As a graduate student, both at Appalachian State University and Pennsylvania State University, I have tried to develop transferable skills that would make me an excellent leader in either academia or industry (I wanted to keep my options open). Below I have listed the skills that I have developed and have placed them into the following three categories: "Bioinformatic Skills", "Wet Lab/Field Skills", and "Soft Skills"
Bioinformatic Skills include:
R knowledge/proficiency
QIIME2 knowledge/proficiency
MOTHUR knowledge/proficiency
Python beginner-intermediate
Parametric/Nonparametric Statistics
Machine Learning
Experimental Design
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
My speciality is amplicon sequence analyses but I am quickly becoming proficient in whole-shotgun metagenomic sequence analyses, as well.
Wet Lab/Field Skills include:
qPCR
DNA extractions
Preparation for Illumina Amplicon Sequencing
Aerobic/Anaerobic culturing
Enzyme assays
Soil carbon/nitrogen quantification
Soil sampling: Bulk and Rhizosphere
Field FTIR for N2O quantification
Rhizosphere sampling/processing
Soft Skills include:
Leadership
Problem Solving
Writing, including Publications and Grant Proposals
Communication, including Communication Across Stakeholder Groups
Budget Management
Critical Thinking
Collaboration and Teamwork
Networking
Emotional Intelligence
Conflict Resolution
Efficient Task Completion
