ECS Weekly: Tips for open source science; #Worm23 starts tomorrow, register for headshots today; apply for a starter culture microgrant

This week’s newsletter focuses on taking advantage of open-access resources, and it was written by Stephen Klusza of the Equity and Inclusion Subcommittee.

An Open Invitation to Open Science
As scientists, we spend a lot of time researching and performing experiments in our fields of interest and less time thinking about how to capture our efforts in a meaningful way for future use cases. The typical ways for capturing our efforts are:

A bound lab notebook with carbon-copy pages
Microsoft OneNote pages
Custom, electronic lab notebook packages

What all three ways have in common is that the documentation is closed-source and kept in the hands of only a few people, and often it is documented in a way that may be difficult for future scientists to interpret successfully. Crucially, such a system ensures that your only evidence of productivity is peer-reviewed, published papers, making it more difficult for other scientists to reproduce your work. Given that the White House has issued guidance to make all federally funded research open-access, now is an excellent time to think about how to incorporate open access and open science principles in your work. But where do you start?

A terrific starting point is the Opensciency curriculum, composed of 5 modules spanning ethos, tools, data, software, and results in an open-science framework. This is a great way to familiarize yourself with open science, recommended best practices, and guidelines that help to ensure maximum reproducibility and accessibility.

One crucial point to make here is that switching to open science takes time, and not every workplace may be receptive to doing so for various reasons. It is perfectly okay to do what you can! Here are some suggestions for incorporating more open science practices:

Publish new open access protocols at protocols.io or the Bio-protocol journal
Submit preprints to bioRxiv while searching for a journal for publication
Read interesting preprints and provide comments with the help of preLights
Become an international open science ambassador with Open Life Science
Explore the free and open platform for research documentation and data at OSF

Thanks for reading, and best of luck with your open science journey!

GSA Early Career Leadership Program Resources

A new Early Career Leadership Spotlight on Opoola Mubaraq Abolaji of the Communication and Outreach Subcommittee is available on Genes to Genomes. Learn more about his research into sugar and diabetes with Drosophila, the challenges of choosing between academia and industry, and communication of science to scientists with English as a second language or with limited English knowledge.

Attending #Worm23? Need a new LinkedIn or lab website photo? Join GSA Engagement at the conference, and have your photo taken by a professional photographer. Sign up today while you start planning for the conference in Glasgow!

Are you seeking career advice from established scientists who can help guide your journey? Do you want to expand your network and connect with other early- and mid-career scientists? Register for NextStage Growth Media: Career Advice and Connections to ask your scientific career questions and connect with fellow researchers in a moderated discussion with established C. elegans community members. Dinner will be provided.

A new GSA program offering up to $2,000 for your project is now accepting applications. The Starter Culture Microgrant Program is open to GSA members in need of funding for a workshop, a class, a collaboration, or some other project that aligns with GSA’s mission. Applications are open year-round, and they are reviewed on a quarterly basis. Apply today!

A group of professional societies, including GSA, have convened to assess the extent to which individuals, particularly in different demographic groups, feel included within their respective societies, in the workplace, and in the broader biology community. Therefore, we are requesting your participation in a brief survey about your experience.

Postdoctoral Scholar | Schmitz Lab, University of Georgia | Athens, GA, United States

Visiting Professor | Department of Biology, Middlebury College | Middlebury, VT, United States

Postdoctoral Scholar | Coral Resilience Lab, Michigan State University and Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology | Kaneohe Bay, HI, United States and Lansing, MI, United States

Assistant or Associate Professor | Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences and Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University School of Medicine | Detroit, MI, United States

Biological Transmission Electron Microscopy Technologist | Microscopy Shared Resource, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA

Research Specialist | Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute | Ashburn, VA, United States

Research Lab Associate | Department of Biology, New York University | New York, NY, United States

Computational Scientist | Department of Oncological Sciences and Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | New York, NY, United States

Postdoctoral Researcher | Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, Aalto University and the University of Helsinki | Helsinki, Finland

Postdoctoral Fellow | Valvezan Lab, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School | Piscataway, NJ, United States

Postdoctoral Fellow | Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine | Los Angeles, CA, United States

Postdoctoral Fellow | Ren Lab, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology | Cambridge, United Kingdom

Postdoctoral Fellow | Luckhart Lab, University of Idaho | Moscow, ID, United States

Is your lab hiring? GSA members qualify for a discounted rate to post job openings and can post student and postdoc positions at no cost on the GSA Job Board!

