Enhancing the Postdoctoral Experience for Scientists and Engineers A Guide for Postdoctoral Scholars, Advisers, Institutions, Funding Organizations, and Disciplinary Societies (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Features of the Postdoctoral Experience
Features of the Postdoctoral Experience
Pages 21-41
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Postdoctoral experiences can differ greatly depending on the disciplines in which they are undertaken, their sources of funding, and the institutional settings in which they occur. The following sections describe those differences in more detail.
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, most PhDs who plan research careers are advised to do postdoctoral work. Postdoctoral positions are available at industrial and national facilities, where research facilities are often unique or comparable to those at universities.
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L 7 1~ ~ ............ 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 1 0,000 O Academe Industry Government Life Sciences Engineering Physics and Astronomy Chemistry Social/Behavioral Sciences FiCURE 2~ Median Postdoctoral Salaries by Employment Sector and Field of Doctorate in 1997 for Doctorate in the Six-Year Cohort, 1991-1996.
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This status is reflected in differences in pay and other benefits; some postdocs receive no health insurance, for example, while others may receive full health benefits, including dental insurance, sick leave, personal leave, disability, life insurance, and retirement plans. Within a wide range of variability by field (see Figure 2-4)
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Health benefits vary similarly, as indicated by the wide variety of responses to the COSEPUP survey (see Box)
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Presidential Review Directive "Renewing the Federal Government-University Research Partnership for the 21St Century" being developed by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the NSTC. Office of Management and Budget Circular A-21 stipulates that federal agencies can support graduate students as research assistants on federally funded research grants only to the extent that "a bona fide employer-employee relationship" exists between a student and a faculty investigator.
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. Other critical skills developed by many academic postdocs include writing grant proposals, critically reviewing manuscripts, and presenting research results at disciplinary society meetings.
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Private firms value postdocs for their up-to-date training and technical skills. Industrial postdoc positions usually differ from academic ones in offering higher salaries, stricter time limits (three years is common)
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SUB-POPULATIONS OF POSTDOCS Certain special issues regarding the postdoctoral experience arose repeatedly during focus group and committee discussions: the impact of foreign postdoctoral scholars, challenges to women, and the need for information about minority postdocs. These issues are discussed in more depth below.
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Of those institutions offering help, most found that foreign postdocs needed assistance in the areas of visas, taxes, Social Security, housing, and language skills (see section and COSEPUP Survey Box, "Special Needs of Foreign Nationals," in Chapter 5 for more information)
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Source: 1997 Survey of Doctorate Recipients. in academia and industry are $2,000-3,000 higher than those of all postdocs, while their salaries in government are the same.
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37 find few role models among advisers and may experience even more social isolation than some foreign minorities, who are present in higher numbers.~4 i4Very few postdocs who are members of underrepresented US minority groups participated in the COSEPUP focus groups, including those held at Howard University and Morehouse University School of Medicine (two of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs) ; COSEPUP did conduct additional surveys of minority postdoctoral scholars using e-mail lists, but the response rate was far too low to be generally useful.
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~'°~ 5°'~ 5°'~ ~ 'aid by' AGE 0~0~ F:IGUR:E 2~9~ Percentages of Postdoctorates who are Married or have Children, by PhD Field and Gender, 1997. Source: 1997 Survey of Doctorate Recipients.
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Number of Underrepresented Minority Postdoctorates by Field Life Sciences Engineering Math Sciences Physics Chemistry Atmospheric and Geosciences Social/Behavioral Sciences Total 711 79 60 22 155 23 192 1,242 Median Salaries of Underrepresented Minority Postdoctorates by employment sector Industry Academia Government Life Sciences 39,000 30,000 37,000 Number of Underrepresented Minority Postdoctorates by employment sector All Science and Engineering Fields 39 Industry Academia Government Other Total 75 881 158 128 1,242 Note: Underrepresented minorities are African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans.
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