The Invisible University: Postdoctoral Education in the United States. Report of a Study Conducted Under the Auspices of the National Research Council. [Richard B. Curtis, Study Director] (1969) / Chapter Skim
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IMPLICATIONS FOR THE POSTDOCTORAL
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE POSTDOCTORAL
Pages 126-142
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From page 126... ...
5 CHAPTER ImpflccatEcns for t5r13 Postdoctoral A great amount of time, effort, and financial resources has been expended on postdoctoral study, and the question "How productive has this expenditure been? " remains to be answered.
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From page 127... ...
Jacques Monod,2 who received the Nobel Prize in 1965, has testified to the impact on him of a Rockefeller Fellowship that permitted him to work in the laboratory of Thomas Hunt Morgan at the California Institute of Technology. This was revelation to me-a revelation of what a group of scientists could be like when engaged in creative activity, and sharing in constant exchange of ideas, bold speculation, and strong criticism: it was a revelation of personalities of great stature such as George Beadle, Sterling Emerson, Bridges, Sturtevant, Jack Schultz, and Ephrussi, all of whom were working in Morgan's department.
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From page 128... ...
The respondents considered their postdoctoral years valuable for permitting a transition period from student to professor, for meeting and working with eminent scholars, for starting independent research, for making field changes or acquiring breadth and perspective, and for learning specialized techniques. Many describe the postdoctoral period as the most "stimulating," "crucial," "formative," or "invaluable" experience in their careers.
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From page 129... ...
"Although my experience did not result in a great number of papers, it provided something more valuable and intangible-a set of standards for excellence and contact with people who have continued to stimulate my scientific interests." A few, speaking from their own background, attribute the value of their postdoctoral appointments to overcoming weaknesses in their graduate programs. An anatomist asserts that "I am of the opinion that the majority of young PhD's receiving their degrees from the 'average' department of biological sciences lack the research training and insight to successfully carry out a
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From page 130... ...
The former faction was almost exclusively composed of those presently in industry or those in fields such as geology and oceanography, where the number of available academic positions is large compared to the PhD production. The manager of the mathematics department of an industrial firm asserts, "I feel rather strongly that a postdoctoral fellowship immediately after the PhD is detrimental to the career of an industrial scientist and not of much advantage to the future academic scientist....
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From page 131... ...
A postdoctoral would have enabled me to learn the nuclear physics that I did not have time for in graduate school." The academic people tend to support postdoctoral education even when they did not have the experience themselves. An associate professor of anatomy said, "I feel that the personal connections with outstanding people in the field which inevitably develop as a result of postdoctoral work would have been helpful in avoiding certain pitfalls in experimental design and helpful in keeping close to the center of things.
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From page 132... ...
A physiologist was full of praise for his delayed appointment and had serious reservations about the value of postdoctoral work as a routine postlude to graduate training. In his opinion, "graduate school is the time in which training should be completed; I would favor a lengthening of the predoctoral span, rather than a uniform reliance on postdoctoral study." A mathematician feels that "a delayed postdoctoral fellowship usually would be better, since it takes a year or two for a person to utilize and use up his 'thesis knowledge' and mature a bit." With regard to a delayed postdoctoral appointment taken several years after the PhD or to a senior postdoctoral appointment there is almost unanimous praise.
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From page 133... ...
In this circumstance it is not the postdoctoral selection process, or even necessarily the postdoctoral experience, but the mere fact of having been a postdoctoral that turns the balance. With these reservations in mind let us examine the comparative data among three groups of natural scientists: those who took an immediate postdoctoral appointment, those who took a delayed postdoctoral (the intermediate and senior appointee)
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From page 134... ...
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From page 135... ...
Another possible distinction is the degree of involvement with graduate education. The following table shows the percentage of academic scientists in the sample who have been graduate thesis advisers and the number of students supervised at the master's and doctoral level: Postdoctoral Background Immediate Delayed None Percent who have been graduate thesis advisers 76 86 83 Average number of MS students per year who received degrees under these advisers .25 .43 .49 Average number of PhD students per year who received degrees under these advisers .38 .23 .29 At the master's level the former immediate postdoctoral is much less productive than the other two groups, but at the doctoral level he is more important.
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From page 136... ...
, by Year of PhD and Postdoctoral Background Percentage of Academic Scientists Academic Rank or Position PhD Year Postdoctoral Background Immediate Delayed None 1950 1955 1960 Full professor 70 45 13 41 47 40 Associate professor 10 36 52 31 34 33 Assistant professor 5 23 14 8 5 Instructor, lecturer 1 1 1 1 1 2 Administrator 13 6 3 5 5 11 Research staff member 6 7 6 6 3 9 Postdoctoral -- 1 3 1 2 -- Total Percent 100 101 101 99 100 100 Total Number 82 162 173 179 102 136 Source: NRC, Office of Scientific Personnel, Postdoctoral Experience Questionnaire. postdoctoral is less likely to be doing any research than are the others.
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From page 137... ...
, by Year of PhD and Postdoctoral Background PhD Year Postdoctoral Background Research Indices 1950 1955 1960 Immediate Delayed None Percent in research 90 93 98 96 96 90 Percent with outside support 86 83 79 86 86 79 Average number of years past PhD to first extramural research grants 5.8 4.6 2.8 4.3 5.9 3.9 Percent of those with outside support who received subsequent research grants 94 88 85 89 91 87 Average number of papers published per year 2.2 1.8 2.1 2.1 1.9 2.2 Source: NRC, Office of Scientific Personnel, Postdoctoral Experience Questionnaire. is evident in the time lag as a function of PhD class.
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From page 138... ...
Citation counts for our sample show that the former immediate postdoctoral tends to be cited almost twice as often as either the former delayed postdoctoral or the non-former-postdoctoral.5 A final comparison among the academic scientists with different postdoctoral backgrounds is the salary that each receives. The rather surprising result is that the scientist with no postdoctoral experience receives a higher average salary than the man with previous postdoctoral experience.6 The figures for annual income for all scientists are: $17,500 for those with no postdoctoral experience, $16,000 for those who were immediate postdoctorals, and $15,900 for those with delayed postdoctoral appointments.
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From page 139... ...
Their reasons were given previously in this chapter. The academic scientists who had had an immediate postdoctoral appointment were asked to give three reasons for choosing the institution at which they did their postdoctoral work.
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From page 140... ...
. Rated Aspects of IMMEDIATE Postdoctoral Experience Development of Research Skills Scientific Adviser Contact with Other Senior Advisers Career Advancement Acquisition of Knowledge Work Accomplished Opportunity to Teach Availability of Facilities, Equipment MEAN Unsatisfactory 0 SD Satisfactory 1 Highly Satisfactory 2 1 1 Source: NRC, Office of Scientific Personnel, Postdoctoral Experience Questionnaire.
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From page 141... ...
L J Highly ctory Satisfactory 2 factory Satisfa I Development of Research Skills 1 : Contact with Other Senior Scholars : 1 : Career Advancement Acquisition of Knowledge Work Accomplished Opportunity to Teach 1 L I 1 : I 1 1 Source: NRC, Office of Scientific Personnel, Postdoctoral Experience Questionnaire. tience with the apprentice role.
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From page 142... ...
ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS ARE Hosts to 81% of Postdoctorals Employers of 72% of Former Postdoctorals 20 40 60 80
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