By Deborah Wormser

Although the path to the right scientific career is unique to each individual, the UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences strives to ease the journey with a range of services provided through its new career office.

“We are committed to helping our students and postdoctoral appointees achieve their ultimate goals of successful careers in science,” said Dr. Natalie Lundsteen, Director of the Office of Career Development.

Dr. Natalie Lundsteen

Dr. Lundsteen is a former internship advisor at Stanford University, career counselor at Oxford University in England, and Assistant Director of the Office of Graduate Career Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.

She recently completed her first year as founding Director of the Graduate School’s Office of Graduate Career Development, which was created soon after Dr. Andrew Zinn became Dean in August 2013. Her position is UT Southwestern’s response to the tight academic job market for science graduates and postdoctoral researchers, she explained, adding that many universities are creating such positions.

“This is my dream job. I think that has a lot to do with the dean’s office: It’s a really good team,” Dr. Lundsteen said.

Dr. Zinn said, “She has already created a wealth of new programs and enhanced existing programs to prepare graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for careers in academia, industry, and government. She has made UT Southwestern a leader in graduate career development, a topic of great concern to the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other agencies that fund science training.”

In addition to offering career skill and aptitude assessments and helping with resume and CV preparation, the Office of Graduate Career Development provides opportunities for mock interviews and information on both academic and nonacademic careers. It hosts a variety of lunchtime discussions and seminars on employment topics throughout the year, Dr. Lundsteen said. The office’s web page links to career videos, job postings, and other resources.

Dr. Lundsteen is faculty sponsor of the Science Policy Education and Communication (SPEaC) Club, pronounced “speak,” composed of graduate students, postdocs and medical students who discuss science policy issues, promote scientific literacy in the community, and provide resources to help members communicate their scientific interests as effectively as possible. One of the group’s early and highly successful meetings featured KERA-FM reporter Lauren Silverman talking about science writing careers. The club also hosts science outreach booths at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, she said.

In February, Dr. Lundsteen, in collaboration with the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, launched the four-part Future Faculty Fridays, a series of seminars at which students and postdocs can learn from senior UT Southwestern faculty about academic careers.

She also worked with Dr. Helen Yin – Associate Dean for the Office of Women’s Careers in the Office of Faculty Diversity & Development – to write the curriculum for the HEAL (Housestaff Emerging Academy of Leaders) and SEAL (Students Emerging Academy of Leaders) sessions on negotiation, which include role-playing exercises on some of the toughest conversations job seekers will have.

“Negotiating is like networking. You only get good at it with practice,” Dr. Lundsteen explained.

She earned a doctorate in education administration at Oxford after earning an undergraduate degree in journalism and a master’s in higher education administration from Boston University. Her dissertation, “Learning Between University and the World of Work,” followed six undergraduate interns from fields ranging from geography to physics as they navigated the unique corporate culture of the London trading floor of Lehman Brothers, the U.S.-based investment bank that accounted for the largest U.S. bankruptcy filing in history in 2008.

As a result, she expanded her dissertation’s scope from navigating business systems and corporate culture to include the effects of the imploding job market. Her research interests now include the development of professional expertise and workplace skills.

Her goals at UT Southwestern are to provide the resources that graduate students and postdoctoral researchers need to choose their best career paths and the tools necessary to successfully transition to the next step in their career development.

“I see my responsibility as making sure the gems are polished as best they can be,” Dr. Lundsteen said.

For more information, go to this webpage.

Dr. Yin holds the Margaret Yin Chair for the Advancement of Women Faculty, and the Peter and Jean D. Dehlinger Professorship in Biomedical Science.

Dr. Zinn holds the Rolf Haberecht and Ute Schwarz Haberecht Deanship of the UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.