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Welcome to Growing up in Science, a global series of conversations about the personal narratives of scientists. This page lists global online events (free and open to anyone) as well as open online events by local chapters. Global events are of several types:

  • our signature "unofficial stories" series, in which one speaker with a science PhD (usually a faculty member) tells their life and career story with an emphasis on struggles, doubts, failures, and detours;
  • panel discussions with themes related to mentorship, anti-racism, work-life balance, and other topics;
  • open forums, for open discussion about personal struggles and how to make academia better.

Check out our recorded events on the Growing up in Science YouTube channel.

Growing up in Science Online Events

This section lists both events in the Global Online Series and events by local GUIS chapters that are open to the public.

The Growing up in Science Global Online Series is organized by Wei Ji Ma and Lucy Lai. To receive announcements for Growing up in Science Global Online Events, please sign up for the mailing list. Alternatively, you can register for individual events using the links below.

We also have a Growing up in Science Global Events Google Calendar. You can add it to your own Google Calendar.

Events for 2024 will be posted here shortly.



Past events:

Mon Dec 18, 2023 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Gabrielle Gutierrez (Barnard)

This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.

Tue Nov 14, 2023 (NYU Chapter)
Susan Carey (Harvard, NYU)

This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.

Mon Oct 16, 2023 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Vishnu Murty (Temple University)

This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.

Tue Oct 3, 2023 (GUIS NYU)
Kenway Louie (NYU)

This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.

Tue Jun 6, 2023 (GUIS Global Online Series)
How to start your own Growing up in Science series
Speakers: Wei Ji Ma (NYU)
Are you interested in organizing your own GUIS series, where you are now or where you will be soon? I will discuss different formats that have been used and choices that you may want to think about.

Tue May 16, 2023 (GUIS NYU)
Niels Ringstad (NYU School of Medicine)
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.

Tue Apr 11, 2023 (GUIS Global Online Series)
How to be a scientist in a world on fire?
Speakers: Anne Urai (Leiden University), Clare Kelly (Trinity College Dublin)
As scientists concerned about the climate crisis, we set out to rethink the role and goals of the university in tackling the 21st century's challenges. Inspired by Raworth's Doughnut Economics, we propose seven new ways to thinking - not only to help us think, but also to act. Read the paper: Urai AE, Kelly C (2023) Rethinking academia in a time of climate crisis. eLife 12:e84991.https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.84991. and join us for discussion & action.
Video recording
Wed Feb 08, 2023 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Adrienne Fairhall (University of Washington)
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.


Wed Nov 30, 2022 (GUIS Global Online Series)
How to write antiracist recommendation letters
Panelists: Laura Martin, Scott Mirabile, Yael Niv
A two-page letter - an evaluation for graduate school, for a faculty position, or for awarding tenure - can make or break a career. Recommendation-letter writers thus hold immense power. This power has outsized impact on Black academics and other scholars with marginalized identities, whose contributions to science are often under appreciated, leading to less enthusiastic letters and lower acceptance and promotion rates. In this presentation, part of the Global Growing Up In Science Mentoring Series, we proposed a set of practical steps for writing inclusive, anti-racist (and anti-sexist) recommendation letters, based on this paper: https://psyarxiv.com/nkxhs/. We hope these recommendations will help ongoing efforts to move toward an inclusive academia that appreciates and rewards diverse ways of doing, learning and knowing.
Video recording

Wed Nov 16, 2022 (GUIS Global Online Series)
David Sussillo (Meta Reality Labs/Stanford University)
Moderator: Veronica Caraffni
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.
Video recording

Wed Oct 26, 2022 (GUIS-NYU series)
John Rinzel (NYU)
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.
Video recording

Thu Jul 21, 2022 (GUIS Global Online Series)
What I wish I had known about doing a PhD
Moderator: Sophie Arnold (NYU)
Panelists: Ajua Duker (Yale University), Carlos Gomes (Boston University), Hannah Hok (University of Chicago), Michelle Kim (Mount Sinai School of Medicine)

The road to earning a PhD is often long, winding, and bumpy. It can be difficult to prepare for this academic journey. The advice and guidance of fellow PhD students can serve as a powerful tool to help new students and those applying for PhD programs have an idea of what to expect and how to navigate the grad school environment. In this panel session, we aimed to provide aspiring and new PhD students with a glimpse of the graduate student experience by learning what current PhD students from various disciplines and backgrounds wished they had known before starting their graduate studies.
Video recording
Transcript
Slides

Mon Jun 20, 2022 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Accountability for our anti-racism work in academia

This event was part of the Growing up in Science anti-racism series. Panelists were Laura Bustamante, Scott Mirabile, Ed Clayton, Jackie Rose, and Yael Niv.
Video recording

Tue May 31, 2022 (GUIS-NYU series)
Roozbeh Kiani (NYU)
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.
Video recording

Tue May 3, 2022 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Anne Urai (Leiden)
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.
Video recording

Tue Apr 5, 2022 (GUIS-NYU series)
Tanya Sippy (NYU)
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here. No recording available.

