Trends in the Early Careers of Life Scientists (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Chapter 6 Conclusions and Recommendations
Chapter 6 Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 79-90
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From page 79... ...
The current situation has been exacerbated by a dramatic 42% increase from 1987 to 1996 in the annual number of PhDs awarded in the life sciences, a substantial proportion of which were awarded to foreign-born candidates. in the same period, the size of the postdoctoral pool grew as well, augmented by an influx of foreign-trained scientists.
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From page 80... ...
RESTRAINT OF THE RATE OF GROWTH OF THE NUMBER OF GRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE LIFE SCIENCES Over the last 2 decades, there has been a substantial growth in the number of life scientists in all categories of impermanent employments owing in no small measure to a sharply increasing number of PhDs being awarded by US universities to both US citizens and foreign nationals, especially in the last decade. This ~ We define the goal of graduate education and postdoctoral training in the life sciences as the preparation of young scientists for careers in independent research in academe, industry, government, or private research environments.
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From page 81... ...
Actions taken in one field of the life sciences might be unnecessary in others. It is worth noting, however, that the data shown in figure 3.10 suggest that biomedical and nonbiomedical life-science fields are experiencing similar changes in employment trends, for example, smaller fractions of PhDs finding permanent employment in academe.
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From page 82... ...
DISSEMINATION OF ACCURATE INFORMATION ON THE CAREER PROSPECTS OF YOUNG LIFE SCIENTISTS Recommendation 2: The committee recommends that accurate and up-todate 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.
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From page 83... ...
comprehensive information that is in a stanciarcl format so that comparisons among different departments can be macle. Although the clifficulty of obtaining reliable information on the current employment situations of graduates from ~ 0 years earlier should not be underestimated, the task is feasible, as demonstrated by the fact that this information has long been a standard requirement for university programs applying for NIH training grants.
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From page 84... ...
There is no clear evidence that career outcomes of persons supported by training grants are superior to those of persons supported by research grants (see discussion in chapter 5~. However, the committee, which included members with direct experience with training grants, concluded that training grants are pedagogically superior to research grants and result in a superior educational climate in which students have greater autonomy.
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From page 85... ...
Since the termination of the Markey program, the Burroughs Welicome Fund has established a comparable program for life scientists. A program administered by the US Department of Agriculture provides postdoctoral fellows the opportunity to apply for research grants and perform independent research.
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From page 86... ...
The success of this recommendation depends on a willingness of training institutions to accept grants to persons who do not have faculty status at the time of application. The benefit of career-transition grants to individual young scientists is obvious: increased independence means increased opportunity to pursue novel ideas and to make progress in work that can establish a career, opening opportunities for future independent employment.
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From page 87... ...
Graduate programs should expand their efforts to help students to learn about the diversity of career opportunities open to them, and university departments should examine possible alternatives to the research PhD, for example, rigorous master's-degree programs in applied fields of the life sciences. The master's degree might be a more appropriate end point for students who determine early enough in their training that PhD training is not necessary for the career goals that they have selected.
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From page 88... ...
Foreign students and fellows are welcome participants in the research enterprise, provided that they are of high quality and competitive with American applicants. Although the reasons for the increase in degrees awarded to foreign nationals are not altogether clear, the committee understands that it is a phenomenon essentially controlled by lifescience departments themselves, inasmuch as immigration law virtually delegates visa decisions to universities.
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From page 89... ...
Recommendation 7: If, as we hope, implementation of our recommendations results in constraining further growth in PhDs awarded in the life sciences, we urge our colleagues on graduate admissions committees to resist the temptation to respond by simply increasing the number of foreign applicants admitted. Postdoctoral fellows are also recruited from abroad.
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From page 90... ...
We hope that the information in this report will be used to begin discussions within the life-science community on the best ways to prepare future scientists for exciting careers in the profession and to protect the vitality of the life-science research enterprise.
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