Why You Should Consider A Career An As AT

 

Love the healthcare industry but unsure of your place in it?  Consider becoming an athletic trainer. Here are just a few of the reasons to think about this rewarding career:

  1. Helping others: Athletic trainers help with a variety of things such as prevention and recovering from injury. They play a special role in helping athletes get better and succeed. 
  2. Building relationships: In this role, one works closely with athletes and athletic staff which allows for more and better relationships to be formed. 
  3. Flexibility in location: Athletic trainers can work in a variety of settings including hospitals, schools, and private outpatient practices.
  4. Staying involved with sports: In this field, you get to work with athletes of all ages and backgrounds.
  5. Change: No one day is the same and no one patient is the same so there will be a variety of day-to-day experiences and tasks. 
  6. Learning opportunities: There are always changes in the medical world that athletic trainers have to learn about. This keeps them on their feet and encourages them to learn more.

 

Athletic Training | NATA.

Athletic Trainers : Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Top 8 Reasons to Pursue an Athletic Training Career | Cedarville University

 

Why You Should Consider A Career As A PT?

Love the healthcare industry but unsure of your place in it?  Consider becoming a physical therapist, one of the fastest growing careers according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Here are just a few of the reasons to think about this rewarding career:

  1. Physical therapists have the ability to make a significant impact on people’s lives in both a personal and physical way. A crucial part of being a physical therapist is to foster a kind, welcoming, and safe environment so that patients can have better recovery. 
  2. Physical therapists are very active, spending a lot of time moving with their patients and doing other physical activities.
  3. This profession is one of the fastest growing careers, providing significant job security.
  4. According to the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, in 2021, the median annual salary for PTs in the United States was $95,620.
  5. There are a range of spaces in which PTs can work including, but not limited to, hospitals and outpatient facilities. 
  6. There are many opportunities to travel in the profession.
  7. Because this profession usually works in the normal business hours, it allows for more exploration of other aspirations and interests as well as personal activities like spending time with loved ones

 

For more information about PT and why you should consider being one, see the links below:

Is Physical Therapy a Good Career? | University of St. Augustine

11 Reasons to Become a Physical Therapist | Indeed.com

Admissions Process for Doctor of Physical Therapy Education Programs | APTA

Physical & Occupational Volunteer Opportunities

 

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: Paying Back Debt Series

If you’re set on applying or attending graduate school in the future and/or plan on working for a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal government or not-for-profit organization, then the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program may be an option for you.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans if you have the following qualifications: You must work full-time at a federal, state, local, or tribal government or nonprofit organization, have direct loans, make 120 monthly payments, and repay your loans under an income-driven repayment plan.

So what are a few jobs that qualify for this program? A few examples would be government jobs, working for the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, public safety and law enforcement jobs, public interest law, public health, public library and education services, and military service.

Exceptions to this program would be working for advocacy/political groups and labor unions or clergy/religious work. To apply for the program, use the PSLF Help Tool. The online application is similar to a job application and will provide instructions on filling it out. You’ll have to take the form to your employer to officially sign and upload to the website.

However, it’s important to note that the requirements for qualifying for the PSLF can be tricky. There have also been horror stories with the PSLF, like being enrolled in the wrong repayment plan or holding the wrong type of loan, or making payments for years while working in public service.

This program is just one of a few ways to repay your debt. For more opportunities, keep an eye out for the paying back debt series on the CEC blog!

 

Research in Human Ecology: An Interview with Dr. Tashara Leak

Angella and Professor Tashara Leak in a Zoom call
Angella and Professor Tashara Leak in a Zoom call

Focus your energy on figuring out what your purpose is in, and the path will come.

-Professor Tashara Leak, PhD, RD

With a story that takes her from being a pre-med in undergrad to graduate school, then a dietetics program, industry work, and currently, academia here at Cornell, Professor Leak’s path has been far from linear and smooth. This April, Career Assistant Angella was grateful for her chance to speak with Professor Leak about her research, how she got to where she is now by following her purpose, her advice for undergraduate students who are still searching for what they want to do, and actionable tips for getting a research position as an undergraduate student.

Below is a summary of what was shared in the interview, alongside an audio recording of the full interview.


What is your research like? Could you tell me a little about who you are?

