"This was truly an extraordinary learning experience. The faculty and staff worked hard and were tremendously enthusiastic. I came here unsure about my future-- now I have a plan," wrote one of the participants at the 1st Summer Institute in Preparation for Careers in Microbiology. Twenty-one scientists-in-training, both postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, spent 6 days in August, from...
A periodically administered survey of the postdoc population can provide accurate information that would help policy-makers establish priorities and also set a baseline against which changes in science postdocs' conditions can be measured. In many cases, postdocs have taken this task upon themselves, designing and administering surveys at the departmental and institutional levels. For local chang...
"An important first step is for institutions to take a census of their postdoctoral populations. Many institutions, especially universities, have no accurate count or counting mechanism." So urges the National Academies? Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPUP) in a recommendation to institutions, articulated in its 2000 publication Enhancing the Postdoctoral Experience for ...
"Postdoctoral fellows are important members of the university community and make valuable contributions to the academic research environment. This Statement of Principles encourages universities and other research institutions to recognize these contributions and to offer the best working environment possible to their postdoctoral fellows." So begins the Statement of Principles , a 1999 policy do...
"Over a decade ago, and primarily owing to the work and contributions of its leaders who were women and/or minorities in the sciences, the Biophysical Society began thinking about access and equality issues," stated Jonathan King, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Biophysical Society?s 1999-2000 president. "Over time," King explained, "the society?s awareness focused on the dif...
