In the July 20, 1992, issue of The Scientist (page 20), an article by scientific consultant Liane Reif-Lehrer discussed ways in which young academic researchers can bring their scientific expertise and abilities to the attention of potential mentors and employers. Reif-Lehrer, a former senior scientist at the Eye Research Institute of Retina Foundation in Boston and a former associate professor at Harvard Medical School who leads workshops on such topics as proposal writing and time management, noted in her article that "certain superficial cultural mores of the scientific community . . . dictate a kind of false modesty that makes even the most benign self-promotion appear unseemly." However, she wrote, "calling attention to your needs is often the only way to fulfill them and can serve to alleviate the frustrations that many junior researchers experience as they try to forge ahead in their careers."
In his essay below, Robin W. ...