Tashara Leak is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell and an Assistant Professor in General Internal Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical School. The goal of her research is to “create sustainable solutions”, building long-lasting relationships with programs, and informing policy.

Are there any specific projects that you would like to chat about?

Advanced Cooking Education (ACE) is a 12-week nutrition education program for 8th graders in New York City that contains nutrition lessons, cooking labs for ethnic dishes, and professional development to explore careers in nutrition. Prof. Leak acknowledges that the field of nutrition is not as diverse as it could be and wants to “show these early adolescents that there are some really cool careers in the field of nutrition”.  

What was your undergraduate experience like? What were you involved in during your undergraduate years?

Dr. Leak attended UNC Chapel Hill during undergraduate years, and imagined that she would be a physician as someone on the pre-med track. She was involved in clubs such as the American Red Cross Club, the Minority Association for Pre-Health Students, and did a lot of volunteer work around the community. While shadowing physicians in the MED summer program offered by UNC Chapel Hill, she noticed that no one spoke about nutrition, despite seeing patients with diet-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. Determined to understand nutrition further, which she viewed as a form of preventative medicine, she decided to pursue a Master’s in Nutrition before applying to medical school.

While Dr. Leak was in graduate school, however, she discovered her love for research. With encouragement from her mentor, she realized that a PhD was a better fit for her as she wished to solve systems-level, population-level problems, appreciated the freedom to create, and wanted the flexibility to be a part of many different work environments (being out in the community at times, working at home at times).

Did you have that “eureka” moment with your mentor/professor?

Looking back at her own career trajectory, Dr. Leak advises undergraduates to “Focus your energy on figuring out what your purpose is, and the path will come”. She realizes that while her path changed, her purpose remained with her. 

How did you decide to pursue an RD?

Dr. Leak pursued an RD at the end of her PhD program through an ISPP (Individualized Supervised Practice Pathways), an accelerated dietetic internship for people holding PhDs. Now that she is starting a clinical study, she found it helpful to have this RD license. She collaborates with physicians and can work in clinical settings. Says Dr. Leak: “I’m still doing the work that I think I always was supposed to do.” Reflecting on what role she wanted to pursue, Dr. Leak says: “I wanted to be the researcher. I want to be the person who’s creating the interventions with the solutions to the problems”.

Are there traits or internships that you think students could have right now, which could translate to multiple professions in the future?

Dr. Leak encourages undergraduates to pursue experiences that truly bring them joy, even if it has nothing to do with their career. This is a marathon, not a sprint”. Dr. Leak has been there before and recommends that you still schedule in time for yourself. Says Dr. Leak: I often tell students right now this is probably like the least busy you’re ever going to be in your life.” She recommends finding things you truly enjoy because You’re always going to be busy so you have to make time for things that destress you, [that] can just bring you joy and help disconnect from your work.”

For additional experiences, Dr. Leak recommends having summer internships and exploring different kinds of research to see what things you like or don’t like.  Dr. Leak recommends research for these reasons: I think a lot of students feel like research is like working in a lab of mice and that’s not true! That’s one type of research. Again I’m out in the communities. I’m with real people and then when I’m building relationships before I start studies, I’m helping out with career fairs, at most schools I’m going to PTA meetings. I’m out in the field. And research also just teaches you really great critical thinking skills that help you become a better writer.”

Are there any challenges you’ve faced?

Throughout her career, Dr. Leak has fought to navigate a space that historically wasn’t created for her to exist in for both herself and through her work in communities with people who look like her with similar backgrounds as she did growing up. She acknowledges that it is isolating to see that the further along [and] the higher up you get in terms of your degree, there are fewer and fewer people who look like me”.  

She prioritizes building community, whether online or in-person. Dr. Leak is in a writing group with other women of color who are at different universities and they meet every Thursday from 2 to 5 to write.

Dr. Leak urges many systems, including higher education, to need change as they become more and more diverse. She urges reflection in the university address belonging to aim “not just for there to be people present here representing the variety of different backgrounds” but also “what does it mean to show up as your whole self” in these spaces.  

What’s the process like to join a lab and what kind of traits are you looking for? How would you encourage students or maybe just finishing up their schooling to look for opportunities outside of the university?

Professor Leak suggests that students gain or advertise skills that would benefit labs; these skills are often not what people first think of for lab work. 

