Mary Gearing

Mary is an ECR Community Editor who recently finished her PhD at Harvard. She is very interested in science communication. In her free time, she enjoys reading, blogging, and exploring Boston. Follow her on Twitter @megearing.

4 Reasons Graduate Students Shouldn’t Have to Work Weekends

Posted February 21, 2017 by Mary Gearing in Early Career Research Community

A new PhD Comic set science Twitter afire this weekend. The gist of the comic: in exchange for the flexibility of graduate school, students should expect to work on Saturdays and put in long hours

Grad School 101: Avoiding the slump in years 3 and 4

Posted December 2, 2016 by Mary Gearing in Early Career Research Community

Grad students commonly experience a slump during the third and fourth years of study. The carefree times of first year are far behind you, but it also seems like graduation will never come. Having just

Grad School 101: 10 Tips for A Great First Year in Grad School

Posted September 16, 2016 by Mary Gearing in Early Career Research Community

Labor Day has come and gone, pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks, and a new crop of students has just started the graduate school journey. We ECR editors were in your shoes not too

Choose-Your-Own Experiment: Active Learning in Introductory Biology Courses

Posted September 2, 2016 by Mary Gearing in Early Career Research Community

What should undergraduate students learn in an introductory biology class? Traditionally, these classes seek to give students a broad background in basic biology, and they often require a great deal of memorization. Memorization-heavy courses tend

Social media for ECRs: Serious scientists can (and do!) use Twitter

Posted August 9, 2016 by Mary Gearing in Early Career Research Community

The role of social media in science has been hotly debated, with the most recent skirmish coming from a Guardian op-ed. Entitled “I’m a serious academic, not a professional Instagrammer,” the article has inspired both

Of Mice and Men: Uncovering Cardiovascular Disease Genetics

Posted February 5, 2016 by Mary Gearing in The Student Blog

February is American Heart Month, a great time to take a closer look at cardiovascular disease (CVD). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 17.5 million people die each year from CVD, a figure representing

Should we be “eating everything in moderation”?

Posted November 24, 2015 by Mary Gearing in The Student Blog

On Thursday, people across the United States will be filling their plates with a variety of traditional Thanksgiving dishes: roast turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and cranberries. In doing so, they are embracing the philosophy of “eating

Biology & Life Sciences

Earth & Environmental Sciences

Multi-disciplinary Sciences

Medicine & Health

Research Analysis & Scientific Policy

PLOS ECR Community

Posts by Author