New Book Demystifies Research Careers for Early Career Researchers

In The Early Career Researcher’s Toolbox, Dr. Andres De Los Reyes leverages years of experience as a professor, researcher, and journal editor to describe how narrative tools commonly used in film help you succeed in the competitive market for faculty jobs in higher education. Tailored to the lives of early career researchers, these tools reveal keen insights into working with mentors, navigating peer review, and nailing the job talk that launches your career.

Graduate students and post-doctoral scholars spend years studying to become the next generation of researchers at colleges and universities worldwide. These early career researchers focus on attaining the “book smarts” needed to complete their training. Yet, a career in research requires more than a Ph.D.: You also need the “street smarts” to make it in academia. How do you find the mentors who guide you on the path to your first job? How do you navigate the peer review system to publish your work? After you have built a publication record, how do you translate that record into the research program that launches your career? Dr. Andres De Los Reyes wrote The Early Career Researcher’s Toolbox to provide concrete answers to these make-or-break questions.

“To begin a research career, you have to learn how to tell stories. Stories about your research,” says Dr. De Los Reyes. “The job talks we deliver to audiences on the interview circuit might as well take place in theaters, because the best of them share a lot in common with the films we love. For both job talks and films, you play to your audience, and audiences crave compelling stories. It turns out that no other industry on this planet knows the ‘active ingredients’ of a good story better than the film industry.”

To distill storytelling principles from contemporary and classic films, Dr. De Los Reyes leverages years of experience as a professor, researcher, journal editor, and founder of a professional development conference that provides early career researchers with the tools to become successful researchers. Infused with inspiring narratives from early career researchers on the ups-and-downs of their work, The Early Career Researcher’s Toolbox delivers insights into academic life that are tailor-made for those who aspire to attain a career in research.

As Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, Professor at UC Berkeley says, “this book will provide both inspiration and concrete tools for trainees and early career researchers across the sciences.” See what other leading scholars and early career researchers have to say, and follow Dr. De Los Reyes on Twitter.

About the Author 
Dr. Andres De Los Reyes is a Professor at the University of Maryland and Editor of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (2017-2025). He received his Ph.D. at Yale University, has published over 100 articles in prestigious academic journals, and has secured over $1.5 million in grant funding from federal agencies. Dr. De Los Reyes is based in Washington, D.C. and available for interviews and public speaking engagements internationally. For more information, or to arrange a review copy of the book or an interview with Dr. De Los Reyes, please contact: CREATE.delosreyes(at)gmail(dot)com.

The Early Career Researcher’s Toolbox is available for pre-order on Leap Day 2020―and out on April 7th― from Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle versions, and from booksellers everywhere.

Print ISBN: 978-1-7344425-0-2 
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-7344425-1-9 
Price: US $20.00

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this book will provide both inspiration and concrete tools for trainees and early career researchers across the sciences