Beyond Academia: Grad Students Offered New Tools to Find the Right Career

Abstract

Less than one-quarter of students who receive PhDs in the sciences end up in the career for which they were trained—academic research. As part of a growing effort to better prepare graduate students and postdoctoral researchers for nonacademic jobs, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) created the Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) program. In 2013 and 2014, BEST awarded nonrenewable 5-year grants of up to $250,000 a year to 17 universities. What emerges from BEST could be adapted by graduate schools in all disciplines, suggests Patricia Labosky, program leader in the NIH Office of the Director, who heads up BEST. BEST grew out of a 2012 report by a working group of the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director, concentrating on the biomedical research workforce. The goal is to broaden the view of what constitutes the scientific enterprise, explains Labosky. Faculty should encourage their trainees (grad students and postdocs) to explore any number of careers, whether as teachers, staff scientists for government or industry, entrepreneurs, policymakers, or science journalists. “All those things could end up benefiting the whole research enterprise in a huge way,” she says. Part of the challenge is changing a culture that views nonacademic jobs as “second class,” explains Ambika Mathur, dean of the graduate school at Wayne State University in Detroit, which was awarded a BEST grant. “The fact that NIH training grants have now changed the language to reflect the fact that these are considered successful careers is a huge victory,” she says. Mathur and colleagues wrote about BEST’s progress in an April 2015 article in Science Translational Medicine. At Wayne State, the BEST program is designed in three phases: In the first, students hear short presentations from panelists representing six career trajectories. In the second, the students can explore three of the six in daylong sessions. And in phase three, they pursue a summer internship in their preferred career path, with financial support from the university. Dan Feldman is a Wayne State grad student whose research is focused on nanoparticle engineering. He hopes to work for a biotech firm or other biological research company, such as Merck, where he had an internship. Through the BEST program, he says, “I was given the chance to network with local companies and different recruiters. I attended an industry-based panel and had a chance to meet with them.” He learned about marketing an idea and developing a business plan, skills he had not expected to learn as a scientist. He also expanded his resume to include opportunities he has been given to collaborate across disciplines and institutions. Those are the same skills that University of California, Davis, promotes through its BEST program, says Frederick J. Meyers, vice dean of the School of Medicine. Although UC Davis already had many careerbuilding initiatives, Meyers says, “The BEST grant brings together all these disparate resources in one coordinated portal for our grad students and post docs.” The portal offers modules in personal and career development, mentor resources, and online career guidance. Participants may receive a certificate that attests to their completing an NIHfunded program that prepares them in teambuilding, communication, and conflict management. UC Davis also expanded internship opportunities to include such careers as technology transfer, advocacy, and policymaking. “One way to change the culture of training is to allow young people to pursue their passions and not to feel like they have to say—but not really mean— that they want to go into academics,” says Meyers. “They can be honest.” At Michigan State University, selfanalysis and being “true to yourself ” is a key component of the BEST program, says Stephanie Watts, assistant dean of the Graduate School. In part because East Lansing has limited internship opportunities, Michigan State keeps its BEST cohort small, roughly 30 students a year. As with other BEST awardees, it will track its participants, comparing them with a non-BEST cohort over time. “We’re going to concentrate on doing this experiment very well,” says Watts. “The goal is to pull together a really good set of data.” The 17 BEST awardees meet periodically, both in person and through webinars, to share what is working and, as important, what is not. They discuss everything from creating a large internship bank to overcoming faculty resistance toward helping students find nonacademic career paths. “These trainees are not our employees,” stresses Mathur. “Our obligation is to provide them with the best career training opportunities.” NIH will share the best practices on its new website (www.nihbest.org) and through journal publications, among other avenues. Says Labosky: “I’m hoping that ten years from now, a competitive [graduate] program would need to have BEST-like activities, the sort of professional development activities that are a core part of what they’re doing,”