Melissa Ertl

Eight common errors I see in PhD applications and interviews, and how to avoid them Convince a supervisor that you’re a great fit for their laboratory by preparing questions, honing your personal statement and showcasing strong team-player instincts.

My new career column in Nature is out.

After reviewing hundreds of PhD applications for my lab and admissions at the UIUC, I kept seeing the same mistakes.

I share 8 common application and interview mistakes and what applicants can do differently.

doi.org/10.1038/d415...

If you, as a scientist, cannot be bothered to engage in the intellectual work of science, please quit your job and leave it to someone with skill and integrity.

Increasing Assimilation Associated With Slower Reductions in Alcohol Use Among Latina Young Adults Soon After Immigration: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs: Vol 87, No 1 Objective: We investigated how rates of change in acculturation processes correlated with changes in alcohol use frequency and quantity among young adult Latina women after they immigrated to the Unit...

Increasing Assimilation Associated With Slower Reductions in Alcohol Use Among Latina Young Adults Soon After Immigration (new in @jsadjournal.bsky.social 87/1)

by Frank R. Dillon, Cristalís Capielo Rosario...

@ccapielorosariophd.bsky.social @melissaertl.bsky.social

www.jsad.com/doi/abs/10.1...

I missed this from a couple of weeks ago, but if you're an NIH-funded investigator, please read.

Peer review will exist to make things look legitimate, but can, and will, be over-ruled. Funding decisions, ultimately, will be done by political appointees.

grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

New NIH Policies Make It Easier to End Grants, Ignore Peer Review Also, long-time AIDS leader was reassigned

"How can you ethically recruit somebody into a clinical trial if you can't be sure the administration won't change its mind on its priorities and terminate your study mid-stream?" @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social slams new NIH policies making it easier to halt grants
www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w...

Development and initial validation of the measure of internalized misogyny with cisgender U.S. women. Internalized misogyny, or how women come to endorse self-hatred, trust of men over women, and hostile attitudes toward women, is a psychological phenomenon linked with poor outcomes in women. This stu...

Check out my new study, out now open access(!), with my fantastic colleague @lydiaharimahn.bsky.social. We developed a new scale to measure internalized misogyny in women and its associations with poor mental health. link.growkudos.com/1pn1hwap534

The fact that @nytopinion.nytimes.com can write an article with this title in 2025 is the reason our measure needed to be made… the psychological study of how women come to internalized negative patriarchal beliefs about other women and themselves has major mental health implications.

Apropos of nothing, consider reading my new paper published with @lydiaharimahn.bsky.social in Journal of Counseling Psychology on internalized misogyny in women and its associated decrements to well-being! psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

bsky.app/profile/jess...

Scientists had to change more than 700 grant titles to receive NIH funding. Health disparities researchers fear what’s next The titles of more than 700 multi-year NIH grants have been changed this year, according to an analysis by Jeremy Berg, a former agency official

Absolutely chilling story by @aniloza.bsky.social on censorship in grant titles at NIH and how researchers are complying and sometimes fighting back. "They are trying to make people afraid to use the word equity," said one program officer. "It's highly effective." www.statnews.com/2025/10/29/n...

Scientists had to change more than 700 grant titles to receive NIH funding. Health disparities researchers fear what’s next The titles of more than 700 multi-year NIH grants have been changed this year, according to an analysis by Jeremy Berg, a former agency official

New story up on the non-existent banned words from NIH grants (based on my grant title, word cloud analysis)

www.statnews.com/2025/10/29/n...

1/3

This means individuals in the following statuses at the time of application are eligible: Undergraduate in the final (senior) year of a bachelor’s degree program Bachelor’s degree-holder with NO enrollment in a graduate degree program (non-degree graduate coursework allowed) Individual enrolled in a joint bachelor’s-master’s degree program with at least three undergraduate years completed First-year graduate student in their first graduate degree program with less than one academic year completed in the degree program (according to institution’s academic calendar) Individuals enrolled in joint bachelor’s-master’s degree programs are considered graduate students. For GRFP, joint bachelor’s-master’s degrees are defined as degrees concurrently pursued and awarded. Not be a current NSF employee. Applications that do not meet eligibility requirements will be returned without review as being ineligible for a fellowship.

Announcing such a major change to NSF GRFP this late in the cycle is incredibly cruel. 2nd yr students (mine included) have been working so hard on their proposals despite ongoing uncertainty. They are driven and passionate about being outstanding scientists and helping those coming up behind them.

