The Postdoc Experience: High Expectations, Grounded In Reality

how to translate that into being a career scientist. “I wanted a mentor who would teach me the process and get me involved in the department. He’s been really great in getting me to further my career,” she says of her postdoctoral advisor, Wen-Jun Gao of Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. His encouragement for her to join in departmental committees and gatherings paid off when a professor at nearby Ursinus College came looking for someone to teach an undergraduate lab course. A faculty colleague who had worked with Snyder on a committee recommended her. When choosing an advisor, she suggests inquiring “is this person going to be invested in you and help you get to the next step whatever your goal is?” Snyder is also keeping her expectations realistic. “I see how difficult the funding situation is and how my boss is constantly worrying about money to maintain the lab. When you apply to positions there are 10 to 20 other people applying who are just as good as you are.”