OBTAINING A POST-DOCTORAL POSITION

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OBTAINING A POST-DOCTORAL POSITION
Graduate Student Career Development Workshops

• Judy Garner, Ph.D., Fellow
• jgarner_at_hsc.usc.edu
• Center for Excellence in Teaching
• University of Southern California

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Obtaining a postdoctoral position

• Why should you?
• What are the different types of postdoctoral
  position?
• How do you choose a postdoctoral advisor?
• When should you start looking?
• What are the sources of support for postdoctoral
  training?
• What is expected of you?
• Tidbits!

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The purpose of a postdoctoral position

• Further training
• Broaden Research experience
• Enhance teaching effectiveness
• Make contacts with peers in your field
• Gain experience in writing grant/fellowship
  applications
• Publish, publish, publish---positioning yourself
  for a full-time position.

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Postdoctoral Positions

• Research Associate positions
• Fellowships
• Sciences
• Humanities
• Internships/Apprenticeships
• Jobs in Industry
• Instructor positions
• Assistant Professor

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Research Associate

• Usually in the sciences
• Senior Research Associate vs Research Associate
• The postdoctoral trainee is paid from a
  specific research grant budget.
• This is considered employment rather than
  training
• Tax implications
• Clarify with the Principal Investigator as to
  expectations and goals.

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Fellowships

• Postdoctoral Fellowships are specifically for
  TRAINING or Research purposes
• Training grantusually to program within the
  University
• Federal agency
• Foundation or Association
• Postdoc initiated fellowships
• Federal agency
• Foundation or Association
• Industry sponsored

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Fellowships

• Sciences vs. Humanities
• Relatively more resources for science training
• Science postdocs may be more skill acquisition
  oriented while humanities may be more original
  research oriented
• Science postdocs generally may be longer in
  duration (?)

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Other types of postdoctoral position

• Internships/Apprenticeships
• Jobs in Industry
• Instructor positions
• Assistant Professor

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How do you search for a postdoctoral advisor?

• You objectively know the people in your field
  better than you might think!
• Whose work appeals to you in direction, scope,
  originality? Does the work generated by this
  potential advisor generate new and interesting
  questions? Does this individual have an impact on
  the field?
• Does the field seem to be growing in that
  direction? Does this type of work seem to be a
  trend that is growing?

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How do you search for a postdoctoral advisor?
(cont.)

• Confer with your thesis advisor and cohortsget
  advice from many people.
• Contact potential advisors at national meetings.
• Speak with their present or past students and
  postdocs.

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How to choose a postdoctoral advisor?

• Contact potential advisors at least 1 year before
  you will finish your degree!!!!!!!
• Why?
• Funding resources
• Number of positions with that advisor
• Incentive to finish(?)
• WRITE them a letter stating your interest in
  having them as an advisor, suggesting aspects of
  their work you are interested in pursuing, and
  suggesting ways you might be able to assist in
  funding your own position.

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After youve decided on someone.

• Keep them informed as to your progress
• Dont promise to show up earlier than you really
  think you can (Be as realistic as you can)
• Work with them to get your own funding.

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Resources for support

• Why should you write for your own fellowship?
• Autonomy
• The difference between You designing your
  training project, and your advisor designing your
  training (different ultimate goals)
• Experience in grant writing
• History of obtaining funding is started

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Resources for Support

• Eligibility
• Check out as many resources as possible but be
  aware of the conditions for eligibility for a
  particular award.
• Citizenship?
• Visa Status?
• Status of doctoral degree?
• Minority?

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Resources Science (Federal)

• NRC Research Associateship Programsscience,
  engineering, atmospheric, aeronautic, OSHA,
  Energy, NOAA
• http//www4.nationalacademies.org/pga/rap.nsf/frmL
  abInfoSearchForm?OpenForm
• National Science Foundation
• National Laboratories (e.g., Lawrence-Livermore,
  Los Alamos)
• National Academy of Engineering
• American Western Universities (AWU)
• http//www.awu.org/Postdoc_default.htm

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Resources Biomedical

• NIH
• NSF
• HHMI
• Foundations
• Specific for Disease Research American Cancer
  Society, Parkinsons Disease Foundation, Leukemia
  Society, March of Dimes, etc.
• General Medical Research Foundations Jane Coffin
  Childs, Markey, Life Sciences Research, Damon
  Runyon, Helen Hay Whitney, Charles A. King Trust,
  Human Frontiers Science Program
• Industry
• Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, DuPont, Amgen,
  Genentech, SAIC, Merck, other Biotech firms.

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Resources for Humanities Postdocs

• Woodrow Wilson Postdoctoral Fellowships in the
  Humanities
• http//www.woodrow.org/academic_postdocs/eligible_
  fields.htm
• Social Sciences Research Council
• http//www.ssrc.org/fellowships/bytype.cgi?Postdoc
  toral
• American Philosophical Society (all areas of
  scholarly knowledge, except where govt support
  is more appropriate)

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Resources for Humanities Postdocs (Cont.)

• University Fellowships
• University of Chicago, University of California,
  Cornell (Mellon), Stanford Humanities Fellows,
  Woodson (African and African American studies)
• Arts
• Ahmanson
• Getty

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What is expected of you?

• Need to communicate with
• Advisor
• Funding resource
• Duration of training
• Goals during training
• What can you take with you?
• Are you a Research Associate working on a
  specific project or do you have your own original
  project?
• Publications or other scholarly works
• Where and who will be author
• Collaborations with others

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Tidbits

• How much? 2001-2002 16,000 to 48,000 per annum
  with most around 30,000
• Taxability? Special Tax status for Fellowships
  but not for employment
• Health care
• What is covered?
• Or not?
• University status---are you faculty, staff, or
  student?????