This page contains links to the lectures and readings that we give throughout the semester.

Date Readings Discussion Questions
Week 0 (1/9)
Overview
Week 1 (8/9)
What is research? 		Most research is not earth-shattering and does not lead to what Kuhn calls a "paradigm shift." Most of the time, that’s the kind of research we do -- and it’s still very useful.

Week 2 (15/9)
The myth of the lone scientist 		Most of us will work in labs or research groups, but television portrays us as lone academics having genius breakthroughs in isolation.
Week 3 (22/9)
Fame 		Many academics are driven by the desire to become famous scientists. Be careful.
Week 4 (29/9)
The alienation of being wildly overeducated 		With the exception of those of us who are "professor brats", most of us are likely to experience our process of becoming experts as at odds with our families and our identities.
Week 5 (6/10)
Impostor Syndrome 		Being treated as an expert often depends on how well an invidual matches expected perceptions of what an expert looks like, and how well the individual "plays the part."
Week 6 (13/10)
You are not your research 		We associate ourselves with our research so much that we forget it is a job and not our lives. It makes rejections harder to deal with, and it leads to poor work-life balance.
Week 7 (20/10)
The advisor/student relationship 		Our relationship with our advisors is a complex one. It lasts as long as most marriages (7 years). How do you navigate it?
Week 8 (27/10)
Mental Health Part 1 		There is an often undiscussed mental health epidemic amongst students and researchers. Today, we've invited Dr. Shuangmei (Christine) Zhou and Dr. Yi Du from Berkeley CAPS to come talk to us about this topic.
Week 9 (3/11)
AMA
Week 10 (10/11)
Expectations and comparisons 		It is tempting to rate fellow researchers' success by number of publications. Reality is more complex than that number.
Week 11 (10/11)
Rejection 		Formal rejection is common in academia.
Week 12 (17/11)
Research as a Political Act 		Research cannot be extricated from ethics, politics, and social norms.
Week 13 (24/11)
Academia's Drop-Outs 		It is easy to get so focused on the degree, the diploma, that we forget the original goals that pushed us to pursue an intellectual life.