Scientific Career Research Articles

Getting ahead in the social sciences: How parenthood and publishing contribute to gender gaps in academic career advancement.

How do parenthood and publishing contribute to gender gaps in academic career advancement? While extensive research examines the causes of gender disparities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, we know much less about the factors that constrain women's advancement in the social sciences. Combining detailed career- and administrative register data on 976 Danish social scientists in Business and Management, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology (5703 person-years) that obtained a PhD degree between 2000 and 2015, we estimate gender differences in attainment of senior research positions and parse out how publication outputs, parenthood and parental leave contribute to these differences. Our approach is advantageous over previous longitudinal studies in that we track the careers and publication outputs of graduates from the outset of their PhD education and match this data with time-sensitive information on each individual's publication activities and family situation. In discrete time-event history models, we observe a ∼24 per cent female disadvantage in advancement likelihoods within the first 7years after PhD graduation, with gender differences increasing over the observation period. A decomposition indicates that variations in publishing, parenthood and parental leave account for ∼ 40 per cent of the gender gap in career advancement, suggesting that other factors, including recruitment disparities, asymmetries in social capital and experiences of unequal treatment at work, may also constrain women's careers.

Artificial Intelligence in Health, Health Care, and Biomedical Science: An AI Code of Conduct Principles and Commitments Discussion Draft

Artificial Intelligence in Health, Health Care, and Biomedical Science: An AI Code of Conduct Principles and Commitments Discussion Draft

Igniting the Fire of Discovery: Creating Partnerships between Research, Education, and Practice.

In the 28th H.P. Maley Lecture, Stacey Dusing, PT, PhD, FAPTA, shares a perspective on the importance of clinician-scientists in bridging the chasm that currently exists between scholarship and clinical practice. Describing herself as a clinician-scientist, or a qualified health care professional who functions mainly as a career scientist with the other portion of time dedicated to clinical practice, Dusing highlights the potential impact of limited training for clinician-scientists in the physical therapy profession and its impact on the future of physical therapy. She challenges all physical therapists to consider the impact of Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education requirements on scholarship and the lack of requirement for clinical practice, while also recognizing that training programs for clinician-scientists are quite limited. Reviewing some historical data and highlighting possible areas for growth, Dusing calls physical therapists to action in 4 areas. Impact. This paper calls all physical therapists, especially educators and administrators, to consider the role of clinician-scientist in promoting physical therapy and knowledge translation. The author challenges the profession to consider whether we are helping to train or embed clinician-scientists in our clinical workplaces to promote knowledge translation. Suggestions are made to improve research and clinical training programs to increase the number of clinician-scientists in physical therapy.

The role of equitable classroom cultures for supporting interest in science

AbstractSupporting student interest in science is critical for broadening participation in the field because interest, even more than achievement, is associated with pursuing future science education and careers. In this study, we explore the conjecture that equitable classroom cultures can support interest in science. Specifically, we examine the idea that science classroom cultures that equitably reflect collective enterprise (where students engage collaboratively in scientific sensemaking) and care (where students believe that they are valued and respected members of the classroom community) support students, particularly those from historically marginalized populations, to develop interest in science. The study is part of a field test of a new middle school science curriculum called OpenSciEd. Data consist of survey responses from 847 students across 34 teachers located in nine states. Our analysis employed mixed‐effects models to accommodate the nested structure of the data. We found that classrooms vary substantially in the degree to which they reflect collective enterprise and care, indicating that classroom culture is a perceptible and consequential feature of the shared classroom environment. Student background did not predict reports of collective enterprise or care, providing evidence that classrooms in our sample were equitable along these dimensions. Critically, collective enterprise and care are both strongly associated with student‐reported interest in science. These findings underscore the importance of attending to classroom culture and the relational aspects of science learning as we seek to expand interest in science, particularly for students from historically marginalized populations.

