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  • Navigating the Surprising Stress of a Job Offer

    Feb 13, 2020 9:30 am

    Looking for a job can be pretty terrible, and it’s often a long slog. Amid that stretched-out stress, it’s easy to start thinking of a job offer as a kind of holy grail, a singular solution to all your problems. But what I see over and over again, among the hundreds of graduate students I advise each year, is that the job offer is often its own source of emotional turmoil. A sudden offer, or the sense that one might be incoming, can prompt as much panic as delight.

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  • What exactly is professional development, anyway?

    Feb 7, 2020 3:30 pm

    When people talk about ‘professional development’, they tend to emphasize the ‘professional’ part. The type of capital P professional development, that in many people’s minds, is a formal process with a defined beginning and end. But this type of thinking minimizes the ‘development’ part, which is really where the growth takes place. 

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  • Where Are They Now?: Sam Chadwick

    Feb 5, 2020 4:15 pm

    Triple Civil Engineering Alumna, Sam Chadwick's career as a Rail Engineer for WSP USA in Chicago, IL took her all the way around the world to teach at the Tashkent Institute of Railway Engineering in Uzbekistan. Read all about her career trajectory which started at Engineering Open House back in 2008!

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  • Fellowship Tips: Crafting a Good Research Question

    Jan 29, 2020 3:30 pm

    A typical fellowship application contains many components of varying lengths, yet it’s the shortest component — the research question — that’s the most important. Without a strong and explicitly-stated research question, a funding proposal never gets off the ground. So, what constitutes a good research question?

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  • Cher. Definitely, Cher: LLM Student Wins First Place at Illinois Global Talent Show

    Nov 8, 2019 4:15 pm

    LLM student Marie Joe Noon won first prize at the inaugural Illinois Global Talent Show for her vocal performance of "I Have Nothing" by Whitney Houston. Annie caught up with Marie after the show to learn about her singing inspiration (definitely Cher), her hometown, and how singing translates to confidence in the courtroom.

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  • Where Are They Now?: Keith Taylor

    Oct 30, 2019 9:30 am

    Growing up in the rural Midwest, Keith Taylor never thought that he would make a home near the sunny, sandy beaches of California. Keith earned his PhD in Human and Community Development in 2013 and now has his dream job as a Community Economic Development Specialist (another way of saying Extension Professor) at the University of California at Davis. In his position, the community is his classroom, and he works with community economic development stakeholders on research and development.

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  • Maximize Your Sleep, Rest, and Work

    Oct 22, 2019 10:30 pm

    In our first post on sustainability and productivity, Daniel Wong outlined three principles for a sustainable and productive life and introduced how they can apply to each of three key areas of your life. In this post, we’ll explore some actionable ways that you can implement these principles in the areas of sleep, rest, and work.

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  • Where Are They Now?: Sarah Eckhardt

    Sep 30, 2019 9:15 am

    Whether going to museums, taking classes, or creating her own pieces, Sarah Eckhardt was always fascinated with art. While working at the Krannert Art Museum as a graduate student in Art History (MA in 2003 and PhD in 2012) she discovered that art curation was the right career path for her. Now, she works at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as an Associate Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art. Working in a team, she chooses and interprets the works of art displayed at the museum.

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  • What's It Like to Compete in Research Live? Hear from a few pros.

    Sep 17, 2019 1:15 pm

    Each year, the Graduate College hosts the event Research Live!, which gives graduate students a chance to share their work with the campus and community and to practice their communication skills. The catch? Contestants only have 3 minutes to describe their work and it needs to be accessible to a generalist audience. Last year, a number of students took the challenge. We interviewed four about their experience and got some of their tips for public speaking. 

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