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Navigating Post-PhD Unknowns

Meet this week's Grad Chat guest, Stephanie Deppe, PhD (she/her).


Promotional Graphic, text reads Navigating Post-PhD Unknowns, Grad Chat by PhD Balance. There are two headshots one of Linda, the host & one of Stephanie, the guest.

Hi! I’m Stephanie Deppe (@spacescisteph), a recovering academic and science communicator now with the Vera C Rubin Observatory (@rubin_observatory)! I got my PhD in Physics from the University of Michigan in 2019, where I looked for and studied new and icy asteroid-like objects in the farthest reaches of our Solar System. My kick-start into #SciComm happened when we discovered a new dwarf planet candidate, and the resulting speaking opportunities helped me realize just how much I loved talking about science.


I’ve had a lot of varied experiences in SciComm, from speaking to writing to training scientists to social media. But even with all of that, I had a lot of career uncertainty going into post-PhD life. I had a summer gig lined up (hello AAAS Mass Media Fellowship!) but nothing after that. Add some pretty intense burnout to the equation, and I found myself really struggling to land my next thing (in fact, it took almost a year and a half). I’m really looking forward to talking about navigating post-PhD uncertainty with you all, especially when dealing with severe burnout.

 

You can find out more about Stephanie on her Twitter & and Instagram accounts (@SpaceSciSteph) & also check out her work with the Vera C Rubin Observatory on Twitter (@VRubinObs) and Instagram (@rubin_observatory).

Stephanie will be taking over our Instagram account today, before being our Grad Chat tomorrow with new host Linda! You can join the Youtube Livestream Saturday (06/12) at 3 pm Eastern/12 pm Pacific using this link!


Alternatively, you'll be able to catch up on the episode on the NEW Grad Chat podcast published next Tuesday (06/15) here!


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