{"id":853,"date":"2018-01-04T11:39:34","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T16:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/?p=853"},"modified":"2018-01-04T11:44:31","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T16:44:31","slug":"scismic-lab-seeker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/2018\/01\/04\/scismic-lab-seeker\/","title":{"rendered":"Scismic Lab Seeker"},"content":{"rendered":"

A great new resource that has been in development for some time and recently released its Beta version, Scismic<\/a>, aims to \u201cempower scientists to develop and take charge of their careers.\u201d With this aim, Scismic founders Danika Khong<\/a>, Elizabeth Wu, and Claudia Dall\u2019Osso have developed and released Scismic Forum and Scismic Lab Seeker, and plan to add job platform tools in the near future as well. In contrast to our own Labmosphere Quiz<\/a>, the data collected from their Lab Seeker tool are being presented publicly to any who hold a Scismic account. Because the ratings are kept anonymous, the hope is to move towards a more open and communicative scientific culture in which different mentoring and lab styles\/environments are acknowledged and rewarded, and people are more carefully matched to their career needs: think Glassdoor<\/a> meets Linkedin<\/a> for biomedical research scientists.<\/p>\n

While Lab Seeker doesn\u2019t provide a way to report abusive behavior, the questions are tailored in a way that provides a five-star rating for labs in five core areas: Funding, Work\/Life Balance, Institutional Policy, Mentorship, PI Management<\/em>, and then generates an overall five-star rating based on these. Low ratings might allow discerning prospective PhDs and postdocs the ability to weed out those PIs that, despite bullying, harassment, and abusive behavior, are not held accountable by their institutes.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Wu, co-founder of Scismic, states that the idea is to focus on the \u201cfit\u201d between scientists and lab environments:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about what labs are good or bad, but what labs are good or bad for a particular individual, given their priorities and preferences.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some, a highly-competitive, large lab that publishes in (and values) high-impact factor journals and has high levels of competition among lab members might very well be where they best thrive and the training they are looking for. A caveat to this is that ratings on the site are based on a five-star scale, so in this example lab, a lack of work\/life balance might make it score low on that domain, and those who want this type of environment be put off by the overall decrease in average rating. However, users are able to see individual domain ratings and questions to each answer in more detail if they so desire. One other concern raised by some is that fewer trainees and ratings leads to higher data variability. Low ratings might affect smaller, younger labs more than older, more established ones, despite total ratings being openly reported.<\/p>\n

Still, the service holds great promise once it reaches steady state to empower trainees and employees at making more informed decisions when choosing lab environments, and at leading to some of the changes in culture that are sorely needed across disciplines and institutes.<\/p>\n

According to Wu, Scismic plans to keep its LabSeeker and Forum tools free for users. Their Beta version is now online and is a good way for those who have had experiences good and bad to feel like they are contributing to a more open scientific culture that values mentoring, training, and scientists, as much as the science done itself. Likewise, becoming involved at the Beta stage provides a good opportunity for those who hope to use the service in the future to contribute to its improvement. For more information regarding the site\/service, or to receive an invitation to hold a Beta account, please visit their site, or get in touch with Scismic founders, Elizabeth Wu<\/a> or Danika Khong<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A great new resource that has been in development for some time and recently released its Beta version, Scismic, aims to \u201cempower scientists to develop and take charge of their careers.\u201d With this aim, Scismic founders Danika Khong, Elizabeth Wu, and Claudia Dall\u2019Osso have developed and released Scismic Forum and Scismic Lab Seeker, and plan … Continue reading Scismic Lab Seeker<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4,45],"tags":[],"coauthors":[38],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7z5Ki-dL","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":850,"url":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/19\/choosing-the-right-mentor-for-career-success\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":0},"title":"Choosing the Right Mentor for Career Success","date":"November 19, 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"An excellent article has just been published on the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) blog, by Pinar Gurel and Adriana Bankston, summarizing recent efforts by the Future of Research and collaborating organizations on mentoring. In the article, they provide great advice for graduate students and postdocs seeking to expand\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exceptional Mentors"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29,"url":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/2016\/04\/19\/welcome-to-labmosphere\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":1},"title":"Welcome to Labmosphere","date":"April 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to Labmosphere, a social experiment and resource in the making. We are currently a small team of graduate students in the academic sciences who also have a wide array of interests in psychology, mindfulness, organizational behavior, and human wellbeing and happiness. We care about our fellow man (one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":239,"url":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/02\/dividing-and-conquering\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":2},"title":"Dividing and Conquering","date":"May 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I've found it quite interesting lately that a few of the students and lab heads I talk to about the issues in science immediately shut down and say, \"that's just the way science is.\" Other times when discussing one issue, all the other issues inevitably come up due to their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":655,"url":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/27\/sexual-harassment-of-students-by-university-staff-hidden-by-non-disclosure-agreements\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":3},"title":"Sexual Harassment of Students by University Staff Hidden by Non-Disclosure Agreements","date":"August 27, 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"In our continued fight against lab bullying and harassment, it is a welcome sight to see that others are pointing out the discrepancy between the incidence, reporting, and effective dealing with instances of harassment (sexual or not) and bullying in academia. We can only hope that through our combined efforts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Interesting Articles"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":708,"url":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/10\/redefining-success-stories-barbara\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":4},"title":"Redefining Success Stories – Barbara","date":"November 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Barbara is a currently a Research Assistant at Oxford University, and is also the mother of two children, aged 6 and 10. 1) In which ways does your definition of success align with those currently put forth by our scientific culture, and in which ways does it differ? My personal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Redefining Scientific Success"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":765,"url":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/2017\/02\/20\/radical-self-care-3-strategies\/","url_meta":{"origin":853,"position":5},"title":"Radical Self-Care: 3 Strategies","date":"February 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The pace of life in today\u2019s world and a cultural focus on productivity and outcomes leave little time for self-care. Taking time for mental hygiene is not embedded in our culture in the way physical hygiene is; I would argue that both are equally important. You\u2019ve probably heard or even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":854,"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853\/revisions\/854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labmosphere.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}