Mon Feb 28, 2022 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Stephon Alexander (Brown)
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here. No recording available.

Tue Feb 1, 2022 (GUIS-NYU series)
Will Adler (Center for Democracy and Technology)
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
Will is the Senior Technologist in Elections and Democracy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, where he works to ensure that American elections are fair, accessible, and secure. This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here. No recording available.

Mon Dec 13, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
The "problem solving" technique
Moderator: Yael Niv (Princeton).
This event was part of the Growing up in Science mentorship series. We all encounter problems in our academic work. One technique that is useful when a problem is stubborn, is the so-called "problem solving technique" (ha!). In this session, we learned the technique, and practiced it together on a few problems suggested by attendees.
Video recording

Wed Nov 10, 2021 (GUIS-NYU series)
Liina Pylkkänen (NYU)
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here. No recording available.

Thu Oct 7, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Nancy Kanwisher (MIT)
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.
Video recording

Thu Sep 16, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Heidi Vuletich (Indiana University Bloomington) and Wei Ji Ma (NYU)
The Vienna Doctoral School in Cognition, Behavior and Neuroscience (VDS CoBeNe) hosted an open online Growing up in Science workshop on the topic "What is a healthy PhD mindset?"
More information

Wed Sep 15, 2021 (GUIS-NYU series)
Christine Constantinople (NYU)
Moderator: Ralph Peterson (NYU)
Christine Constantinople is an Assistant Professor of Neural Science at New York University. This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series at NYU. Read Christine's official and unofficial stories here.

Wed Aug 18, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Clinton Cave (Middlebury College)
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
Clinton Cave is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at Middlebury College. This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here. No recording available.

Thu Jul 22, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
What I wish I had known about doing a PhD
Moderator: Alexandra Cohen (postdoc at NYU)
Panelists: Jaime Castrellon (Duke University), Meriah DeJoseph (University of Minnesota), Beth Lloyd (Leiden University), Rashina Seabury (Yale University)

The road to earning a PhD is often long, winding, and bumpy. It can be difficult to prepare for this academic journey. The advice and guidance of fellow PhD students can serve as a powerful tool to help new students and those applying for PhD programs have an idea of what to expect and how to navigate the grad school environment. In this panel session, we aimed to provide aspiring and new PhD students with a glimpse of the graduate student experience by learning what current PhD students from various disciplines and backgrounds wished they had known before starting their graduate studies.
Video recording
Chat log
Slides

Wed Jul 7, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Woo-Young Ahn (Seoul National University)
Our first speaker from Korea! Woo-Young Ahn is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Seoul National University. This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.

Fri Jun 11, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Mentoring up: how to get the most out of your mentors
Effective mentoring is a two-way relationship, predicated on open communication and alignment of expectations. Mentees have an important role in steering this relationship by identifying and making explicit their own needs. Our mentors are not mind readers, and asking for what we need is sometimes all that stands between us and our goal. In this session, we will discuss the concept of "mentoring up" (borrowed from "managing up" in industry), work through practicalities of where we should each be mentoring up, and answer questions that arise. Recommended advance reading: Judy Zerzan et al. (2009). Making the Most of Mentors: A Guide for Mentees. Academic Medicine, 84(1), 140-144. This event was part of the Growing up in Science series on academic mentorship. Organizer and moderator was Yael Niv. Discussants were Wei Ji Ma and Veronica Caraffini.
Slides
Video recording

Wed May 5, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Megan Carey (Champalimaud)
Organizer and moderator: Jessie Verhein (PhD student, Stanford)
Megan R. Carey is a Group Leader in the Neuroscience Program at the Champalimaud Center for the Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal. This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Read her official and unofficial stories here.

Mon Apr 19th, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Yael Niv (Princeton)
Moderator: Veronica Caraffini (Postdoc, MRC CU)
Yael Niv is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Princeton. This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.
Video recording

Thu Mar 11, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Wei Ji Ma (NYU)
Organizer and moderator: Federico de Martino
This event was part of the Growing up in Science series organized by the Maastricht Young Academy at Maastricht University. Official and unofficial stories here.

Wed Feb 10, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Sindy Joyce (University of Limerick)
Organizer and moderator: Sean Froudist-Walsh (Postdoc, NYU)
This event was co-hosted by the Glucksman Ireland House. Official story here.
Video recording

Tue Feb 2, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Ashley Juavinett (UCSD)
This was an Oxford University Growing up in Science event, hosted by Cortex Club. Official and unofficial stories here.
Cortex Club website

Thu Jan 7, 2021 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Deepna Devkar: From a Ph.D. in Neuroscience to VP at CNN in 5 years
Moderator: Veronica Caraffini (Postdoc, MRC CU)
This event was part of the Growing up in Science "unofficial stories" series. Official and unofficial stories here.

Fri Dec 11, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
You can be an activist too!
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma (NYU)
This event highlighted how you can use your skills as a scientist to further social or environmental causes early in your career and without being a domain expert. Panel: Ingrid Paredes (March for Science NYC), Ionatan Kuperwajs (Scientist Action and Advocacy Network), and Linnea Saby (Science Policy Initiative).

