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23

24 === Postdoctoral mentoring plan ===

25

26

27 ==== Personal availability ====

28

29 I have a small lab and meet frequently with all members of my lab. Once or twice a day, I walk around and chat with lab members who are not too busy. These chats last from twenty minutes to over an hour. I check in with each lab member at least once a week, if not more. I have an open door policy and frequently have multi-hour discussions with lab members who walk in.

30

31

32 ==== Skills mentoring ====

33 Postdocs in my lab work closely with me and receive a large amount of

34 one-on-one training and practice in theoretical skills such as how to:

35

36 * be on the lookout for unexplained regularities within experimental data; come up with interesting new theoretical hypotheses; search the literature for existing theoretical hypotheses that might explain a regularity in data; mathematically formalize hypotheses

37 * apply advanced mathematical tools from physics, mathematics, and statistics to solve problems; produce formal mathematical proofs; rigorously make predictions based on a theoretical hypothesis

38 * make predictions which can be tested by comparison with data already available in the literature; search the literature for this data; know when it is time to apply a theoretical approach, and when it is time to apply a computational approach; use computational methods to analyze data; find or create appropriate controls for analyses of data; make predictions which can be plausibly tested by new experiments; interpret the results of available data and new experiments in a rigorous manner

39 * explain the importance and relevance of particular research topics; explain hypotheses and results in a clear fashion

40

41 Postdocs also have the freedom to choose which lines of inquiry to

42 pursue, to find and to assist in the application of grants, and to choose which venues to give

43 talk at; these choices provide valuable practice in career decision-making.

44

45 The Salk Institute as well as the University of California at San

46 Diego (UCSD), which is located across the street, offer a variety of

47 seminars and workshops for postdoctoral career development. Salk is

48 also a charter member of the National Postdoctoral Association.

49

50 In addition to remote conferences, for which travel support is provided, postdocs have frequent opportunities

51 to give talks to other members of my lab, to lab meetings of other

52 labs at Salk and UCSD, and to periodic small regional neuroscience conferences

53 which are located here.

54

55 ==== Career planning and professional development ====

56

57 One alternative is to have a formalized bureaucratic system where postdocs and mentors produce written plans and evaluations of themselves and each other. This can be counterproductive in a small lab. Instead, I meet frequently with each member of my lab and we discuss career development on an ongoing basis.

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