Spring 2020 Physics Careers Seminar Continues on Jan. 27 with Alumna Prof. Janet Sheung

The Spring 2020 Physics Careers seminar series continues on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020 with alumna Prof. Janet Sheung:

Time: 11 a.m. on Monday, January 27, 2020 (refreshments served at 10:30 a.m.)

Location: 204 Loomis Laboratory (Interaction Room)

Title: The Teacher-Scholar: Being a Professor at a Liberal Arts College

Speaker: Prof. Janet Sheung, The Claremont Colleges

Abstract: Do you find teaching and working with impressionable young minds fulfilling? Do you also enjoy spending time in the research lab, and desire a career path where you will be supported to continue to feed your intellectual curiosity? It is a common misconception that teaching versus research is a choice you must make if you wish to remain in academia. In reality tenure-track professorships exist on a continuous spectrum between research-focused and teaching-focused. I work at a liberal arts college, where faculty are expected to balance teaching and research. In this seminar I will 1) briefly explain the different types of institutions which employ tenure-track physics professors, 2) demystify how the tersely worded job ad and job contract for a tenure-track professorship translates into day-to-day responsibilities, and 3) explain a less-traveled pathway from graduate school to physics professor.

Bio: Janet Sheung is an experimental biophysicist who received her Ph.D from University of Illinois in May 2017. Since then she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Vassar College for two years. While at Vassar she reformulated her research program into one that will engage undergraduates, with the support of a short stint as (part time) Visiting Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory and the Whitman Early Career Fellowship at the Marine Biological Laboratory. She started at The Claremont Colleges as Assistant Professor of Physics in July 2019.

Prof. Sheung is available to meet with interested students on Monday, Jan. 27 next week, so if you're interested in discussing academic job opportunities with her, please let me know and I'll try to set up a meeting.

You can see the rest of the Spring 2020 Physics Careers Seminar series here: http://physics.illinois.edu/calendar/careers/