JSA Promising Young Scientist Resources

Note: this page is a work in progress, and more materials will appear here over time.

Golden Rules of the Colloquium Speaker

• Underestimate, as much as humanly possible, the expertise (but not the intelligence) of the audience.
• Make the first 10-15 minutes of your colloquium intelligible to non-physicists. For guidance, consider how you might explain your work to a relative.
• Make the next 10-15 minutes intelligible to undergraduate physics majors.
• Let the third 10-15 minutes be sparklingly clear to graduate students and to professors who are not specialists in your area.
• Use the last part of the talk to impress the experts

Tips on Writing Research Statement

• This has very good advise on writing a research statement Writing a Research Plan
• Developing a Winning Research Statement

Tips on Writing Teaching Statement

Divide the teaching statement into three main sections. Teaching philosophy, teaching experience and mentoring philosophy. Under mentoring, discuss about mentoring philosophy, experience, and future plans. Discuss bit about new pedagogies that utilize computers, internet, peer discussion based learning etc in your teaching philosophy section. You can also discuss bit about kind of specialized classes you would like to teach based on your skills that will benefit undergraduate students. Also mention you are up for teaching any fundamental physics courses (undergraduate and graduate).

More Helpful Reading

eight pieces of advice for beginning faculty

List of Past Participants

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