Tuesday, September 12, 2006

J-O-B

Hey, I got a job! Just found out yesterday afternoon that I will be a Researcher/Analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists working for their Scientific Integrity Program. So it's not just any job, but one I'm really psyched about.

For those who don't know them, UCS is a great organization that works to promote sensible, science-based solutions to environmental issues like global warming, clean energy, fuel-efficient vehicles, sustainable agriculture and nuclear non-proliferation. Their scientific integrity gig is a fairly new program designed to counter the recent wave of political interference in scientific results arising from certain quarters of the government (ahem). Since it is potentially such a wide-ranging topic, everything from climate change to endangered species to "abstinence-only" education to HIV/AIDS policy, I'm sure I'll have my hands full learning a ton of new stuff. Which is pretty awesome if you think about it. This week they're sending me to a 3 day crash-course seminar on how the government works.

Mainly, I feel really lucky to have found a job advocating for positive change in our world that also lets me use my scientific training. OK, I'm also relieved not to have to continue with the hideous process of actually looking for a job. Ugh. But for right now, this definitely looks like one version of my ideal job, so we'll see how it goes...

6 comments:

LeahC said...

that sounds really interesting! I have no idea what I am going to do after (if i get there) I get my PhD, so I"m always looking for other options. nice post.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!! That's fantastic. It sounds like an ideal job.

Jason said...

Is this job in Chicago, or are you heading out East?

t said...

Hi all, thanks for your comments! The job is in Washington, D.C., which is exciting except that I'm pretty sad to leave Chicago (sniff).

Leah- if you're looking for other options after the PhD, I'm actually starting another blog specifically about looking for jobs in the non-profit/policy world that you might want to check out (will post about it soon). And let me know if you have any questions...

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed your posts about the summer and now I know that you actually took the job...you must be busy, busy, busy.

Love Mom

t said...

Hi Jason. Thanks for dropping in -- it's great to hear from you. Hopefully we'll run into you all in Fresno some time soon.