Carnegie Mellon University

Ph.D. in Biological Sciences

The mission of the Ph.D. program in Biological Sciences is to train new generations of scientific leaders who make significant and distinctive contributions to society. The department has established a broad range of resources to enable the students to define and achieve their personal mission. With this broad goal in mind, our specific objectives are to mentor students to:

Become contributing, impactful members of their discipline. This requires:

    • Being familiar with literature and history of the field
    • Understanding how the discipline has evolved and where it is headed
    • Identifying novel and important questions
    • Identifying desired personal impact on the field.
    • Mastering approaches and techniques
    • Appreciating the impact of the discipline on a broader community
    • Establishing visible profile in the field

Develop professional skills in:

    • Scientific writing (papers, proposals, traditional and social media)
    • Oral presentation
    • Team management (including interdisciplinary teams)
    • Leadership
    • Communication, networking, connecting with community of researchers & science professionals
    • Time management, life/work balance

Establish career development plans through:

    • Establishing sense of scholarly citizenship
    • Knowing the types of careers paths following from Ph.D. training
    • Developing personal career goals
    • Appreciating skills required to achieve career goals and how to align personal training with these goals 

Ph.D. Student Research Videos


Emily Simon (Linstedt Lab)

 


Andrew Wolff (Hinman Lab)