Aspirants visit a career raising seminar at Cold Spring Harbor Lab – Nevada today

In the summer, two graduates attended a very sought -after training program at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), with the support of research laboratories in the Departments of Psychology and Biology. CSHL organizes over two dozen scientific courses that last approximately 1-2 weeks. Alfi Alfonso Torners and Arnab Bishas, ​​and Dr. Students at the Integrative Neuroscience Program, each of them spent two weeks in CSHL in the summer, attending a course related to their research interests.

The courses were recommended to students from Jennifer Hoi, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology. Hoi herself attends a similar course at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute as a graduate student, and later at CSHL as a doctorate.

“I feel like [these programs are] Very responsible for my connectivity and my level of sense of success, “Hoi said. “It gave me confidence.”

After attending the program, Hoi had a better idea of ​​what he wanted to study postgraduate and what kind of doctoral studies was interested in pursuit. She also became friends during the program, which to this day remains her close colleagues in different fields and types of work and around the world. Her biggest taking was to feel as if she could succeed in pursuing a research career. Hoi encouraged Torners and Bisnas to apply for CSHL courses.

The programs are highly competitive. The programs receive up to 300 applications and only 10 to 15 students are accepted. Both Torrens and Biswas had a successful application, but their presence was not guaranteed; Students still had to provide funding to attend.

Torrens completed a request for funding in the application and was fully funded for the course through the International Brain Research Organization. Torrens also successfully applied for the Prize for the Association of Patients, but the award did not cover all its travel expenses. She still needed support for travel, and Mike Webster, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for High Achievement in Biomedical Research on Integrative Neuroscience at the University, was able to provide this remaining support through his grant.

Webster also supported the cost of Biswas courses, along with Biswas co-conspiracies, Hoi and Mark Lescort, an assistant. Biswas also applied for the Travel Award for the Association of Patients and was successful.

Both students expressed great appreciation for the support for funding. Each of them pointed out how difficult it would be to invent the money themselves as graduates.

Torrens is present at a schizophrenic course and related disorders while Biswas attends a visual computational neuroscience course. Participants learn from world experts on how to apply techniques and contact these scientists. Scientists also hear about the work done by students and at the university.

Torens said the days were long but rewarding, starting at 8am and ending around 19:00 or later. The course of Torrens lectures discussed new studies on the disorders of the spectrum of schizophrenia from different perspectives, including molecular, neurobiological, behavioral and epigenetics. Each of the students presented “chalk conversations”, which was a presentation of their work, using illustrations on a chalk board. The program also included time for students to engage with each other with the speakers socially, including activities such as time in the ocean, karaoke nights, barbecues and more. She and her cohort have an active messages group where they share things like a doctorate and the course photos.

“We have developed a really close relationship with other students in the course,” Torens said.

A reviewer of the program from the National Health Institutes, which is visiting the course and gave students an idea of ​​how they can submit a successful grant proposal.

The Biswas program was a little different, with students expected to complete a small large-scale project by the end of the course. Students worked one with a member of the faculty, who Bishas said it was an excellent network. He plans to apply for a doctorate as a scientist at the researcher he worked with as he approaches his graduation.

“I felt like my way of working on a network,” Bishas said.

Both Bishas and Torners said that they usually talk to leaders in their respective areas, the best opportunity is a conference when everyone else wants to talk to these people. The small format of the course allowed an easy commitment with the experts who both said were very affordable.

Biswas was disturbed in hearing and mentioned that speakers specifically taught the challenges that people could face due to disabilities or other marginalized communities and that if students hit all obstacles, they could focus on guidance.

Nevertheless, the students felt an impostor syndrome. Many students were from Ivy League or other prestigious universities. The students took a group photo on the campus, where previous cohorts had also gathered for a group photo. Torners and her cohort examined the photos from previous classes, noticing big names in the area and admitted that they were part of the same program.

“I would think [acceptance into these programs] To be with national scientific scholarships for scientific foundations in the way in which it overcomes students’ relationship with the professional community, “Hoi said.

Hoi added that this programming is important not only for the student and their home laboratory, but also for the university as a whole. Students return experience in a new technology or theoretical concept that can be beneficial for teachers and students in campus. When students apply to the program, they must indicate how their course attendance will benefit not only from them, but also how they can positively affect their own research community and environment by distributing what they have learned in their home institution.

Hoi said another great aspect of these programs is that when students come back from CSHL or Woods Hole Oceanography Institute, they are energized and are excited to apply what they have learned.

“They are on fire, they are so motivated,” Hoi said.

A similar HOY program recommends for students who are interested in the acquisition of this type of experience is the summer program in the Neuroscience (Spines) perfection course at the Sea Biological Laboratory. The program, which has been running for more than two decades, trains the first generation or otherwise students who are leaders by focusing on professional development.

“Spens was just an incredible model for diversifying neuroscience in particular,” Hoi said. “I hope other areas and areas will accept it.”

Both students recommend the program for the many opportunities that each of them provides to learn from some of the leading experts in their fields.