As I said in a previous post, everyone attends the BPS annual meeting. Notable perhaps at this year's meeting, the BPS has resources for faculty at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions, and is involved not just in biophysical research but biophysical eduction. I've spent most of my career working at research institutions, so I'm hardly the person to expound on this. So I caught up with Professor Zoey Hua, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Elmhurst College in Illinois, and asked her about attending the BPS Annual Meeting. Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.
Q: What motivated you to attend the BPS annual meeting?
A: This year's program looked very inviting to faculty at a PUI: some professional development opportunities are geared towards folks like me. There are sessions on funding for PUI faculty and on the education of biophysics instead of just the science of biophysics. In addition, I had not previously attended a BPS meeting as a graduate student or postdoc, so this looked like a great opportunity to attend.
Q: What are some things you got out of the meeting?
A: I discovered that there is now a journal for biophysics educators - The Biophysicist. I had an opportunity to meet with the editor-in-chief, Samuel Safran, as well as editorial board member Andrew Feig. It is exciting that I was able to put out some ideas and gather suggestions from these board members. I anticipate this to be a fantastic resource for my teaching as well as a potential outlet for a pedagogy-based publication.
I also found Carlos Baiz' presentation on making effective figures extremely useful. He discussed the importance of selecting a color palette to make the figure aesthetically pleasing. He also had a few suggestions and wise-words that could be boiled down to a checklist. A good figure should be: intuitive, well-organized, devoid of technical language, and readable. The color use should be effective and no unnecessary elements should be present. As I sat through the presentation, I envisioned using his checklist for my own work and encouraging my students to adopt these approaches.
Q: Are there any specific resources for PUI faculty here?
A: The session on funding for PUI faculty had some superb panelists and it was helpful to hear directly from program officers representing the NSF, NIH, and RCSA. There are special avenues within each agency that recognize the value of research on student development and not just the advancement of science, which plays to the strength of teaching faculty. It is comforting to hear that these granting agencies are aware of the challenges that PUI researchers face regarding research pace, teaching/research balance, and a limited overall infrastructure to support research work.
Q: Do you plan for your students to attend in the future?
A: Yes! Given the scope of the meeting, there is something for everyone. There are undergraduate sessions and I think the career sessions, even though they are geared towards graduate students and postdocs, can help my students get a head start in thinking about career options and how to put together resumes and job applications. Attending meetings can also incentivize students to work on their research and science communication skills.