Preparing for Promotions

Jeff Krichmar, Professor of Cognitive Sciences

When I was an Assistant Professor and an early Associate Professor, I established strong collaborations with colleagues who are both at UC Irvine and outside of UC Irvine. This made it easier to leverage a research program rather than starting my own from scratch. Another key component was reaching out to Program Managers in as many agencies as possible. I found out where my work was a good fit and learned about potential funding programs. These connections led to publications and funding. Funding was critically important because it allowed me to expand the number of personnel (graduate students and postdocs) in my lab, students were happy to get funding as GSRs, and it was good for the department, school, and university. I found that once my lab reached a critical mass, getting publications became easier. And this helped with promotions and future grant proposals. Another way I established funding was to get involved on review panels for funding agencies. These can be extremely informative on the process of how things get funded. It further builds your network, and the program managers appreciate your service.

Professional service is also very important for establishing a network. I organized workshops at conferences, guest edited special issues of journals, and gave many talks. Sometimes I would invite myself. Especially when traveling. Many universities and labs are happy to have a guest speaker. For me, I would spend the day talking to their students and getting to know the PIs. Some of these students later joined my lab. Some of these PIs ended up writing letters for my cases.