Applications are now open for the 2023 Science Policy and Advocacy Certificate Program, running from July 11–September 19, 2023. This virtual program from University of California, Irvine's GPS-STEM in collaboration with several partners including the Journal of Science Policy & Governance as a founding partner. The program is designed to teach STEM PhDs and postdoctoral trainees the essential skills required for a career in science policy. The program covers a range of topics including policy development, communication, resources and funding opportunities, networking and career pathways.

Postdoc appointments simultaneously offer great opportunities for growth and great demands on your time. How do you make sure you are using this limited window of opportunity effectively? In this class from NPA SmartSkills, we will cover time management at two different scales. First, you’ll learn how to balance the day-to-day demands for your attention. Second, you’ll gain insight into planning the trajectory of your training to make the most of a relatively short period in your career. Register now for Recipe for Success: How to Mentor and be Mentored on June 27, 3 p.m. EDT.

The New York Academy of Sciences is hosting a course for “Scientists Teaching Science” which will run June 28–August 29, 2023. This course is held completely online, and it focuses on identifying and developing learning strategies and unique teaching approaches. Participants who complete the course requirements will receive a certificate of completion from the New York Academy of Sciences. Learn more about this course and register!

Join the YZ Law Group LLP, an immigration law firm, for a free webinar on US immigration. They have extensive experience in immigrant and non-immigrant petitions, particularly EB1A, EB1B, NIW, O1 and H1B. For more than 20 years, their attorneys have helped numerous research scientists obtain US permanent residency. Choose a webinar date and register today.

Current professional development and training opportunities

NEW! Crowd Preprint review is back! ASAPbio has relaunched their program to crowdsource reviews for preprints in five key fields: molecular and cellular neurobiology, cancer biology, computational neuroscience, meta-research, and metabolism. Sign-up to join a preprint crowd for one of these fields to develop your reviewing skills.

Are you a postdoc working in academia or industry? Share your career experiences with Nature! The global survey of postdoctoral researchers is now live. If you’re a postdoc in academia, industry, government or any other area of the public or private sector, please share your experiences of your working life at this key but often-neglected scientific career stage. Learn more and access the survey today.

Are you a STEM professional who wants to brush up on your communication skills? Upcoming free 45-minute virtual sessions from Hayslett Consulting are designed to help you learn something new, no matter your level of expertise. Our dynamic and face-paced formats make learning fun and engaging. Plus, all attendees will receive a free gift as a thank you for attending. Check out the upcoming workshop topic and dates!

The American Institute of Biological Sciences has developed a workshop for scientists, educators, and individuals who work with or participate in scientific teams. This intensive, two-day, interactive, professional development course was developed by scientists and experts on collaboration and teamwork to provide participants with the knowledge and skills required to become productive and effective members of scientific teams. Check out their website to learn more about the workshop and upcoming dates!

pgEd is hosting a summer “Teacher Workshop on Genome Editing and Eugenics” from July 24–August 4, 2023. This hybrid workshop includes the following topics: Introduction to Personal Genetics; The History of the American Eugenics Movement; Using Primary Sources to Examine the History of Eugenics; Genome Editing and CRISPR; Birth of CRISPR-edited Twins; Genome Editing and the Environment. Complete this form to reserve your spot!

Van Andel Institute’s Inspire Fellowship supports exceptional postdoctoral fellows by reducing barriers, fostering community, and providing the resources and personalized mentorship needed for an outstanding training experience. We are committed to ensuring fellows have a firm foundation from which to launch their independent research careers—and to make a world of difference. Applications for the Inspire Fellowship are accepted year round and reviewed on a rolling basis. Learn more today!

Register now for the Early Career Researcher Summit from Research!America. The event will take place over five separate sessions during the month of June covering topics from mastering the elevator pitch to building a strong resume. Register now and start planning for your future.

Applying for a postdoc or considering applying for one soon? Check out these Unwritten rules of applying for postdocs on Genes to Genomes.

The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine are seeking nominations on “Equitable and Effective Teaching in Undergraduate STEM Education: A Framework for Institutions, Educators and Disciplines.” Find more information about this project and nominations!

Looking to strengthen your scientific writing skills? Check out this essay from Brevity Magazine on developing scientific stories. The author invites scientists to integrate play and creativity into the writing process to help expand beyond the more rigid traditions of scientific writing.

Are you interested in science communication? Sign up for this virtual workshop from The Open Notebook: The Craft of Science Writing. These 90-minute workshops will include planned presentations, interactive discussions, and opportunity for discussing or workshopping real-life editing challenges and solutions.

The Academic Career Readiness Assessment rubric is a tool developed by the Office of Career and Professional Development at the University of California, San Francisco with the goal of providing graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with the information they need to explore, plan for and apply to faculty positions at different types of institutions, regardless of their understanding of the intricacies of the US education system and independently of the mentoring they receive.