StaTalk 2025

Getting Tenure: Is That Even a Thing?

Tommaso Rigon

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

2025-06-14

Panelists

Alessandra Guglielmi

(PoliMi)

Alessandro Fassò

(UniBg)

Maria Grazia Valsecchi

(Unimib)

PhD life over time

  • How did you end up here? Was it a grand plan, a happy accident, or the result of saying “yes” one too many times? We would love to hear any anecdotes about what first sparked your interest in your current research area.
  • How has academia changed at the PhD and postdoc levels compared to when you went through it? Are things better, worse, or just… different with more Zoom?

Seeking wisdom

  • What is your advice for a young investigator? Are there common traps you have seen in your work with students?
  • What do you think about the often-repeated quip: “publish or perish”? Is it a painful truth or an exaggeration?
  • We all have times when we feel daunted by the mathematical challenges associated with our work. How do you respond to feelings of inadequacy or intimidation in the face of difficult problems?
  • When is it okay to abandon a project? Not every idea is a brilliant one, and some projects slowly (or quickly) reveal themselves to be dead ends. How do you decide when to pull the plug, both as a junior researcher and, hopefully one day, as a senior one?

The mentor, the mentee, and their delicate dance

  • What are the qualities of a good mentor? In your view, what makes someone a great supervisor or mentor?

  • What advice do you have for balancing criticism and support as a mentor? How do you cultivate a supporting but rigorous academic environment?

  • What are some methods for establishing independence from your advisor(s) as your progress in your PhD?
  • What role has community played in your career and in your professional successes? Any anecdotes about relationships formed early in your career that you maintain today?

Next generation challenges

  • What should statisticians do to avoid being replaced by “data scientists”?
  • In light of recent developments in AI and large language models (ChatGPT and friends), how should the teaching of Statistics, especially at the bachelor level, evolve? Should we be rethinking what we teach, how we teach it, or both? What about theses and written projects?