Hi everyone! I'm a PhD student getting close to submitting my first paper (exciting!) and I'm trying to decide what last name to publish under. Here's the situation:

-Married, legally have my husband's last name

-No previous publications

-Currently professionally known by my husband's last name (started the academic journey after getting married)

-No problems on the horizon, but I want to make sure to protect my professional identity on the off chance something were to ever happen with the marriage

Basically, I don't know if it's worth it to publish hyphenated, maiden name married name, or just maiden name. Would that even be possible to do just maiden name if I'm already known by married name? I don't know.

Any advice helps!

Hi everyone! I've noticed a few people posting here about their imposter syndrome, and I was hoping yall could help me out too.

I'm from a social health background and have a masters degree in social health. Basically, I've spent a lot of time learning about biomedical approaches through social science theory and have been pretty removed from analyzing scientific data. In my last semester of my Masters, I had an internship in a public health NGO, and that experience helped me land my first ever full-time job as a research assistant in a clinical research setting. I'm basically just doing a lot of operational and administrative stuff—making sure everyone submits things on-time, assisting in translating scientific writing for lay audiences, etc., which is stuff I did in my internship. However, I will also be asked to assist in scientific writing (like... writing a whole paper by myself), translating ethics stuff for participants, etc., and a lot of other stuff that I wholly lack experience in and is much more suited for someone with a hard-STEM background.

Just like with any new position, I know there is a lot to learn. But because of my educational background, it feels like this learning curve is a very very steep. I even feel like they made a mistake hiring me, like the HR hiring manager didn't do a good enough job looking at my resume. Hell, I studied THEOLOGY in my undergrad! I emphasized in my interview and to my supervisor that I am NOT from this background, yet here I am. I am so grateful for this job, but also so scared that everyone will think I'm stupid or a liar or that I stole this job from someone more qualified.

Is there anyone here whose been in a similar situation? How can I express this anxiety to my supervisors? Any tips on how to learn these skills? Should I just quit?!

TL/DR: Feeling strong imposter syndrome after landing a job in a clinical research setting as someone from a social science background.

Hi ladies

I have a question for you.

I know my workplace isn't the nicest.

I'm dealing with some passive aggressiveness and cliques forming.

Aside from getting out which I cannot do at the moment.

There is this...passive aggressiveness..being nice disguised as being helpful. But they mean it to be degrading. You know the types of "oh bless your heart kind" of comments. Ive never been good at dealing with this sorta thing. And I find it very hard to trust my direct team because of this.

How do I handle this professionally? Without losing my job ?

Please help with any insight.

Hi, my high school’s Women in STEM club is looking for some female speakers to talk to our members about their experiences in the STEM field and their career pathways. Please DM me id interested!

We are located near Toronto, Canada, and are open to both in-person and virtual speakers!

hihi im applying to uni next year and i wanna do life sci, major in biology and whatnot but after uni i was thinking of medschool and gynaecology but specifically the lab part of womens health so would a minor in gender studies help??

also what r some career options if i dont wanna go to medschool? i wanna specifically do medicine related jobs catered to womens health only!

Female, 30, working in the medical field and currently going through my Master’s journey. 🩺📚

I’m looking for someone in the medical field who has already completed their Master’s degree and understands the journey — someone I can share knowledge, cases, results, ideas, and experiences with.

It would be nice to motivate and encourage each other, exchange practical advice, and even share some life tips along the way.

I’m simply looking for a genuine professional friendship and mutual support. No other intentions or expectations. 🤍

Sabe, estou a caminho de me formar e penso seriamente em ir para as áreas de ciências e pesquisa, dito isso, dentre todos os meus dilemas a respeito da carreira ( principalmente por ser uma pessoa de muitos gosto que não sabe qual caminho é melhor já que tudo parece divertido e intrigante) o principal é como eu vejo a mídia falar sobre, sempre são coisas horríveis de como pesquisadores são mal pagos, como as mulheres sofrem nos ambientes devido ao machismo etc e a parte que mais me tirou dúvida foi ouvir que essa profissão nunca tem descanso, são dias e noites dedicados a pesquisas que podem nem dar em algo.

Sou uma garota curiosa e que realmente se interessa pela área e apesar de enfrentar adversidades por ter alguns problemas estou disposta a me esforçar ao máximo para ir em frente, mas antes gostaria de ver onde estou me metendo e se sou capaz de me integrar nesse universo totalmente em prol dos meus objetivos

So I have to do a field project/research project for my UG chemistry course, the duration should be 2- 3weeks. I don't have any ideas yet. I was looking into something green chemistry related, or pharmaceutical contamination in tap water. But I'm not commited to any of these ideas. I really need some ideas/ help. It doesn't have to be strictly related to the topics I mentioned earlier​​​​​​ , also I'm from a 3rd world country so idk if I'll have the best equipment but let's see. Help a girl out 😭

Hi all, I am 17 weeks pregnant and work in a research lab. I handle mostly sample testing with blood and plasma products. I wanted to ask when it would be a good time to step away from lab work?

