ACS AMA: Hi Reddit! I am Lindsay Johnson, a Ph.D. candidate at the
University of Minnesota. Ask me anything about tailoring professional
development in your academic program to your needs!
Abstract
ACS AMA Hi Reddit! My name is Lindsay Johnson and I am a Ph.D. candidate
in chemistry at the University of Minnesota (UMN). I received my B.S. in
Chemistry from Virginia Tech in 2012; my undergrad and grad research has
focused on developing, modifying, and characterizing polymers for
enhanced drug delivery. I’m very active in my home Department of
Chemistry, serving as the Student Seminar Series Committee Chair, and
the chair for the Graduate Student Symposium Planning Committee. I have
also been involved with the planning committees of several outreach
events (for committees like our Women In Science and Engineering, etc).
In the American Chemical Society, I serve on the Graduate Education
Advisory Board, and was selected as a recipient of the ACS Younger
Chemist Leadership Development Award in 2017 and so attended the ACS
Leadership Development Institute in Dallas, TX earlier this year. Today
I’d love to talk with you about professional development so you can make
the most of your student program and then excel in your career! Whether
you’re looking to get into academia, industry, science policy, business,
or something else entirely, there are going to be certain critical
skills necessary to be competitive in that field. I want to help you
identify what those are! The process of building your own INDIVIDUAL
DEVELOPMENT PLAN starts with identifying your career goals. Then you
back-formulate what skill sets you will need. By mapping out a proactive
plan to help you achieve your individual goals, you can then develop
yourself to be a competitive applicant in your future. Some ideas on how
to design your plan can be found in the ACS’s ChemIDP tool
[https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/students/graduate/gettingready/chemidp.html]
I look forward to answering your questions on potential careers,
available resources, development opportunities, how to get involved, or
tailoring your resume. Ask me anything about professional development!
I’ll be back to answer your questions at 11am CDT (12pm EDT, 9am PDT,
4pm UTC). 11:00 AM here in sunny MN! Let’s do this! 12:00 PM That’s all
for now, folks! I’ll check back in later today to see if I can help
answer any more questions. Best of luck in all of your professional
endeavors!