Why we do science—marine ecosystems in context

Abstract Any scientific career is a mix of planning and stochastic events, often with a fair share of the latter. I illustrate this by the evolution of my own career. Ecosystem studies of food webs under the impact of eutrophication (Master), and carbon cycling in DOC (Dissolved Organic Carbon)-rich lakes (PhD) led me to elemental ratios in organisms and the establishment of ecological stoichiometry. The role of phosphorus (P) in cellular processes again led to research on the evolution and regulation of genome size. As climate came higher on the agenda, it was time to apply the basic research on the C-cycle and climate in a wider context. As natural scientists, we should also engage in even wider contexts, and I have enjoyed discussions and co-operation with philosophers, psychologist, and social scientists. This helps seeing our own work in context. We should also reflect on why we do science. I have always felt that science should also add purpose to life by giving something back to society, and I have devoted much time to outreach, public talks, debates, and writing popular science books. It takes some time, but it is also rewarding and important—perhaps even more so than yet another paper.

Report on the Marine Imaging Workshop 2022

Imaging is increasingly used to capture information on the marine environment thanks to the improvements in imaging equipment, devices for carrying cameras and data storage in recent years. In that context, biologists, geologists, computer specialists and end-users must gather to discuss the methods and procedures for optimising the quality and quantity of data collected from images. The 4th Marine Imaging Workshop was organised from 3-6 October 2022 in Brest (France) in a hybrid mode. More than a hundred participants were welcomed in person and about 80 people attended the online sessions. The workshop was organised in a single plenary session of presentations followed by discussion sessions. These were based on dynamic polls and open questions that allowed recording of the imaging community’s current and future ideas. In addition, a whole day was dedicated to practical sessions on image analysis, data standardisation and communication tools. The format of this edition allowed the participation of a wider community, including lower-income countries, early career scientists, all working on laboratory, benthic and pelagic imaging. This article summarises the topics addressed during the workshop, particularly the outcomes of the discussion sessions for future reference and to make the workshop results available to the open public.

Highlights of the 65th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine

The 65th annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine took place in July 2023 with a theme of “The Art of Science, The Science of Care.” We review a sample of the more than 1000 talks and 1600 posters, focusing on a few topics of interest. Recent legislative changes across the country regarding reproductive health care have led to questions about how these regulations may affect your practice. A fantastic multidisciplinary session addressed these issues with experts in the areas of legal, administration, physics, and medicine. Both the scientific sessions and vendor hall displayed a multitude of artificial intelligence-based solutions. Presenters from academia and industry discussed the latest technological advancements, along with the potential challenges of evaluating, implementing, and maintaining this new technology. Advancements in artificial intelligence have reduced the time required to contour and compute new plans, allowing adaptive radiation therapy (ART) to become mainstream. ART-specific treatment platforms, such as MR linacs and Ethos, streamline the ART workflow and make it accessible to most clinics. Presenters discussed the latest clinical applications of ART, and shared their experience with the workflows, commissioning, and training that has worked in their clinics. We hope this snapshot of American Association of Physicists in Medicine 2023 has piqued your interest and we will see you in Los Angeles in 2024.

Reputation Without Practice? A Dynamic Computational Model of the Unintended Consequences of Open Scientist Reputations

Practicing open science can have benefits for the career prospects of individual researchers or labs through higher quality work and increased chances of publication. However, being an outspoken advocate of open science might also indirectly benefit individual scientific careers, in the form of status in a scientific community, decisions for tenure, and eligibility for certain kinds of funding. Therefore, it may be profitable for individual labs to appear to engage in open science practices, without actually putting in the associated effort or doing only the bare minimum. In this article, we explore two types of academic behavior through a dynamic computational model (cf. Smaldino & Mcelreath,2016) of an academic community that rewards open science: (1) practicing open science and/or (2) advocating open science. Crossing these two types of behavior leads to four different kinds of labs and we examine which of them thrive in this academic community. We found that labs that practice and advocate open science dominate in a scientific community that values open science. Implications of the model results are discussed.

Staff perception on including students with physical disabilities at a South African university.

