Welcome to the Evan & Eddie Show!: Conversations about career journeys

Huiliang Wang; Mia K. Markey; Edward Castillo

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Conference: 2024 ASEE-GSW
Location: Canyon, Texas
Publication Date: March 10, 2024
Start Date: March 10, 2024
End Date: March 12, 2024
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 7
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--45406
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/45406
Download Count: 9

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Paper Authors

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Huiliang Wang University of Texas at Austin orcid.org/0000-0003-4063-270X

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Huiliang (Evan) Wang is an Assistant professor at the Biomedical Engineering department at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). His research is on neuro-engineering technologies. Prior to joining UT Austin, he was a postdoc at Stanford Bioengineering and his PhD degree from Stanford Materials Science and Engineering. He did his undergraduate in Materials Science from University of Oxford.

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Mia K. Markey The University of Texas at Austin orcid.org/0000-0001-8186-4959

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Dr. Mia K. Markey is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Cullen Trust for Higher Education Endowed Professorship in Engineering #1 at The University of Texas at Austin as well as Adjunct Professor of Imaging Physics at The University of Texas MD And

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Edward Castillo University of Texas at Austin

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Abstract

Welcome to the Evan & Eddie Show!: Conversations about career journeys

Huiliang Wang, Mia K. Markey, Edward Castillo

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral trainees often believe themselves to struggle more than successful researchers did at the same career stage. Moreover, trainees often assume that successful researchers’ career journeys were more linear than they actually were. Our goal is to normalize conversations about the career journeys of successful researchers to help trainees see that there are many paths to a research career and to appreciate the similarities and differences in the challenges that individuals face along the way. Since both established researchers and trainees have many activities competing for their attention, we recognized that it would be advantageous to tackle this challenge in a way that minimizes additional time investment. Thus, we introduced an addendum to our weekly departmental research seminar series which we call the “Evan & Eddie Show.” Adopting the talk show format, our UT Austin biomedical engineering department faculty Dr. Huiliang Wang (“Evan”) and Dr. Edward Castillo (“Eddie”) interview the seminar speaker about their journey to their current position. No advance preparation is required by the speaker since the activity is centered on conversation. However, speakers are offered the opportunity to suggest questions that they would like to be asked and/or to provide background about themselves to inform the interview plan. After Evan and Eddie pose a few questions, additional questions are solicited from the audience. Since the Show typically runs for only 20-30 minutes and immediately follows the seminar that many graduate students and postdoctoral trainees already attend, there are few barriers to trainee participation. Moreover, some undergraduate students and staff members who don’t attend the technical seminar will join us when it is time to transition to the Show. To date, all external speakers (speakers from outside UT Austin) have agreed to be interviewed on the Show. External speakers have reported that they enjoyed being interviewed, empathized with goals of the Show, and/or expressed interest in replicating the format at their institutions. Internal speakers (speakers from within UT Austin) have likewise been enthusiastic participants; for example, one colleague volunteered to give a technical seminar because they wanted to be interviewed on the Show.

Citation
Format

Wang, H., & Markey, M. K., & Castillo, E. (2024, March), Welcome to the Evan & Eddie Show!: Conversations about career journeys Paper presented at 2024 ASEE-GSW, Canyon, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--45406

TY - CPAPER
AB - Welcome to the Evan &amp;amp; Eddie Show!: Conversations about career journeys

Huiliang Wang, Mia K. Markey, Edward Castillo

Undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral trainees often believe themselves to struggle more than successful researchers did at the same career stage. Moreover, trainees often assume that successful researchers’ career journeys were more linear than they actually were. Our goal is to normalize conversations about the career journeys of successful researchers to help trainees see that there are many paths to a research career and to appreciate the similarities and differences in the challenges that individuals face along the way. Since both established researchers and trainees have many activities competing for their attention, we recognized that it would be advantageous to tackle this challenge in a way that minimizes additional time investment. Thus, we introduced an addendum to our weekly departmental research seminar series which we call the “Evan &amp;amp; Eddie Show.” Adopting the talk show format, our UT Austin biomedical engineering department faculty Dr. Huiliang Wang (“Evan”) and Dr. Edward Castillo (“Eddie”) interview the seminar speaker about their journey to their current position. No advance preparation is required by the speaker since the activity is centered on conversation. However, speakers are offered the opportunity to suggest questions that they would like to be asked and/or to provide background about themselves to inform the interview plan. After Evan and Eddie pose a few questions, additional questions are solicited from the audience. Since the Show typically runs for only 20-30 minutes and immediately follows the seminar that many graduate students and postdoctoral trainees already attend, there are few barriers to trainee participation. Moreover, some undergraduate students and staff members who don’t attend the technical seminar will join us when it is time to transition to the Show. To date, all external speakers (speakers from outside UT Austin) have agreed to be interviewed on the Show. External speakers have reported that they enjoyed being interviewed, empathized with goals of the Show, and/or expressed interest in replicating the format at their institutions. Internal speakers (speakers from within UT Austin) have likewise been enthusiastic participants; for example, one colleague volunteered to give a technical seminar because they wanted to be interviewed on the Show.

AU - Huiliang Wang
AU - Mia K. Markey
AU - Edward Castillo
CY - Canyon, Texas
DA - 2024/03/10
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Welcome to the Evan & Eddie Show!: Conversations about career journeys
UR - https://peer.asee.org/45406
DO - 10.18260/1-2--45406
ER -