Mentoring Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students with the Rochester Bridges to the Doctorate program

The COVID pandemic has had devastating personal and career impacts on millions of people in all walks of life, including established scientists [1,2]. However, much less is known about how recent biomedical PhD graduates are navigating the pandemic. We have been interviewing a group of PhDs students for over 10 years, uniquely positioning us to investigate how recent PhD graduates are navigating the pandemic. Recruited a decade ago, participants were less subject to potential selection bias that can occur in new studies. The study duration also allowed for rapport to grow between participants and interviewers. Our data reveal how young scientists responded to pandemic-related challenges. But they often seized new opportunities and reflected carefully on their roles in science, future careers, and life choices.

Our findings, drawn from annual interviews with 58 individuals, fit into two sections. First, we report on themes: work and productivity; mentors and networks; job transitions; and life outside work. Our data illustrate a range of experiences and highlight sources of opportunity and challenge. We explore questions such as: Given the disruption and restructuring of lab time, what led many to conclude as a new postdoc did, “it was a surprisingly productive time”? How did mentoring and networking change when face-to-face interactions went virtual? For whom did career decisions become highly influenced by personal circumstances, such as a postdoc whose work-at-home time led to reconsidering his career and family roles? 

Second, we focus on academic careers for insights into how aspiring and new faculty navigated the pandemic, including: how trainees managed increasing uncertainty and job searches; and how new faculty navigated campus shutdowns. Some decided to shift away from academia; while for most, short-term doubts about academia were tempered with long-term optimism, as one postdoc said, “it can only get better.” 

Overall, we found that young scientists were able to utilize their skills and resources during a time that disrupted work and personal lives. Many shared responses similar to one graduate, “[The pandemic] is part of everyone’s life . . . [I] feel fortunate that it’s allowed me to move forward.” We found increased space for reflection on work, life, and values was a major factor that facilitated participants to “move forward” amidst challenges. We argue that PhD and postdoctoral trainees could benefit from more built-in time and space for reflection.

References 
Korbel, J. O., & Stegle, O. (2020, May 11). Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on life scientists. Genome Biology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-020-02031-1

Myers, K. R., Tham, W. Y., Yin, Y., Cohodes, N., Thursby, J. G., Thursby, M. C., Schiffer, P., Walsh, J. T., Lakhani, K. R., & Wang, D. (2020, July 15). Unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists. Nature Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0921-y


How Recent PhD Graduates Navigated the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Balance of Challenges and Opportunities

Poster Session I

poster

### Welcome to the 2023 Understanding Interventions/NSF CREST Annual Conference
Welcome to our annual conference, a gathering where the knowledge of our scientific communities share what they have researched since we last met. If it is your first time attending, then thank you for stepping into our world! If you are a returning guest, then thank you for coming back! Whether you are attending for the first or the fourteenth, we treasure your trust in what we have to offer. We promise to make it worth your while.

As in years past, we have put together an energetic collection of seminars, deeper dives, speeches, posters, and workshops to whet your appetite for learning. 

We are delighted that you have chosen to attend the 2023 Annual Understanding Interventions (UI) Conference, in partnership with the NSF Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) Program. 

### About the Conference 
This conference was established to facilitate dissemination and exchange of hypothesis-based research on interventions and initiatives that broaden participation in science and engineering research careers. The conference is designed to create a dialogue among behavioral/social science and education researchers, evaluators, and faculty in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields who participate in intervention programs. Workshops, sessions, and posters will communicate effective strategies from successful STEM intervention programs, present results from empirical research studies, and synthesize the translation of research findings into practice on STEM learning, undergraduate research, graduate education, and student retention.

Thank you again, and welcome! 
**[Download Program Agenda](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rTKTrWC2DOqnIF06po5xo4buAL3mPTqZ/view?usp=sharing)**

15th Conference on Understanding Interventions 2023 

This conference was established to facilitate dissemination and exchange of hypothesis-based research on interventions and initiatives that broaden participation in science and engineering research careers. The conference is designed to create a dialogue among behavioral/social science and education researchers, evaluators, and faculty in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields who participate in intervention programs.

Poster Sessions

The annual UI conference has grown from a meeting to a community of more than 6,000 researchers, program officers, evaluators, program directors, training faculty, and others within STEM, and now operates with a mission to mutually inform scholarship and practice, develop and enhance the community interested in educational interventions, and provide professional development for all STEM persons. UI held its first Virtual conference in December of 2020 in response to Covid-19 restrictions that forced the cancellation of the original March 2020 in person meeting. Born out of necessity, the virtual conference introduced a format that provided pre conference availability of symposia, Deeper Dives and Poster presentations. The 13th Annual Understanding Interventions Conference will continue with that design and we foresee future conferences adopting aspects of that format in reaching a virtual audience as well as those who attend the conferences in-person.

Attendees will experience plenaries, workshops, symposia, and poster presentations on hypothesis-based research on interventions and initiatives that broaden participation in STEM careers. The conference will continue to facilitate the dialogue among education, behavioral, and social science researchers, evaluators, and faculty in STEM fields who participate in intervention programs. Graduate students in these fields are strongly encouraged to attend. Workshops, sessions, and posters will communicate effective strategies from successful STEM intervention programs, present results from empirical research studies, and synthesize the translation of research findings into practice on STEM learning, undergraduate research, graduate education, and student retention.

The cost to attend the conference is $150. There are special rates for post-doctoral fellows and graduate students, as well as conference grants that can be provided for those with need. Registration for the conference is open, with additional information to come.

13th Conference on Understanding Interventions 2021

The annual UI conference has grown from a meeting to a community of more than 6,000 researchers, program officers, evaluators, program directors, training faculty, and others within STEM, and now operates with a mission to mutually inform scholarship and practice, develop and enhance the community interested in educational interventions, and provide professional development for all STEM persons. 

Jessica Contreras

2

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Mentoring Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students with the Rochester Bridges to the Doctorate program

How Recent PhD Graduates Navigated the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Balance of Challenges and Opportunities

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