Recently an article was published by Saeurmann and Roach in PLoS ONE, entitled, "Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement." Here's the link to their article:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0036307
This article examined how many PhD students in the sciences become less enthused over the course of their PhDs about staying in academia after graduate school. It seems that there are more and more PhD students who want to pursue "alternative careers," like working in industry or government instead of doing academic research.
As a biology PhD student, I agree with the authors that there should be additional "mechanisms" to prepare PhD students for pursuing these alternative careers that can complement the advice given by a thesis advisor to stay in academia. However, I would also like to point out that not all professors assume that PhD students will also want to become professors, and that academic researchers can also be knowledgeable about alternative careers outside of the "university ivory tower," such as if they start a biotech company or the like.
Additionally, I do not think it is necessarily "bad" that PhD students are exploring careers in different settings outside of academia; I think that we acquire many skills during our graduate education that would be extremely useful for working in government, industry, law, publishing, or other kinds of careers. What needs to change is how PhD students can identify these essential skills that can be transferred outside of the laboratory, and how these skills can be properly marketed.
For example, here is a list of some of the major skills any PhD student will have acquired by the end of his/her graduate education, which could be a great skill set for many different types of careers:
1. Teaching courses at the undergraduate, graduate, or other levels (like mentoring a younger student): developing assessments, grading assessments, organizing lesson plans, lecturing, leading discussions, etc.
2. Writing and revising manuscripts and designing figures for publication in peer-reviewed journals: primary research (summarizing your new contributions to the field) or reviews (summarizing everyone's research and the history, current status, and future directions of the field).
3. Presenting data in a variety of different settings: group meetings, departmental meetings, PhD committee meetings, traveling to small or large conferences - each presentation needs to be tailored for these different types of audiences.
4. Applying for grants or fellowships: this also involves tailoring your research description and plans for future research depending on the types of funding that are available.
5. In addition to presenting and writing about their work, graduate students also spend a great deal of time critiquing and examining others' work, either in their field of study or in a completely different field; it's extremely important to be knowledgeable and the most up-to-date in a particular topic, as well as to be wary of any competitors.
6. Working in a laboratory on a daily basis involves creating an independent schedule, planning ahead by the hour, day, week, or month (each type of experiment may require a different length of time), analyzing data, interpreting data, envisioning possible outcomes or potential explanations for unexpected outcomes, and constantly re-organizing your schedule to adjust for these outcomes.
7. Time management for dealing with 1-6 above, all of which is usually done on a daily basis.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0036307
This article examined how many PhD students in the sciences become less enthused over the course of their PhDs about staying in academia after graduate school. It seems that there are more and more PhD students who want to pursue "alternative careers," like working in industry or government instead of doing academic research.
As a biology PhD student, I agree with the authors that there should be additional "mechanisms" to prepare PhD students for pursuing these alternative careers that can complement the advice given by a thesis advisor to stay in academia. However, I would also like to point out that not all professors assume that PhD students will also want to become professors, and that academic researchers can also be knowledgeable about alternative careers outside of the "university ivory tower," such as if they start a biotech company or the like.
Additionally, I do not think it is necessarily "bad" that PhD students are exploring careers in different settings outside of academia; I think that we acquire many skills during our graduate education that would be extremely useful for working in government, industry, law, publishing, or other kinds of careers. What needs to change is how PhD students can identify these essential skills that can be transferred outside of the laboratory, and how these skills can be properly marketed.
For example, here is a list of some of the major skills any PhD student will have acquired by the end of his/her graduate education, which could be a great skill set for many different types of careers:
1. Teaching courses at the undergraduate, graduate, or other levels (like mentoring a younger student): developing assessments, grading assessments, organizing lesson plans, lecturing, leading discussions, etc.
2. Writing and revising manuscripts and designing figures for publication in peer-reviewed journals: primary research (summarizing your new contributions to the field) or reviews (summarizing everyone's research and the history, current status, and future directions of the field).
3. Presenting data in a variety of different settings: group meetings, departmental meetings, PhD committee meetings, traveling to small or large conferences - each presentation needs to be tailored for these different types of audiences.
4. Applying for grants or fellowships: this also involves tailoring your research description and plans for future research depending on the types of funding that are available.
5. In addition to presenting and writing about their work, graduate students also spend a great deal of time critiquing and examining others' work, either in their field of study or in a completely different field; it's extremely important to be knowledgeable and the most up-to-date in a particular topic, as well as to be wary of any competitors.
6. Working in a laboratory on a daily basis involves creating an independent schedule, planning ahead by the hour, day, week, or month (each type of experiment may require a different length of time), analyzing data, interpreting data, envisioning possible outcomes or potential explanations for unexpected outcomes, and constantly re-organizing your schedule to adjust for these outcomes.
7. Time management for dealing with 1-6 above, all of which is usually done on a daily basis.
I guess it is high time to intensify the biology graduate programs more than ever to keep the students' interests.
ReplyDelete