This newsletter is typically distributed the last Thursday of the month and contains a variety of resources, links, and reflections on graduate-level career & professional development, higher education, and an occasional detour into neuroscience topics, the area I formally trained in as a graduate student and postdoc.
Missed the inaugural newsletter from January 2021?
In a modern world full of distraction, true commitment and dedication to a cause is hard to both find and sustain. Whether we dedicate more time to self improvement or helping others, we must commit and realize small, everyday actions often produce big results. The work is not easy but consistency in our actions and prolonged engagement in a craft, activity, or organization are often the prerequisites to success and fulfillment.
In this post from my colleague, Brian Rybarczyk, Associate Dean at the University of North Carolina's Graduate School and I, we share thoughts on finding a postdoctoral position and using it strategically in one's career development.
Nature conducted a global survey of postdoctoral researchers in academia and industry in the Summer of 2023. This piece shares their first set of results looking at current postdocs' well-being and career outlook, and comparing it to a postdoc survey the publication ran in 2020.
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine's Office of Biomedical Research Education and Training recently published this important work looking at biomedical Ph.D. career progression and outcomes. Specifically, they linked students' career goal at doctoral defense to whether they did a postdoc, the duration of time between doctoral defense and the first non-training position, the career area of the first non-training position, and the career area of their job at 10 years after graduation. Finally, they followed individual careers for 10 years after graduation to characterize movement between different career areas over time.
Programs Worth Promoting
iBiology Videos, Courses, & Resources
The work from iBiology and the Science Communication Lab is amazing and needs increased awareness among graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and those who support them.
If you are a faculty or staff member who is interested in facilitating some of these courses for your trainees, iBiology provides FREE facilitator resources for many of their programs.
National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) Programming & Resources
The NPA's SmartSkills program returns in 2023 featuring webinars on a variety of topics related to postdocs' career and professional development and well-being.
Through a series of interactive online discussions led by the NPA, the summit seeks to identify barriers – and find paths forward – in the greater postdoctoral community that significantly and/or disproportionately impact international scholars.
And check out the NPA's Resource Library for more guides and resources including a guide to the postdoc timeline, mentoring, and more.
Our digital age allows for passivity and distance between ourselves and the messy, complex world. Addressing societal problems, however, requires action and commitment - to be rather than to seem.
Volunteering in a non-profit organization is crucial to helping them achieve their missions and fosters a greater sense of belonging and meaning within ourselves.
