Trends in the Early Careers of Life Scientists (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 1 Introduction
Pages 11-20
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From page 11... ...
to include several disease-oriented institutes in addition to NCI, but at no time between 1938 and 1945 did NTH extramural expenditures exceed $250,000 (NIH 19781. In the period before World War IT, the number of life scientists trained per year was also low; in 1930, only 342 PhDs were awarded in all the life sciences.
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From page 12... ...
The sums spent for life science research training continued to mirror those spent for life-sciences research, as exemplified by the transient drop in the number of PhDs granted per year `during the middle to late 1970s, which followed a temporary cessation in the rapid growth of research funding that occurred during the late 1960s. When federal research investments resumed growth in the middle 1970s, the rate of PhD production followed suit.
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From page 13... ...
In contrast, federal-laboratory and other government employment has shown modest growth; and the number of life scientists holding faculty appointments in universities and colleges has increased from 2S,500 in 1973 to only about 49,000 in 1995, an average annual increase of only 2.5%. Universities remain the largest employers of life-science PhDs, but their share of the pool has diminished substantially during the last two decades (see appendix table F.8 for details)
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From page 14... ...
To make the later chapters more meaningful for readers who are not themselves life scientists, we describe here the training of a life scientist and the major professional events in a life scientist's career-the work toward a PhD, in many cases postdoctoral training, the passage to a job, and the pursuit of research support-and then sketch the research environment. Space limitations require that this treatment be brief, so it is restricted in scope and detail; the descriptions are intended not to be detailed, but to illustrate what it is like to be trained and to work in today's biologic research enterprise.
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From page 15... ...
, the fraction who go on to this level of training more than quadrupled from 1973 to 1993; in 1995, 53% of life-science PhD recipients pursued further training as postdoctoral fellows within I-2 years of earning their degrees. Three reasons for postdoctoral training's becoming so common in the life sciences have been suggested: building a successful research career requires such a magnitude and diversity of knowledge that additional training in a second research environment is helpful; funds are often available for postdoctoral stipends, making the second training stage relatively available and additional outlays by the postdoctoral fellow unnecessary; and the competition for jobs with more independence and security is intense.
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From page 16... ...
That situation provides strong motivation for most postdoctoral fellows to try to find a different form of employment within 5 years of obtaining their PhD degrees. THE PURSUIT OF A JOB After a period of postdoctoral training and the publication of several papers as evidence of scientific accomplishment and expertise, most postdoctoral fellows apply for positions that carry some measure of future prospects and permanence: tenure-track academic posts, jobs in companies or government laboratories, or positions in alternative professions that will enable them to use their scientific training or research skills.
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From page 17... ...
For new employees in academic institutions and research institutes, the next career step is usually to obtain funding that will support scientific work. Many job offers include some funds with which to set up laboratories, so initial purchases of equipment and often the first year or so of research supplies are already available, but the expectation for most new employees in these research institutions is that they will apply for and obtain their own research funding.
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From page 18... ...
The dayto-day jobs of the principal investigator include those of a research manager: making ctec~s~ons about expenditures and personnel matters, evaluating data, planning the next experiments or observations, providing training for less experienced personnel, and directing the whole enterprise toward the completion of research manuscripts for publication. Ancillary tasks include the writing of grant proposals and such research-related articles as reviews of the literature, critiques of work of other principal investigators, and the committee work associated with the host institution.
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From page 19... ...
1996. Summary report 1996: Doctorate recipients from United States universities.
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