Exposure Seminar Series
What can I do with my PhD?
Wondering what you can do with your PhD? Our seminar series will help you explore the broad variety of career trajectories that may be of interest to PhD-trained scientists. Please visit our calendar for a list of upcoming seminars.
Alumni data collected by the Biological Science Division Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs revealed that at 10 years post-graduation, approximately 30% of our PhD alumni are involved in some form of academic research, while ~70% have pursued careers outside of the traditional academic trajectory.
Upcoming Seminars:
- What can myCHOICE and UChicagoGRAD do for you?, September 30th
- From PhD to Policy: Think Tank Careers for PhD Scientists, October 14th
- Entrepreneurship 101 for UChicago STEM PhDs and Postdocs, October 28th
- Ins and Outs of Postdoctoral Positions in National Labs, November 11th
- Crafting Clarity: Exploring Careers in Medical Writing and Communication, December 2nd
Our Primary Career Themes
The Exposure seminar series is designed to highlight 10 career Exposure Areas and offer insight into career trajectories within each area. Our exposure areas and examples of careers are listed below. Click on any exposure area to learn more and view past seminars:
- Academic Research: primary investigator, research staff/professional
- Academic and Research Administration: program management, clinical trial management, faculty affairs, career services, core facility management
- Business and Commercialization: tech transfer, entrepreneurship, fund program officer, consultant, technical sales, scientific or medical marketing
- Data Science: data analyst, data scientist, data manager, database administrator, engineer
- Government and Non-Profit Research: government agencies, non-governmental organizations
- Healthcare and Medicine: clinical trial design, medical science liaison, clinical research management
- Industry Research: pharmaceutical and chemical R&D, technical support specialist, field application scientist
- Law, Policy, and Regulation: regulatory affairs, lobbyist, science policy analyst
- Science Communication: editor for a scientific journal, science journalism, medical writer
- Science Education and Outreach: teaching-focused faculty positions, community outreach, K-12 education
myCHOICE brought a lot of careers tracks to my attention in the form of seminars, some of which I had never considered. In addition, myCHOICE is a great time to network with professionals that often have insights about their experience in their field that helped me to narrow down and assess what characteristics are important and applicable to my decision making.