Trends in the Early Careers of Life Scientists (1998) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-10
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
That committee found that more than half of new graduates with PhDs in all disciplines now find employment in nonacademic settings, and it recommended that graduate programs diversify to reflect the changing employment opportunities afforded PhD scientists. This report extends the analyses of the previous reports by examining the changes that have occurred over the last 30 years in graduate and postgraduate training of life scientists and the nature of their employment on completion of training.
|
From page 2... ...
positions in the traditional employment sectors for PhD 1 The committee defines the goal of graduate education and postdoctoral training in the life sciences as the preparation of young scientists for careers as independent researchers in academe, industry, government, or a private research environment. We call positions in those careers "permanent", although it is understood that no employment is guaranteed, to distinguish them from the "impermanent" positions, such as postdoctoral and research associate-positions held by persons whose career objective is to obtain permanent positions.
|
From page 3... ...
Differences exist between biomedical and nonbiomedical fields; almost all the growth in numbers among life-science PhDs has been in the biomedical fields. The 42% increase in PhD production between 1987 and 1996 was not accompanied by a parallel increase in employment opportunities, and recent graduates have increasingly found themselves in a "holding pattern" reflected in the increase in the fraction of young life scientists who after extensive postdoctoral apprenticeships still have not obtained permanent full-time positions in the life sciences.
|
From page 4... ...
The professional structure of the life sciences research enterprise, in which the important work of conducting experiments rests almost entirely on the shoulders of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, was based on the premise that there would be continuous expansion of available independent research positions in order to provide employment commensurate with their training for the ever-growing number of trainees. By the 19SOs, however, there were signs of trouble ahead as the postdoctoral pool began to swell in size.
|
From page 5... ...
Although a return to pre-1988 levels of training might be beneficial, we believe that a concentrated effort to reduce the size of graduate student populations rapidly would be disruptive to the highly successffi} research enterprise. While our data show a current abundance, some unanticipated discovery in the life sciences or unexpected change in funding trends might lead to an increase in demand for life scientists.
|
From page 6... ...
Recommendation 2: Dissemination of Accurate Information on the Career Prospects of Young Life Scientists The committee recommends that accurate and up-to-date information on career prospects in the life sciences and career outcome information about individual training programs be made widely available to students and faculty. Every life science department receiving federal funding for research or training should be required to provide to its prospective graduate students specific information regarding all predoctoral students enrolled in the graduate program during the preceding 10 years.
|
From page 7... ...
Because of its concern for optimizing the creativity of young scientists and broadening the variety of scientific problems under study in the life sciences the committee recommends that public and private funding agencies establish "career-transition" grants for senior postdoctoral fellows. The intent is to identify the highestquality scientists while they are still postdoctoral fellows and give them financial independence to begin new scientific projects of their own design in anticipation of their obtaining fully independent positions.
|
From page 8... ...
Recommendation 5: Alternative Paths to Careers in the Life Sciences The interest in alternative careers for PhD scientists has inevitably raised the question of whether preparation for the degree should be changed from its current narrow focus on training for the conduct of scientific research to embrace a broader variety of educational goals that would connect to alternative career paths. The com mittee has discussed that question extensively.
|
From page 9... ...
The Impact of Foreign Nationals This report has documented that the majority of the recent increase in the number of PhD trainees and postdoctoral fellows are foreign nationals, not US citizens. The number of foreign nationals reflects the international nature of modern science and the central place that the US plays in this international arena.
|
From page 10... ...
Directors of graduate programs must be willing to examine the future workforce needs of the scientific fields in which they train, not just the current needs of their individual departments for research and teaching assistants. The recommendations in this report are offered as first steps to improve the overall quality of training and career prospects of future life scientists.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.