  • CITI Training
  • Other training
    • Bronfenbrenner Center
    • Survey Research Institute
    • Mann Library workshops
  • Other unconventional skills such as Adobe (InDesign, Photoshop), photography, etc.

For entering the workforce, Dr. Leak recognizes that it may be difficult to get that “perfect” dream job, so she encourages you to “give yourself some grace”, especially during these times when finding jobs are difficult for many people. She suggests you to be open to different opportunities and work through trial and error to fine-tune what you truly want to do. She acknowledges that It’s not going to be perfectly aligned with everything that you want to do” but “you just want to learn all the things you want to learn as much as humanly possible and then from there you can be more selective”.

The audio recording of the interview is below, and the video can be provided upon request.

You can learn more about Professor Tashara Leak and her work here: https://www.tasharaleak.com/

Getting Involved in Research at Cornell

woman in white coat smiling
photo credits to ThisisEngineering RAEng

Many students want to get involved in research to gain skills in research techniques, learn how to conduct independent projects, explore research as a possible career path, or further an interest outside of the classroom. However, that’s often easier thought than done. 

Professors here want students in their labs! It can be really intimidating to approach and contact professors as an undergraduate student, but in reality, 40% of College of Human Ecology students are involved in research with a professor at Cornell—it is one of the things that makes Human Ecology such a wonderful place to be! In this blog post, I will be covering search strategies for finding research opportunities, when to contact professors, how to contact professors, what the first meeting is typically like, and how to choose a lab. Please feel free to skip to the section that is most relevant to you. Let’s get right into it!

How do you find on-campus research opportunities?

  • Establish your interests.

A good place to start is asking yourself what you’re interested in. What fields do you want to conduct research in? Is there a particular group of people or organisms that you’re interested in? What kinds of real-world impact would you like the research to have? Are you interested in wet labs (occurs on a lab bench, with chemicals, biological substances, and/or liquids), dry labs (research is mostly computational, and involves building models), social science labs, or field work?

It’s totally okay if you’re not really sure! The point of trying out research early is to figure out what you might be interested in exploring further.

It is worth doing this with a friend, professors, upperclassmen, or even with someone at the Career Exploration Center. Many times, people can describe how they found their research interests.

  • Find labs that match those interests.

Once your interests are established, it is time to find out the professors who might match them. 

First, it might be worth considering whether there are professors you might already know and be familiar with. These might be faculty advisors, faculty-in-residence, professors whose classes you’ve taken, or professors whose classes you’ve TA’d for. It’s always better if you have an established relationship already, but it’s absolutely not required. There are a number of directories to look through; including the one for Human Ecology, by department. 

Remember, the professor can be in any college or department at Cornell, so you’ve got a lot of options! 

So how do you ask professors about research opportunities? 

Okay, so you’ve made a list of professors whose research interests you. You’ve read some of their publications and gotten really excited and/or confused. Now, how do you actually express that you want to conduct research with them?

  • Office hours

This generally only applies if you’re in the professor’s class, but occasionally, professors do post office hours online. This might also be an option for the courageous, as it does involve having the first conversation face-to-face. 

Basically, the goal is to be honest but polite. Start the conversation by explaining that you’d like to join a research lab, and giving an overview of your research interests. Let the conversation flow organically. If they have a position, they may offer it to you!

  • Cold-emailing

Cold-emailing describes when an email is sent to a person you have never met before. It can seem very strange, but it is actually a really good way to reach out to professors who you may not already know. It does mean, however, that your email should be concise while conveying genuine interest. There are a number of components to a cold email. 

  1. A general introduction about you, including, but not limited to, what your major is, what year you are, where you’re from, how you found their lab, what connections you might already have to them, and what semester/time period you’d like to start
  2. Why you want to join their lab, which includes specific references to their research
  3. Why they should want you to join their lab, by describing either your enthusiasm or your experience
  4. Expression of the desire to meet and what times you’re available to meet

If you’d like to, some people also attach their resume and transcript, but again, keep it concise! Some professors may have automatic filters for emails with attachments from unknown contacts. Come to the CEC if you’d like to get your email looked at!

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get a response–usually, it’s not personal. They don’t reply for a number of reasons. They may have simply missed the email, or they may not have any positions available. 

  • Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up!

If they don’t respond within a week, it can also be an opportunity to send a short follow-up email. It only needs to be 1-2 sentences long, re-expressing your continued interest in the lab and making note of the date you sent your last email. 

When do you start reaching out?

It’s never too early or too late to reach out! In terms of academic years, some students reach out as early as for the freshman spring semester, but there is absolutely no rush to get involved in research. Get involved whenever you feel ready. 

Once you’ve decided that you’d like to get involved for a particular semester, there are definitely a few things to consider when deciding when to start contacting professors. 

  • Early shows interest, but may involve many follow-up emails. 

Often, professors are not quite sure of any openings until the start of the semester you may be interested in. They may either email you back with this information, or not email you at all. It does, however, provide a good opportunity for you to set-up follow-up meetings/emails that demonstrate your continued interest! 

  • Looking for a summer opportunity?

Professors are always looking for new students to join their labs during the summer, because many of their students head home. Contacting for summer opportunities can start as early as the fall semester, and is definitely a viable option! Come see us at the CEC for tips on how to get your summer research funded; the Human Ecology summer research stipend deadline is coming up, but it is just one option of many.

  • Late is not necessarily a bad thing. 

Getting involved in research for credit is considered ‘Special Studies’. As such, the courses can be added as late as a month after the semester begins (note: some positions are also paid; in that case, it’s only up to you and the professor)! Many students are still meeting with professors at the beginning of the semester they’d like to get involved, and still others join halfway through the semester but forgo the credit. 

Preparing for the Interview

Awesome, you’ve managed to plan a meeting time with a professor! 

What’s the meeting going to be like?

In my experience, the meetings are typically very informal. The professors are simply interested in getting to know you, and what you’d like to get out of research. As an undergraduate, they typically have little expectation that you have any relevant experiences, unless otherwise specified. 

I recommend answering the following questions for yourself beforehand:

  1. What about the professor’s research stuck out for you, and made you want to pursue research in their lab?
  2. What would you like to get out of research? Any specific techniques you’d like to learn, experiences you’d like to have? 
  3. What questions do you have for the professor? 

It is a good idea to bring a printed copy of your resume and transcript to the meeting and dress up nicely, but not formally. Think of it as what you’d wear on the first day of school.

If you’re meeting with other professors as well, make sure to let the professor know during the meeting that you need a few days (or however long) to consider their offer. 

What to consider when choosing a lab?

It can be a wonderful problem to have when multiple labs have given you offers, but you only have time for one lab (note: This is not always the case! Some people are able to manage multiple projects at multiple labs, while others cannot. It all depends on the situation and your schedule). Here are some things to keep in mind; they should also be questions that come up during meetings with the professor. 

  1. Would you be conducting independent research, or helping a post-doctoral student or grad student with theirs? 
  2. How many hours a week are you planning on spending in the lab? This can change the compensation that you receive, and the number of credits you might take research for. 
  3. What time of the day and days of the week are you typically available to work? Is the lab open at that time?
  4. What’s your working style? Do you like it when the professor is very involved, or very hands-off?
  5. What’s the communication style of the professor? Are they a quick emailer, or do they prefer that you see them in person?
  6. Are there regular lab meetings? How might those be learning experiences for you? Some labs ask their undergraduates to regularly present papers to the rest of the lab. 
  7. How large is the lab? i.e. How many people are there? 

 

I hope this post makes the process of getting involved in a research lab here on campus seem a little less intimidating. Best of luck, and don’t forget to come by the Career Exploration Center with any further questions! 

 

Other Resources to Consult

The College of Human Ecology Undergraduate Research page 

Is a Post-Baccalaureate Program Right for Me?

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Why you should consider a career in nursing

A child with special needs due to chromosome 8P inversion duplication syndrome with a doctor.

Love the healthcare industry but unsure of your place in it?  Consider becoming a nurse, the fastest growing job over the next decade according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Here are just a few of the reasons to think about this rewarding career:

Keep reading for a career in nursing!

Should I Go to Law School?

brown wooden smoking pipe on white surface
Photo Credits to Tingey Injury Law Firm

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Getting your Employer to Pay for Graduate School

 

green plant on brown round coins
Photo credits to Micheile Henderson

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