Shraddha Nayak
Shraddha Nayak, PhD, is a Scientific Illustrator originally from India. She earned her PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the Medical College of Wisconsin where she studied the role of A2B adenosine receptors in hypertension. Currently, Shraddha is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Scientific Visualization at The Animation Lab in the Dept. of Biochemistry at the University of Utah on a J1 exchange visitor visa. Prior to this position, she was a freelance Scientific Illustrator in both the US and India.
What path led you to pursue this field?
During graduate school, I realized I enjoyed creating graphs and visual representations of scientific information more than performing wet-lab experiments. The art/design side of me was resurfacing. These thoughts were strengthened after attending a Nature Careers conference in Boston, where I recognized a need for individuals with visualization expertise.
How did you find this particular position, and what was the hiring process like? Is there a typical structure for this in your field?
I discovered this position by chance. Janet Iwasa (my current mentor) is a well-known molecular animator and somebody I aspired to be like, so I followed her work. It was in an attempt to show my sister the beautiful, complex HIV animation Janet had made, in late September 2018, that I discovered she had just started a lab and was looking for a postdoc.
I am not aware of other such positions and it seems rare. One directly needs to get in touch with experts to ascertain mentorship possibilities. I sent a regular postdoc application (cover letter, CV with referee information and samples of my work), but with a twist - I had to showcase my dual scientist-artist skills. This was followed by a Skype interview, as I was in India. I got lucky that I could skip in-person/ virtual presentations and a lab visit/ department tour that generally happens during the interview process of a biomedical postdoc.
Can you tell us about your current responsibilities? What is a typical day or week like in your role?
My primary work is to collaborate with scientists to create visualizations that enable them to visualize their hypotheses and/or communicate their findings. A majority of the work applies to the fields of cellular and molecular biology, with collaborators studying structural, interactive, dynamic or functional characteristics of biomolecules.
It’s a very interesting and creative postdoc and is need-based with lots of on-the-job learning. It is a first for both my mentor and I. It is similar to a regular research postdoc in the biomedical sciences, except that I work on multiple projects (both long term grant-funded and short term service-based). I have also been applying for funding to work on my own project. Other than working on visualization projects with different styles and requirements (mostly molecular animations), I also get to write grants, papers, develop courses, mentor, teach and participate in outreach.
Our lab is really busy and works like a company but enjoys the flexibility of academia. Different projects have varying efforts and deadlines, so a typical week also varies. I am generally found in different phases of a visualization production pipeline. It could be either meeting a scientist, doing research on the project-related science of our scientist collaborators, storyboarding, modeling, animating, compositing, revising, critiquing or a mix of these. One can easily spend hours troubleshooting, solving technical difficulties and coming up with approaches to depict processes in biology.
What do you enjoy about your current job and work environment?
I love the type of work we do as I find it personally engaging, challenging, and ever-changing. There is no time to get bored given the sheer variety of projects we take up and the innumerable aspects it involves. It is also inspiring to work with individuals who really care about their work and have a mentor who is an expert and really invested in your growth and goals.
What are some of the challenging aspects of your job? Is there anything you wish you had known about your job or industry before joining?
A challenge can come in a few unpredictable ways -
1) Spending more effort and time on a project than planned for.
2) Finding a quick and suitable technique/ strategy to achieve a given visual effect or goal.
3) Getting the scientist to express and communicate all their thoughts and expectations about the visualization, preferably in the draft stages rather than in the later stages.
4) Deciding how much information to include in a visualization, so as to have the right impact while not burdening the viewer.
5) Finding the right job fit (be it a postdoc or after) and funding source (during a postdoc or after).
I wish I had discovered this field earlier, so I could have been faster with the tools and at computer programming, and generally spent more time in it. That’s why I think this Career Blog is really important!
Do you have any professional plans for the future? What are some future career paths that could open up for someone in your position, 5-10 years down the road?
Yes. I hope to continue the same refreshing style of work.
I could either find or create a position like Janet’s in academia (this will be a challenge!), or be a part of a visualization team in academia, at research institutes or in industry (scientific animation studios). I could also use my skills to help create visual material for education and outreach. I could freelance as well. It is not a standard path in the traditional sense and one needs to be creative and open in terms of possibilities.
What’s changing in your industry? Are there any future trends we should be aware of?
Technology is changing all the time, and so are the needs of the scientific community, students and the general audience and how information is visually delivered. We need to be agile and adaptable in terms of tools we use, types of visuals we create, or grants we apply to.
Future trends to be aware of are interactive and mixed reality technologies.
What activities, internships, or organizations would you recommend someone get involved with to help them break into this field?
One of the ways you could start is to make visuals for your own work or for scientists/ teachers around you, so you can build your skill and portfolio. This will help you get experience, have an online portfolio to show your future employers, make some earnings and also get a taste of freelancing. Internships are unpredictable and case-based. It would be best to write to experts or teams/ studios you may want to work with.
Do take the time to explore how you see yourself in the field of visualization, as there are just so many things you can do. Here are some resources where you can see the kind of paths people take and the types of viz people do:
1) Clarafi - This website has some good reading material (and recommended books) on types of visualization and design, tools, an animation library and the various paths people take.
2) Association of Medical Illustrators - Again a resourceful website and will also have the grad programs in Biomedical visualization that one can do.
3) SciArtNow - A new very cool resource for sci-art, career FAQs and tutorials.
If you specifically want to explore 3D molecular animation (the work we do at the Animation Lab), Janet’s iBiology talks will be a good primer. Here, she explains our methods and tools. I am also attaching 2 of our papers which might be a resource too, one of them is a quick snapshot of our workflow and the other has a lot of resources towards the end.
Is it common for people in your field to have a scientific/academic background (i.e. have PhDs)? Can you think of any advantages or disadvantages someone with a PhD might experience while pursuing or working in your field?
There is a good mix of both PhD and non-PhD individuals. It depends on the kind of visualization projects you are involved in. If you are primarily in academia, it is really useful to have a PhD. It is much easier to understand/ correspond with scientist collaborators, to comprehend research and maintain scientific accuracy and attitude. And if you need to apply for grants, PhD’s are generally favored or eligible. Of course, it is needless to say that by default the scientific community trusts you more. Having said that, there are some great illustrators who do not have a PhD. If you have the drive, skills and right attitude nobody can stop you.
Do you have any final words of advice for those navigating these career questions? Is there anything you would have done differently given what you know now?
It’s never too late to start if you want to explore this field. The field is very broad and one can do many things. The field keeps changing as well, as technology advances. It is easy to get overwhelmed. Having persistence and patience really helps as there can be many testing moments! I only wish I had started learning computer programming in early grad school, coming from a pure cellular, molecular biology and physiology background.
Do not hesitate to reach out to people to learn what interests you and where you fit in. There is an amazing Sci Viz community on Twitter to learn from and you can follow me as well at @Na_y_ak
