Molecular Podcasting with Darren Lipomi
This podcast lifts the veil on all topics related to STEM in academia: research, teaching, writing, speaking, and other professional topics. Darren Lipomi is a professor of nanoengineering, chemical engineering, and materials science at UC San Diego. He obtained his PhD in chemistry from Harvard in 2010 (w/ George Whitesides) and was a postdoc at Stanford in chemical engineering from '10-'12 (w/ Zhenan Bao). He is a recipient of the PECASE and became full professor in 2019. Thanks to NSF CBET-1929748 for support. Views don't necessarily reflect those of NSF or UCSD. Cover art bkg: Sam Root
#75 – Hip Hop Scientist Maynard Okereke: Engineer to Science Communicator, Musician, & Video Personality
I spoke in this episode with Maynard Okereke. Maynard is a trained civil and environmental engineer who has developed a second career in scientific communication for young people and particularly young people of color. He arrived at this interest from previous careers in engineering and then acting and music. He is also a seasoned entrepreneur, forgive the pun, with his own line of flavoring salt which are vegan and number one selling brand on Amazon. He is the host of hip-hop science as his alter ego, Hip Hop MD. He is a renowned public speaker and advocate for diversity in STEM...
#74 – Applying to Grad School: How to write a winning Statement of Purpose & explain a lower GPA
In this video, I discuss how to write an effective and engaging statement of purpose, how to structure your essay, and how to use your writing to compensate for potentially weaker sections of your application. Thanks to the California Forum for Diversity in Graduation Education for the Invitation to give this talk. This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation CMMI-2135428. The views expressed are those only of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the sponsor, host, or UC San Diego.
#73 – How do you know when you have enough data to publish? Plus, how to manage conflict with co-authors
In this talk, I discuss strategies for research and writing, how to know how much you should put in a paper, how to manage conflicts with co-authors, and how to respond to reviewers.
Darren Lipomi, PhD Professor and Associate Dean for Students Jacobs School of Engineering, UC San Diego
lipomigroup.org
#72 - Should humans be modified? How about plants or animals? The Environment? Q&A on bioethics
This is an unusual episode for me. Rather than responding to questions about graduate school, in this video, I responded to an interviewer performing an ethnographic survey about how researchers in bioengineering and bioengineering-adjacent fields view certain controversial subjects like human modification. 0:50 Would you be in favor of a prenatal treatment such that it would be possible for children to live 200 years? 2:04 What if we could guarantee no inequities, and anyone that would want it could allow their children to live 200 years? 2:36 Why wouldn’t you want to live 200 years? 3:03 Would you accept an intervention that would increase your cognit...
#71 - Ask a professor: how to vet applicants, deal w/ criticism, strategy in academia, & research funding
0:00 How do you get your research published in high-impact journals?
2:05 Grad students and postdocs are busy. How do you vet undergraduate researchers so that they are productive and not breaking equipment?
3:56 I noticed that you had a mini MBA on your resume. How valuable do you think business training is in academia?
6:25 Can you describe ways in which criticism from your students has landed particularly heavy and changed your approach to teaching and mentoring?
9:58 What is a Venn diagram and how has your Venn diagram showing the overlap of teaching, research, and ser...
#70 – What I wish I knew before becoming a professor: How to combine research, teaching, and service
The pillars of academia--research, teaching, and service--often seem like very separate activities. However, it can be really rewarding to find ways to make connections between these areas to get more out of parts of academic life that may seem mundane. Here are some thoughts I collected and delivered at the Asian American Association for Scientists and Engineers (AAASE) in October, 2022.
#69 - How I run my lab: check ins, hiring students, and promoting good culture and climate
0:00 What does your group work on?
2:20 How is your work funded?
3:25 Is there one project or grant you’re especially excited about?
4:13 How many students are in your group?
4:25 Is that typical?
4:54 How do you communicate with your lab members?
6:01 The roundtable sounds like great idea, does that work well?
7:44 How long have you been doing the shoutouts?
8:16 How have shoutouts and other cultural elements you have implemented influenced climate in the lab?
9:08 How do you hire new lab members?
10:06 What...
#68 - Managing Stress, Burnout, Anxiety, & Metal Health Challenges in Grad School in Academic Research
In this episode, I collected my responses to questions I received on a panel discussion hosted by the American Chemical Society. I redacted any names and read the questions myself. Here is the list of topics with timestamps. 0:28 What is your background and how did you become interested in mental health of academic researchers? 2:00 Is there something special about researchers that make them especially susceptible to mental health challenges? 4:39 We often hear that academics are not good at saying no. How do you think about how to say no to people even about opportunities that may be exciting? 6:26 How do you kno...
#67 – My appearance on the Teach the Geek Podcast: My Academic Path, Postdocs & Public Speaking
This episode is a crossover with the Teach the Geek Podcast, hosted by Neil Thompson, engineer, author, podcaster, and speaking coach. Here, we discuss my academic path and approaches to public speaking. You can learn more about Neil at teachthegeek.com and askuncleneilbooks.com.
#66 – Darren discusses Code Breaker (Jennifer Doudna, CRISPR)–What Walter Isaacson gets right/wrong on scientific research
This is a bit of an unusual book review for the book The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race. I'm going to focus on Walter Isaacson's portrayal of how scientific research happens in academic settings and provide some context for the comments he makes on scientists, the scientific method, the role of competition, fundamental science vs. technology, and the philosophy of science.
My brief bio: I did my PhD at Harvard in chemistry and postdoc in chemical engineering at Stanford. I have been in the same room with many of t...
