In academic research, principal investigators often carry a lot of responsibility without having much direct authority. You’re accountable for your program’s success—its funding, outcomes, and the well-being of your team—but many key decisions about resources, policy, or priorities are made by institutional leaders above you. That reality can make things tricky. How do you advocate for your program, push back … Read More
Deciding When to Let Go: 5 Strategic Questions Before You Quit a Project
In the life of a research program, new projects often start with excitement and possibility. But over time, some initiatives lose their momentum. They continue to demand your team’s time, energy, and funding, while the path to a meaningful outcome becomes less clear. Letting go can feel like admitting defeat, but in the strategic “business of research,” choosing to stop … Read More
Your Research As a Business: 3 Simple Tools to Keep Your Finances on Track
If you’re leading a research team, you’ve mastered the art of juggling: study designs, manuscript revisions, mentoring trainees, and the eternal pursuit of resources. It’s a complex, often overwhelming balance between research vision and practical constraints. And for many, the biggest source of that overwhelm isn’t the research itself—it’s the administrative and financial infrastructure that makes the research possible. When … Read More
Building a Research Legacy: How to Make a Long-Term Impact
By the time they reach mid-career, research faculty have already climbed some serious mountains. From securing the first faculty position to building a productive research program and earning tenure, there’s a fair share of hard-won achievements. But at this stage, many researchers find themselves facing a quieter, more complex question: What kind of impact do I actually want to leave … Read More
How to Get Noticed: Strategic Networking for Early-Career Faculty
Establishing yourself as an independent researcher is a pivotal but often isolating career stage. While getting your new program and responsibilities off the ground and trying to make headway on publishing and securing funding, you’re probably simultaneously adjusting to living and working in a new location. This juggling act can make networking a lower-priority task, and yet it’s an important … Read More
Building Resilience in Academia: Thriving Under Pressure
Academic careers in STEM and health fields are uniquely demanding. The path from graduate or medical school to a faculty position, often via a postdoctoral stage, is long, competitive, and fraught with uncertainty. Grant application rejections, publication pressures, teaching responsibilities, and work-life integration challenges can lead to anxiety, burnout, and attrition. These realities underscore the need for resilience, which is … Read More
Securing Your NIH R01 Renewal: A Strategic Guide
While getting the first NIH R01 is often challenging, securing the second sometimes seems an even bigger uphill battle that catches PIs by surprise. For those considering whether and how to pursue a competitive renewal for an existing R01, we recommend a strategic approach with plenty of time for recalculation. In fact, while we encourage taking a little breathing room … Read More
The Hidden Curriculum: Navigating Unwritten Expectations for Research Faculty
PhDs who’ve chosen an academic research career often expect that, after the gauntlet of training, holding a faculty position will allow them to focus on doing great research. And this is true to the extent that great research is the centerpiece of the role. Yet, with so many other responsibilities, focus gets divided such that much less time is spent … Read More
The Mid-Career Pivot: How to Expand Your Research into New Areas
By the time you’ve reached mid-career, you’ve likely built a strong foundation in your field: a defined research identity, a stream of publications, and even the long-sought tenure status. But what if that foundation starts to feel more like a box than a launchpad? What if you find yourself returning to the same questions, even as your curiosity stretches beyond … Read More
Reimagining Your Career Path: Why Exploring Transitions Can Strengthen (or Redirect) Your Academic Journey
The traditional academic career path has long been portrayed as a straight and narrow road: earn a PhD, secure a postdoc, land a tenure-track position, and climb the ranks. But what happens when that path feels uncertain—or worse, like a dead end? Between shrinking faculty positions, funding instability, and the growing mental health toll of “publish or perish” culture, it’s … Read More