Researchers rely upon state-of-the-art equipment to complete their studies. Many institutions create dedicated core facilities with teams that provide expertise to operate and maintain these machines and train users on them. Molecular biologist Jotham Austin leads one such facility as the director of the Advanced Electron Microscopy Facility at the University of Chicago.
What do you do as the director of this facility?
When I moved into this role, I had a strategic plan for expanding the electron microscopy (EM) core to build it out by acquiring new space and instruments to provide researchers with more tools for their projects. Since I am on a non-tenure track, I can write instrumentation grants to acquire additional equipment and research center grants. Day to day, I oversee my staff and help them with questions or technical problems. I collaborate with researchers to provide EM expertise, either directly or through consulting with scientists interested in incorporating EM in their studies. When instruments have problems, I often diagnose the causes or work with the service engineers. I participate in meetings with administrative offices to discuss planning for new equipment or renovations of new spaces, and because of my experience with expanding a core facility, I also consult on topics of developing new cores.
How did you secure this role?
I took a course on EM during my graduate program in botany at Arizona State University and enjoyed it so much that I worked the technique into my project. Toward the end of my PhD program, one of my committee members commented that the field didn’t have a crystal structure for some of the photosynthetic components I was working on, and I decided I should at least attempt to answer this question. That led me to contacting Andrew Staehelin, a molecular biologist using EM at the University of Colorado Boulder, who offered me a job to come study the structure of these components. It turns out that the fastest way to get out of graduate school is to get a job.
When I started as a postdoctoral researcher, I was still interested in pursuing an academic position or maybe going into industry. I published regularly, including on solving the structure of the photosynthetic components that brought me to Staehelin’s lab, and immersed myself in the field and technology of EM. Along the way, I recalled my interest in science outreach. After talking with Staehelin, I realized that it could be difficult to fit that into a normal tenure track position. However, because of my interest in training people and keeping up with new EM technology and techniques, he suggested working in a core facility.
This struck a chord with me, and since urban settings would also provide outreach opportunities, I applied to core facilities at universities. Because I had experience using EM instruments and training others in addition to my publications, the University of Chicago hired me onto their EM core staff. Shortly afterward, I transferred onto the non-tenure track, which expanded my opportunities to write grants and serve on committees. Looking back, it was a bit of a risk, because many institutions were eliminating their EM facilities, but a few years later, the field had a huge boom in resolution power. There was a lot of motivation, then, to expand the core and invest in many of these new instruments, which I helped to plan for and acquire. Communicating that vision also helped me secure my current position as the facility director when I applied for it.
What advice do you have for trainees interested in this career?
When you go from being just a core user to core personnel, you will want to have more proficiency with the instruments and working with other users. Taking opportunities to train others or learning how the instruments function can help you stand out in an application. Additionally, soft skills are incredibly important in these positions because you have to communicate with a lot of people. However, you can also read the literature to learn how these techniques were developed and what’s new and attend workshops and meetings to build that knowledge. That will also give you the chance to participate in conversations to network. If you are considering a career in a core, go talk to the staff in that facility to learn about the job and opportunities.
Looking at requirements, though, working in a core has a lot more flexibility than a faculty position. While a postdoctoral position may help give you more time to familiarize yourself with the instrument, it’s not necessary to complete one before you start applying. You can enter a core as a technician after having been predominantly a user and then build that knowledge on the job. Once you are in the core, you also get to decide what you want. If you are happy in a technician type of role where you work on more research and user training and don’t do as much administrative work, that’s okay. Or you can advance into a director position, as I did, and be more involved with the managerial and administrative tasks.
What is your favorite part of working in this position?
I get to be involved with a lot of interesting research that, if I had my own lab, I wouldn’t be doing. I like getting to figure out how to answer a question on a project. Even now, despite more administrative responsibilities, I still use a lot of problem solving to grow and manage this facility.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