‘Horrific’: report reveals abuse of pregnant women and children at US Ice facilities Report from senator Jon Ossoff’s office found 510 credible reports of human rights abuses since Trump’s inauguration

A Senate investigation has so far found 510 human rights abuses in ICE detention centers since Jan 20, including deaths, physical & sexual abuse, inadequate medical care, overcrowding & unsanitary conditions, inadequate food & water, extreme temperatures, denial of legal access, & child separation

“Perhaps no one was more proud than the graduates themselves. Michael Broadway, who is also the author of the book “One Foot In,” tearfully addressed his mother, flinging his arms wide and asking, “So I ask you, Mama, how did I do?” He had not seen her in person in nearly two decades.”

Congrats!! What institute, if you don’t mind me asking?😊 waiting on notice still!

BREAKING: A federal judge reversed National Institutes of Health's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity.

This is a major win for public health.

🚨 BREAKING: Nearly 4 months the NIH cut its first grants, a judge has ruled that the directives and process that led to cuts are arbitrary and capricious.

"The explanations are bereft of reasoning — virtually in their entirety... unsupported by [facts]."

Each of them are VOID and ILLEGAL, he says.

Cutting the NIH—The $8 Trillion Health Care Catastrophe This JAMA Forum discusses the recent budget cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the effects of these cuts on scientific research and health of individuals in the US, and the prospects for cha...

Two Harvard economists forecast the impact of the administration’s proposed NIH budget cuts- stunning losses in new therapies, life expectancy, and economic output with a “social cost 16 times greater than the savings the administration is attempting to achieve."

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Congrats to all of our amazing University of Minnesota graduates today! So proud of all you accomplished. And go Goldy! #gogophers

YouTube video by 99% Invisible Invisible Women

Curious about why "Women's Health" needs explicit focus in clinical research?

Because most historical clinical trials are composed of ONLY men because the (male) scientists thought women's hormones would "mess up" the data.

We encourage reading the book, but this is a nice intro.

Under Texas’ Abortion Ban, Where a Woman Lives Can Determine Her Risk of Developing Sepsis While the rates of dangerous infections spiked across the state after it banned abortion in 2021, women in Houston fared far worse than those in Dallas, according to ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind ana...

NEW: The rate of sepsis in Houston surged 63% after Texas banned abortion.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where hospital leaders empowered doctors to intervene before patients’ conditions worsened, it rose just 29%.

Most Americans use federal science information on a weekly basis, a new poll finds Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

A beeswarm chart of canceled NIH grants showing the years into each project when the funding was pulled. Each dot represents a terminated grant and is colored by the number of publications associated with the project: none, one to four or five or more. The grants are separated into thee rows based on the award type (R01, U01, U54). RO1 research projects had the most terminations, which occurred at all stages of research, from the project onset to 7+ years in. Most grants were canceled short of the 4-5 year lifespan of a typical grant, and 40% of R01s had no publications at the time of termination. Projects that had been active for longer had more publications, suggesting that more findings are disseminated in the later stages of these grants.

In terminating hundreds of NIH grants, the Trump administration dumped years of investment down the drain. In my latest @opinion.bloomberg.com column, we analyzed the cancelled projects & talked to scientists to understand just how much the public loses out. It's a lot: tinyurl.com/bdey86su

U.S. maternal mortality rate increased 27% over five years, NIH study finds The U.S. maternal mortality rate increased 27% between 2018 and 2022, a new NIH study finds.

The U.S. maternal mortality rate increased 27% between 2018 and 2022, a new NIH study finds.

What Extreme Cold Feels Like in Prison Prison writers from across the U.S. describe how cold their prisons get in the winter — and what small dignities could make it more bearable.

"If I could have one winter item from the outside, it would be a heavy-duty blanket. It would make a difference because you wouldn’t get sick and you would be warm. This changes one’s attitude," says Jachin.

Calling on All Silent Minorities by June Jordan

HEY

C’MON
COME OUT

WHEREVER YOU ARE

WE NEED TO HAVE THIS MEETING
AT THIS TREE

AIN’ EVEN BEEN
PLANTED
YET

A phenomenal #CPA2025 @apadivision50.bsky.social! Devastating to hear the tremendous damage inflicted by senseless HHS/NIH/FDA cuts to so many in our community, and also so nourishing to be together and support each other during these times. As promised, a new starter pack: go.bsky.app/SnnMai2

99.4% of new drugs approved by the FDA are the product of NIH funded research.
Remember this every time you see another headline on the NIH funding cuts.
It will directly impact YOU.
#ScienceNOTSilence

A protester holding a sign that says "Fund Don't Freeze" in front of a large crowd and the Washington Monument. Photo by Jason Andrew for The New York Times

Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington on Friday for Stand Up for Science, a rally to protest the Trump administration’s drastic cuts to the federal work force and to federally funded science. nyti.ms/3DruZlu