into their lab time?How do we provide useful feedback for a student on their presentation skills?Should we teach students how to write, or does our model in which most instruction regarding writing and presentations comes directly from the mentor work well?Are
we providing students with vastly different levels of training because
we rely so heavily on one-on-one interactions between the student and
the mentor?
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How Do We Know? Several
formal assessments by faculty committees occur at various stages in a
student's graduate training. These assessments include both an oral and
written component: 1st year "Reprint Exam" (Presentation of primary literature)2nd year Research Report (Presentation of their own data)Cumulative, or Qualifying, Exam (Practice grant application)Ph.D. ThesisDuring
the first 3 years every student does participate in a program-wide
journal club in which they present once a semester. Following their
presentation they receive two forms of feedback:
Anonymous feedback from their fellow studentsDiscussions with two faculty members who attend the presentationOutside of our program every student should gain feedback through: Publishing peer-reviewed articlesPresentations at scientific meetings (both slide and poster)
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