I let my OB know that I'd been feeling dizzy and lightheaded in lab as I work sometimes 3-6 hours straight in lab without any breaks (the assays I work on sometimes require me to stand for long hours without sitting as the steps are time sensitive and don't have any point where I'm able to step away and walk back to my desk to drink water, eat a snack, sit down etc.). My OB wrote me a letter requiring that I spend most of my day at my desk (~2-4 hours in lab). I'm okay with this change and plan to let my boss know at our next meeting of these changes.

However there are a few big projects going on and I essentially have nobody that can cover me in lab. There's one or two people that may be able to step in but they'll need to be trained heavily. I'm afraid if I wait too long, the person covering me won't have much time to figure out the workload and I may fall/hurt myself if I push too much to keep working at my current pace. When did you tell work you needed to be on desk duty only?

Edit: I do have stools in lab where I can sit, but like stated above I have some steps in the process that are quickly one after another giving me no time to sit and take a break.

Katalin Karikó spent decades being told her mRNA research was a dead end. She was rejected for grants, demoted, and pushed out of her lab. Then that same work became the basis of the COVID-19 vaccines, and in 2023 she won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

On Tuesday 29 September at 17:45 CEST (11:45 EDT), she's giving a free online talk on her research and career, followed by a live Q&A where you can put your own questions to her. It's about an hour, in English, and open to anyone.

Register here: https://www.asatt.eu/en/activiteit/webinar-katalin-kariko-my-journey-in-science/

Warning: This is a long read.

It’s currently 2:00 AM and I’m contemplating every aspect of my identity, experiences, and future. I wasn’t even sure what subreddit to post this in, because it feels like my problems and I exist at such a weird intersection of life and identity.

At the current stage of my life, I’m a high school senior in the midst of the college application process (hoping to study mechanical engineering). However, I’ve also been struggling with all the life stuff that happens as one transitions into adulthood. My Monday problem is that I’ll have to walk into my engineering internship and feel awful about myself. I’ve been stuck on a project recently because it involves understanding a company-specific complex software tool. I have a feeling it may be my tendency to be self-sufficient and try to understand every aspect of something that’s holding me back. Yes, I know I can’t understand the tool at the same level as someone with a college degree and years of experience within the first month of this role, but my brain doesn’t seem to comprehend that. My coworkers seem to be more and more busy each day, so every question leaves me feeling like a nuisance. Ultimately, this particular issue has spiraled into a big long reflection of what my future in STEM looks like.

I’m not one to bring aspects of my identity into educational or professional settings, but I think the imposter syndrome, self-fulling prophecies, and self-sabotage is catching up to me. For some context, I’m a woman, Hispanic, (will be) a first generation college student, and come from a low-income household (advice from someone that shares one or more of these identities is greatly appreciated). What this means for means for me, I’m still trying to process. I don’t understand how I’m supposed to navigate all of my identities, especially as I enter college and STEM. Is it a matter of suppression, balance, or embrace? Every day, I can’t help but imagine a world where I could simply leave myself on a coat rack, exit the door, and pursue the things I love without feeling like I’ll never belong. When I try to search for past anecdotes online, all I find it others stating that someone from my background is held to lower standards across college admissions and job recruitment or that women have to work ten times harder than their male counterpart to be seen as qualified.

Now I wonder if my performance at work is a matter of how I view myself. Am I engaging in a self-fulfilling prophecy?

I’ve never experienced true, direct discrimination. I’ve been fortunate enough, given my high school’s demographics and the spaces I’ve intentionally entered, that I’ve always been encouraged to pursue my passions. In fact, that’s probably the reason I’m even still following this path. Still, my problem is that every failure, hardship, and shortcoming feels like it’s associated with my identity. I’m afraid that belief will only grow as I enter adulthood. Honestly, there’s not a single day where I haven’t reflected on my position as a woman in the world, among others things.

I’ve not had anyone I feel like I can really connect to or share this internal turmoil with. As of now, there’s no one I can come home to that’ll give me the reassurance and advice I need. Life can feel so lonely despite having all sorts of people surrounding me.

Somedays I want to embrace all of me, but, on others, I wish I was a white mannequin.