Graduate students can easily fall victim to tunnel vision.  We are focused on our specific discipline and often let professional development fall on the wayside.  I myself was especially guilty of this.  How could I add one more task to my plate when I was already juggling writing, experiments, and other commitments.

I was fortunate enough to develop these “soft skills” most recently as a co-chair of the student planning committee for the first Plant Sciences Symposium at The Ohio State University.  The committee was comprised of nine graduate and undergraduate students representing five different departments and two campuses.  As a team, we hosted a two-day symposium featuring speakers from University of South Florida, The Ohio State University, University of Florida, Beck’s Hybrids, North Carolina State University, and Washington State University with 89 attendees. 

Reflecting on the experience, I am glad that I dedicated my time to this endeavor.  Not only did it provide a great opportunity to fine tune my communication and project management skills, it was rewarding to see the committee come together and successfully execute our plans.

I would encourage other students to branch out and try something new, and seek out professional development opportunities.  If you are interested in being on next year’s Plant Sciences Symposium committee, you can contact me at karhoff.41@osu.edu.  For Ohio State students, you can find more career development opportunities here.      

Written by TPS Fellow Stephanie Karhoff