Becoming a 21st Century Scientist:

• Update your research methodologies to adapt to the new technological landscape:
  • standardize the research process,
  • build databases to store research data,
  • leverage the power of open source tools,
  • practice business development, marketing, and sales.

Standardize your research

• Incorporate Data Science Cycle and be comfortable explaining each step of your research:

  • state the hypothesis,
  • set actionable goals & timelines,
  • getting & cleaning data,
  • exploratory data analysis,
  • build the model,
  • test, tune, and validate,
  • deployment and communication.

Databases & Cloud Computing

• Build a database to store your Lab’s data.
• Host your database on Amazon Web Services.
• Deploy algorithms on AWS.
• Incorporate APIs into your research if possible.

Data and Analytics

• Utilize open source tools for data analytics (R, Python). Benefits of using open source tools:
  • reproducible research,
  • superior selection of algorithms,
  • easier to incorporate variety of data sources.
    
• Incorporate different data sources into your research:
  • social media feeds: (Twitter, Facebook),
  • polling data (Pew, Gallup),
  • open data sources: Data Gov, NYC Open Data.

Business Development and Marketing

• Understand the research money flow which runs your Lab.
• Comprehend and acknowledge what the expectations from your lab’s research grant are.
• Get involved in all stages of peer-reviewed paper writing.
• Write research grant proposals (even small travel grants).
• Design a product/service which commercializes your research.
• Practice elevator pitch: elaborate on usefulness of your research skills?
• Constantly update your CV and personal statement.
• Network, good business opportunities come form those who surround us.

Miscellaneous

• Use Git for version control.
• Host your full projects on Github or Bitbucket.
• Set up a project management tool for your lab to manage and track project progress.
• Gain basic web design and development skills by doing: CSS, Html, JS. (Build a personal or Lab website).
• Use LaTex or R Markdown as primary tool to write papers.

Be a 21st Century (Data) Scientist