Video recording
Slides (ScAAN)
Slides (SPI-DAC)

Fri Oct 23, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Bianca Jones-Marlin (Columbia) and Michael Hopkins (PhD student, Johns Hopkins)
This event was part of the Growing up in Science anti-racism series. Read Bianca and Michael's official and unofficial stories.
Video recording

Wed Sep 23, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Mentoring AMA (Ask Me Anything) and Solutions Corner
This event was part of the Growing up in Science series on academic mentorship. Part 1 was a Q&A panel to answer questions of mentees and mentors about the mentoring relationship and how to deal with problems that come up. Panel: Chiara Bertipaglia (Columbia University), Adrienne Fairhall (University of Washington), Keith Doelling (Institut Pasteur), and Yael Niv (Princeton University). Part 2 was a presentation by Amir Tal (Columbia University) on the platform LabGuru, with time for feedback. Insights on selecting a lab can still be submitted via this 5-10 minute survey.

Video recording
Q&A

Fri Aug 21, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Daniel Colón-Ramos (Yale University)
Official and unofficial stories
Video recording

Mon Aug 10, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
What I wish I had known about doing a PhD
Moderator: Alexandra Cohen (postdoc at NYU)
PhD student panelists: Emily Diaz (UCSD), Jonathan Coutinho (Queens University), Melanie Silverman (Fordham University), and Julie Lee (University College London)

The road to earning a PhD is often long, winding, and bumpy. It can be difficult to prepare for this academic journey. The advice and guidance of fellow PhD students can serve as a powerful tool to help new students and those applying for PhD programs have an idea of what to expect and how to navigate the grad school environment. In this panel session, we aimed to provide aspiring and new PhD students with a glimpse of the graduate student experience by learning what current PhD students from various disciplines and backgrounds wished they had known before starting their graduate studies.

Video recording
Slides
Detailed Q&A (20 page document)

Fri Jul 31, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
André Marques-Smith (CoMind)
This was the first Oxford University Growing up in Science event, hosted by Cortex Club. Official and unofficial stories here.
Video recording

July 22, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
A conversation with Angela Saini
Moderator: Wei Ji Ma
Angela Saini is the author of Superior: the return of race science. She was interviewed by NYU PhD student Habon Issa as part of the Growing up in Science anti-racism series. No recording available.

July 10, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
On mentorship (Part 1)
Panelists: Akiko Iwasaki (immunobiology, Yale), Wei Ji Ma (cognitive science, NYU), Yael Niv (cognitive neuroscience, Princeton), and Jay Van Bavel (social psychology, NYU)

The first part in a themed series on mentorship. We discussed:
  • "My advisor is generally a good mentor, but..."
  • Have you experienced or directly heard about any examples of toxic mentorship near you?
  • What structural changes do you think are needed to improve mentorship in academia?
Video recording
Slides

Fri Jun 26, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Jane Willenbring (UCSD)
Official and unofficial stories
Video recording

Wed Jun 10, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Anti-racism allyship workshop
Growing up in Science and the Scientist Action and Advocacy Network jointly participated in the #ShutDownSTEM day of action through a workshop on allyship and anti-racism in science. This event is was the first in the Growing up in Science anti-racism series. We asked our audience for their comments in the following categories:
  1. (micro-)aggressions experienced
  2. (micro-)aggressions committed (by you or others)
  3. aspects of systemic racism that you find most urgent/actionable
  4. concrete steps you plan to take to be an ally and practice anti-racism
Moderators were Mina Cikara, Nancy Padilla, Yael Niv, and Wei Ji Ma. Documentation of the event:
May 26, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Joint event with the Neuromatch 2.0 conference
Speakers: Anne Churchland and Wei Ji Ma
Video recording


May 7, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Theme: feeling apathetic about research
Hosts: Wei Ji Ma, Yael Niv, and Celia Ford
Video recording
Chat log


Apr 24, 2020 (GUIS Global Online Series)
Open Forum
Hosts: Wei Ji Ma and Yael Niv
Video recording
Chat log

Have you ever wondered what your advisor struggled with as a graduate student? What they struggle with now? Growing up in science is a conversation series featuring personal narratives of becoming and being a scientist.

Growing up in Science was started in 2014 at New York University by professors Wei Ji Ma and Cristina Alberini, and is now worldwide. This article describes the origin and impact of the series. If you are interested in setting up your own series, check out these pointers.

At a typical Growing up in Science event, one faculty member shares their life story, with a focus on struggles, failures, doubts, detours, and weaknesses. Common topics include dealing with expectations, impostor syndrome, procrastination, luck, rejection, conflicts with advisors, and work- life balance, but these topics are always embedded in the speaker's broader narrative.

The NYU Growing up in Science series has also featured several special events on diversity, inclusion, and identity in science.

Many Growing up in Science series also feature speakers who left academia. However, Growing up in Science is not about generic career advice; the individual speaker's narrative is still central.

Join us for a conversation about the human factors that are universal undercurrents of working in academia but that too often remain unspoken.