IRACDA 2017

by Anthony C. Hood. PhD

I spent a good part of the day leading strategic planning sessions for institutional leaders of the IRACDA Program (Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award), an initiative of the NIH (National Institutes of Health). I was invited to assist IRACDA program directors and evaluators with developing more innovative ways to increase collaboration, shared vision and standardization across host and partner institutions. It was a lot to cover in only a few hours, but I believe we made some good progress.

 

As noted on one of the websites of the NIH: “The purpose of the IRACDA Program is to develop a group of highly trained biomedical scientists to address the Nation’s biomedical workforce needs. The strategy is to promote effective partnerships between research-intensive institutions (RII) and partner institutions that have a historical mission or a demonstrated commitment to educating students from backgrounds underrepresented in the biomedical research enterprise of the nation. The IRACDA program provides support for a traditional mentored postdoctoral research experience at an RII combined with an opportunity for these fellows to develop critical academic skills, including teaching, through workshops and mentored teaching assignments at a partner institution. The primary goals of the IRACDA program are to (1) develop a group of highly trained biomedical scientists who have the necessary knowledge and skills to pursue independent research and teaching careers in academia; and (2) enhance science educational offerings at partner institutions, and promote links between RII and the partner institution(s) through research and teaching collaborations.”

Here are a few photos:

Dr. Anthony C. Hood is the founder of the #phdpreplab, a applied research startup that offers coaching, experience, mentoring and peer support to professionals working to get into and through doctoral programs. For more info, follow us on Instagram or Facebook; visit our soon to be launched blog; or read our white paper: Preparing for a PhD: A Transactive Memory Approach, forthcoming in the Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice.

#inclusiveinnovation #diversity #equity #mentoring #phdpreplab #strategicplanning #innovatebham #NIH #postdocs

The PhD Prep Lab: A Platform for Inclusive Innovation and Team Science

by Anthony C. Hood

One of the best parts of my job is allowing students to see what faculty really do for a living. Most only see what we do in the classroom. However, the things we do outside of the classroom like serving on boards and committees, conducting research and disseminating our expertise to the public is largely invisible to most students.

That’s one of the reasons I launched the PhD Prep Lab. Officially launched in the fall of 2015, the PhD Prep Lab is essentially a pre-incubator that attracts, nurtures and launches the next generation of PhD-level talent. Our lab employs an entrepreneurial approach to career development by encouraging pre-doctoral students to view their careers as startup companies and themselves as the founders and CEOs of their startups. We make use of traditional entrepreneurial tools such as the business model canvas, lean startup and rapid-prototyping to design, test and validate the assumptions underlying students’ proposed research interests. In our view, doctoral programs are essentially business incubators. Tenure-track positions are business accelerators.

The PhD Project and the PhD Prep Lab

Since our founding, we have worked closely with The PhD Project, a national 501c3 responsible for a 90% minority doctoral student graduation rate and 400% increase in the number of minority business professors since 1994. In fact, one of the first research articles published by members of our lab explored the Annual Conference of The PhD Project as a vehicle for the development of team-based relationships among potential doctoral students. The manuscript was essentially a first person account of our faculty and students’ past experiences attending the conference over the years.

Inclusive Innovation: Involving Students in Research and Practice

A little over a year ago, I was invited by Dan Carsen, head of the Southern Education Desk of our local NPR affiliate, 90.3 WBHM, to contribute to a new series on the Revitalization of Birmingham. Specifically, Dan wanted to discuss the impacts of changing neighborhood demographics on the local public school system. I asked him if some of my students could participate in the interview. He enthusiastically agreed.

I invited two of my lab assistants, Ariel Smith and Elijah E. Davis, to work with me on the interview. Ariel and Elijah both have research interests in the areas of community and economic development. For example, Ariel has been publicly recognized for her community-engaged scholarship: The Community as a Case Study.

Ariel pictured here with UAB Professor Nathan Oliver, faculty advisor for her project.

Our team decided early on that it would be important to prioritize evidence over emotion in the interview. As a result, we did what all good researchers do at the start of a project—a literature review. Because Elijah had a conflict with the interview appointment, he volunteered to lead the lit review.

With Elijah’s report in hand, Ariel and I gave the interview in the studios of WBHM. It was a great experience for us all. To listen to the interview or to read a transcript, visit: Birmingham Revitalization: The View from a City School.

I’m proud to report that both of these scholars are making significant strides in their professional development. Ariel is finishing up her Masters degree at Vanderbilt University and will begin work on her PhD this fall at Purdue University. Elijah is working on his MBA at the Collat School of Business at UAB and is currently investigating doctoral programs. Both are actively conducting applied research in the areas of community and economic development.

Dr. Hood is an associate professor of management in the Collat School of Business at UAB where he conducts research on conflict, communication and innovation in teams. He is the founder of the PhD Prep Lab, a research-based startup that attracts, incubates and accelerates PhD-level talent. He also promotes inclusive innovation and team science in his role as Co-Chair of the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science’s One Great Community Council.

The Power of Publishing with Pre-doc Students

by Anthony C. Hood, PhD

 

I had a pleasant surprise hot off the press in my mailbox today—print copies of the journal containing one of my team’s recent publications. This pub may be one I will cherish most because I coauthored it with 3 of the pre-doc students in my #phdpreplab—Alicja Foksińska, Crystal Allman, and Zakiyyah Ajigbeda.

This paper was the outgrowth of a project accepted for presentation at the 2016 Science of Team Science Conference. The project is part of a larger research program on filling fortifying the leadership pipeline in academia.

These activities speak to one of the specific aims of the #phdpreplab—for all of our pre-doc students to enter the PhD program application process with demonstrated research experience (as measured by at least 1 conference paper acceptance and/or a full-length manuscript under review at a peer-reviewed journal).

I’ve heard some say that your first pub is the hardest. Maybe. I just know there’s no greater confidence builder for young/aspiring researchers than to see your name in print on your first publication—and experiencing this before you enter a PhD program can be a game changer both personally and professionally. With this in mind, I ordered print copies for each of them as a tangible reminder of their true potential.

This project is also important to me because it features an organization near and dear to my heart—The PhD Project. Without the personal and professional support afforded by this organization, I’m not sure I would have even applied to a PhD program, let alone earn the degree and advance to promotion and tenure. For more on the vital and impactful work of The Phd Project, visit www.phdproject.org.

Lastly, this work is helping me to become a better a researcher, leader and mentor. As have most of us, I’ve had some good mentors and some bad ones over my career(s). Having a bad mentor can set you back years professionally. I don’t want that to happen to these young scholars. That’s why I strive to help them build a mentoring team–a network of more senior scholars who I trust to provide them with the support, guidance and commitment that they deserve.

For my new pre-doc students, this team building process typically ramps up in November at the Annual Conference of The PhD Project. During this 3-day conference, I work to connect my pre-doc students with current doctoral students and faculty based on mutual research interests and dispositions. This augments the support I give them locally and increases the likelihood of them finding the right fit for doctoral programs. For more on our approach, read our manuscript here: http://www.anthonychood.com/preparing-for-a-phd/.

Stay tuned for more from our research group. We’re just getting started.

Dr. Hood is an associate professor of management in the Collat School of Business at UAB where he conducts research on conflict, communication and innovation in teams. He is the founder of the PhD Prep Lab, a research-based startup that attracts, incubates and accelerates PhD-level talent.You can follow his work at anthonychood.com/me

#squad #teamscience #SciTS #predoc #phdpreplab #researchtraining #trapademician #phdproject #transactivememory #translationalscience