RESOURCES

a growing list of information

 
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COLOR + DESIGN + ILLUSTRATIONS

 
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Color combinations:

For your color scheme, I recommend using one main color (using 2-3 shades or tints of the same color) + one accent color + black/white/grey.
Check out: Viz Palette, Coolers.co, Color Brewer, Canva
 
Website Builders:

Website builders make it easy to make a website without any experience. Squarespace (easily customizable, but most expensive; my choice), Google Sites (comparatively limited if you want custom features without CSS, reasonably priced), Adobe Portfolio, Wordpress/ Wix/ Weebly (free! A little effort and CSS will update the templates).
 
Illustrations:

Start with Adobe Illustrator to make vector-based 2D/3D images and to prepare figures (keep fonts/styles consistent across boards). Then, try 3D-focused software such as Blender (free), Solidworks (not macOS compatible), and Cinema 4D (my choice, I use it with Keyshot), which offers more control over 3D object design and image rendering.
 
 
 
 

Find a style that is authentic to you… and create templates to streamline your work!

 

Research websites for inspiration: Saric Lab at UCL, Manthiram Lab at MIT, McNeil Group at UMich (really good resources section), MacMillan Group at Princeton, Hartrampf Lab at UZH, Berlinguette Group at UBC

Also check out: Awwwards, IDEO, most bicycle websites (e.g. Cannondale), MaRS, Stanford d.school

Tip: Most programs for illustration offer a student discount (or is even free)! Check your library resources, which may offer the program for free as well.

Fun fact: Our group logo is based on our mission to both understand how to construct materials with emergent properties as well as how to design materials that can be broken down for recycling. The use of tessellations was inspired by M.C. Escher.

 
 
 
 

PRESENTATION TIPS

Prioritize effective communication. It is more important that the audience understands the scientific research than being impressed by the quantity of data.

1-page 1-message. Do not overload your audience. Each slide should only present one concept at a time.

Title is the message. For the slide on the right, the title is the message. This is better than writing: Chemical structures of semiconducting polymers.

Check out Jean-luc Dumont’s advice.

 
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WRITING TIPS

Abstracts. The image on the right is an example for writing a summary from http://www.markowetzlab.org. I think it is a useful template for writing abstracts for scientific conferences. More details here.

Journal articles. Think deeply about the motivation and significance of your work. This is the introduction (hardest section)! I find it easier to make my figures before writing the results/discussion sections, because I think about the flow when I put the figure together. The results/discussion section discuss the details in the figures.

Keep examples for your future reference.

 
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“cognitive diversity could generate accelerated learning and performance in the face of new, uncertain, and complex situations”

-HBS
 
 
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WHERE CAN POLYMER SCIENTISTS WORK?


Research at companies:
Carbon - 3D Printing, digital manufacturing (Redwood City, CA, USA)
Cyclopure - Eco-friendly adsorbants to purify water (Skokie, IL, USA)
Olaplex - Polymers to repair and protect hair at the molecular level (Irvine, CA, USA)
Impossible Foods - Plant-based foods (Redwood City, CA, USA)
Bolt Threads - Materials for sustainable fashion (Emeryville, CA, USA)
Neuralink - Brain-machine interfaces and electronics (San Francisco, CA, USA)
LaderaTech - Fire retardants to prevent wildfires (Clayton, CO, USA)
Zymergen - biofacturers, using microorganisms to make materials (Emeryville, CA, USA)
Lyndra - sustained, release drug therapies (Cambridge, MA, USA)
also check out: Living Proof, Beyond Meat, Tesla, FormLabs, Modern Meadow, biotech companies

More traditional companies:
3M, Xerox, Dow, BASF, DuPont, PPG

Consulting, Science Policy, Journalism, Philanthropy, Entrepreneurship, etc!

Ultimately, PhD students are trained to be adaptive problem solvers, dynamic leaders, and inquisitive colleagues. These attributes are transferrable in many career paths!

 
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If you have good references that would be a good fit to include on this page (especially cool polymer companies), please email Helen (tran@utoronto.ca) for consideration. Thank you for visiting!
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