Associate Professor Of Psychology
Career review from a person working in the job
How I Got The Job
My Education: Ph.D.
My Prior Experience: I worked as a research scientist for 5+ years.
My Job Profile
My Company: A university.
Job/Career Overview: Read interesting textbooks and research papers on human mind and behaviors.
Study how adolescents and adults use illicit drugs/alcohol and consume them differently.
Research why drug abusers develop depressive, anxiety, and substance use disorders.
Research various medical and psychiatric consequences of substance abuse.
Study the best research designs and analytic methods that could enhance research discoveries.
Study how and why people with various psychiatric disorders seek or don't seek treatment.
Investigate risk and protective factors of substance abuse and other mental disorders, and how they interact to modify their effects on risk and protective factors.
Teach or mentor students and junior colleagues.
Present research findings at local or national scientific meetings.
Serve as a reviewer of research papers and grant proposals for scientific journals and the National Institutes of Health.
Read research papers regarding exciting discoveries about human behaviors.
Go to important scientific meetings around the country and the world to learn about new discoveries and talk to the best scientists around the world.
More Insights: Stay away from bad influences.
Find good mentors to help you grow intellectually.
Love It? Hate It?
I rate this career 10 out of 10.
What I Love or Hate
The best parts of my job are reading and writing research reports and papers, meeting with the other research staff to discuss the progress of our work, discussing study results and colleagues, meeting with other scientists to discuss new research, publishing research papers and disseminating my research findings to colleagues and the public and being able to work from home, or any other place as long as I have an internet connection.
The worst parts of my job are having to work on weekends or holidays as my research demands and having hardly any funds to conduct my research.
My Career Tips
Love yourself and have dreams. Be patient, and persistent; don't give up your dreams. Find your own academic interest and pursue it persistently. Don't let people tell you that you cannot do what you aspire to. Develop interest in reading and writing.
Visit colleges and universities; plan for going to your favorite college or university.
