Things to do during a PhD

  • Professional memberships

    • SPIE and OSA are important societies to be associated with in this field. Membership in these organizations comes with lots of added benefits such as discounted registration rates for conferences, travel grants and scholarships and access to peer-reviewed journals. If you decide to join, do not forget to join the UT, Austin student chapter as well! This can be done at sign-up time.

  • Present your research

    • Conferences are excellent opportunities to network with other scientists and graduate students. It allows you to put a face to the countless authors of research articles you read. Carry uour business cards and hand them out to everyone. They come free anyway.....

    SPIE Photonics West: BiOS (Biomedical Optics)

    Present your research at the largest optics conference in North America. Click here for more information on deadlines.

    SPIE Medical Imaging

    Attend SPIE's dedicated imaging conference held every year. More info...

    OSA CLEO

    Present at the Optical Society of America's (OSA) premier event. The Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics is an annual conference. More info...

    ASLMS Laser

    The American Society for Lasers in Medicine and Surgery hosts Laser every year. This conference is well attended by the industry, academia and the medical profession. More info...

    Gordon Conferences

    The Gordon conferences are informal events based on select topics in various fields. They allow greater interaction between professors and students. This year, Gordon presents 'Lasers in Biology' in New Hampshire. More info...

  • Publish your research

    • Here is an article that describes how to go about writing your first research paper. Also, some of the important journals you could consider publishing in are
    1. Nature (Methods, Nanotechnology, Photonics)
    2. Nano Letters
    3. Optics Letters
    4. Optics Express
    5. Journal of Biomedical Optics
    6. Journal of Optical Society of America - A and B (JOSA A and JOSA B)
    7. Applied Optics
    8. Lasers in Medicine and Surgery
    9. Medical journals related to your application eg. Journal of Investigative Dermatology

    An important point to consider while submitting a paper, in addition to the target audience, is the impact factor of the journal. You can find all there is to know about impact factors here...

  • Review papers written by your peers

    Download Peer-review 101
  • Apply for fellowships/scholarships

    • NSF Graduate Fellowship

    Ford Foundation fellowships

    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Graduate Fellowship

    UT Graduate School Continuing Fellowships

    SPIE scholarship program

    ASLMS Student Research Grants

  • Write a grant to fund your research

    • This is an excellent place to start. The NIH R01 is the granddaddy of 'em all and although you may never actually write one all by yourself in Grad school, it helps to know. A shortened version may also be used to apply for other grants. It is also the format required for the PhD proposal.

  • Prepare your PhD proposal

    • Sample proposals coming soon! You may also refer to the previous point to get started.
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