Excerpt

The committee was charged to examine trends in research careers of life scientists in training, at the conclusion of training, and in the years immediately after training and to examine the implication of these trends for the persons involved and for the health of the life-science enterprise. The committee's goal was to frame recommendations that would be beneficial both to the young aspirants to scientific careers and to the enterprise they had committed to. The committee recognized that it was dealing with interdependencies among educators, trainees, investigators, funders, and entrepreneurs that truly constituted a sociotechnical system of great complexity. The importance of established stakes in the status quo quickly became apparent, and the committee recognized that there was no single locus of power to make changes in the system that has produced undesirable outcomes for some young scientists. If change is to occur, it will be through the uncoordinated action of many persons at many institutions who try to consider what is best for their students and their profession and then take appropriate action.

Contents

• Committee on Dimensions, Causes, and Implications of Recent Trends in the Careers of Life Scientists
• Committee on Dimensions, Causes, and Implications of Recent Trends in the Careers of Life Scientists Liaison Group
• Commission on Life Sciences
• Board on Biology
• Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel Advisory Committee
• The National Academy of Sciences
• Preface
• Executive Summary
  • Charge
  • Findings
  • Implications
  • Conclusions and Recommendations
• 1. Introduction
  • A Capsule History of American Research in the Life Sciences
  • The Structure of the Life-Science Enterprise
  • The Shape of Graduate Education
  • The Postdoctoral Experience
  • The Pursuit of a Job
  • The Pursuit of Research Support
  • The Character of the Research Environment
  • References
• 2. Education and Research Training of Life-Science PHDS
  • PHDS Awarded in the Life Sciences
  • Time Required to Attain the PHD
  • Postdoctoral Training
  • Length of Postdoctoral Training
  • Field and Other Differences
  • Summary
  • References
• 3. Early-Career Employment Profiles of Life-Science PHDS
  • Faculty Positions
  • Employment in Government
  • Positions in Industry
  • Other Employment
  • Postdoctoral Appointments
  • Involvement in Research
  • Unemployment and Under Use
  • Career Patterns of Women and Men
  • Graduates of Top-Rated Institutions
  • Field Differences
  • Discussion
  • References
• 4. Opportunities, Constraints, and Future Needs
  • Exciting Emerging Fields of Inquiry in the Life Sciences
  • Prospects for Research Funding
  • Changes Facing Higher Education
  • Changes Facing Industry
  • Trends in Government
  • The Diversity and Spectrum of Careers for Life-Science PhDs
  • References
• 5. Implications of the Findings
  • Changing Career Prospects for Life-Science PHDS
  • Changes in the Research and Training Enterprise
  • Is there a Problem? an Analysis from Different Perspectives
  • The Crisis of Expectation
  • Factors Affecting the Future Vitality of the Life-Science Enterprise
  • Strategies for Optimizing Graduate and Postdoctoral Training
  • Employment Prospects of Young Life Scientists
  • References
• 6. Conclusions and Recommendations
  • Restraint of the Rate of Growth of the Number of Graduate Students in the Life Sciences
  • Dissemination of Accurate Information on the Career Prospects of Young Life Scientists
  • Improvement of the Educational Experience of Graduate Students in the Life Sciences
  • Enhancement of Opportunities for Independence of Postdoctoral Fellows
  • Alternative Paths to Careers in the Life Sciences
  • The Impact of Foreign Nationals
  • Responsibility for Effecting Change
• An Alternative Perspective on Recommendation 3
• Appendixes
  • A Biographic Information
  • B Participants in Public Meeting
  • C Sources of Data
  • D Doctoral Fields Included for Data Analysis
  • E Data Tables for Chapter 2
  • F Data Tables for Chapter 3
  • G Getting Started on the World Wide Web: Web Sites of Interest to Young Scientists

This project was supported by Contract No. N01-OD-4-2139 between the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institutes of Health, Grant No. BIR-9512867 from the National Science Foundation, Grant No. APP 0589 from the Burroughs Welcome Fund, and by the Academy-Industry Program of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competence's and with regard for appropriate balance.