International and local policy frameworks on disability promote inclusive higher education practices for students with disabilities (SWD). However, the actual application of these frameworks concerning students with physical disabilities (SWPD) in any School of Health Care Sciences (SHCS) is uncertain in South African universities. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of academic and admission staff on the inclusion of SWPD in SHCS at a South African university. The study was carried out at a University of Health Sciences in South Africa. A qualitative study in which respondents (n = 12) were interviewed in depth about their perceptions on the inclusion of SWPD in the SHCS. Thematic analysis was used in the data assessment. The results revealed three main themes: policy discourse, environmental effects on inclusion and SWPD enrolment. Respondents reported the lack of a disability inclusion policy and disability unit to support SWD in general. The respondents also noted that there were environmental challenges that could potentially affect the inclusion of SWPD in SHCS study programmes. Respondents also indicated that there was no SWPD enrolment as the university's current inclusion and/or quota system does not include SWD. The findings of the study showed a lack of disability inclusion policy, environmental challenges and lack of SWPD enrolment. Based on the study findings, it can be concluded that inclusion of SWPD at this university may be negatively influenced. The study findings contribute to the field of disability and the inclusion of SWPD in higher education institutions (HEIs).

Implementation of STEM Education in Kindergarten and Cultivation of Children s Interest in Science

This paper discusses the eff ect of STEM education in kindergarten on the development of children s scienc e interest.Through a comprehensive analysis,the study found that STEM education significantly increased young children s interest in science by stimulating curiosity,developing problem-solving skills,and emphasizing practical applications of science.The design of STEM curriculum and the selection of teaching materials play a key role,and the active participation of teachers is also a key element of the successful implementation of STEM education.Therefore,the implementation of STEM education in kindergartens not only contributes to children s learning,but also lays a solid foundation for their future scientific learning and career development.

A temporal-agential lens on the reintegration experiences of Chinese early career STEM returnees

ABSTRACT Recently, there has been a massive trend of Chinese international PhD graduates returning to China’s research-intensive universities that are undergoing systemic reforms and aspire to flourish in the global higher education field. Taking into account this changing academic environment and field-specific mobility patterns, the study examines the case of 14 early career science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) returnees employed in one of such institutions. Informed by a temporal perspective on agency, we present their academic reintegration experiences negotiated on national/local and institutional levels and unfolding in multiple realms of their post-return lives. Findings derive three prominent themes concerning their encounter with Chinese work culture encompassing entrenched and emerging features, embeddedness into local academic communities of exchange, and navigation of transformative possibilities within the institutional framework of career excellence. Importantly, the study underscores that structures internal to the university can profoundly shape the way returnees leverage their cosmopolitan assets and the direction they take in envisioning their transnationally viable career paths.

Stereotypes and social evaluations of scientists are related to different antecedents and outcomes.

Research on scientist perceptions tends to focus on either stereotypes (white, male) or social evaluations (competent but cold), sometimes yielding incongruent conclusions (e.g. scientists are simultaneously seen as moral and immoral). Across two preregistered correlational studies (N = 1091), we address this issue by simultaneously assessing stereotypes and social evaluations and their association with two key outcomes: trust in scientists and science career appeal. We find that stereotypes and social evaluations are distinct types of perceptions-they correlate slightly, stem from different worldviews, and predict partially different outcomes. While western enculturation and religiosity predict stereotypes, right-wing political ideology negatively relates to social evaluations. Stereotypes are associated with lower science career appeal among stereotype-incongruent individuals, while social evaluations predict more trust in scientists and higher science career appeal. This work thus sheds light on the psychological pathways to trust in scientists, as well as on the perceived appeal of becoming a scientist.

Sentinel protist taxa of the McMurdo Dry Valley lakes, Antarctica: a review

High-latitude meromictic lakes such as those in the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) harbor aquatic ecosystems dominated by the microbial loop. Within this habitat, which is limited year-round by light and nutrients, protists, or single celled eukaryotes, play outsized roles in the food web as the dominant primary producers and the apex predators. Thus, the MDV lake ecosystem represents an ideal system to study the role of sentinel protist taxa in carbon and nutrient cycling. The perennially ice-covered lakes are part of the McMurdo Long Term Ecological Research (McM LTER; mcmlter.org) established in 1993. In this review we will highlight the diversity and trophic roles of the MDV lake protist community and compare environmental factors driving spatiotemporal patterns in key protist taxa in two lakes within the McM LTER, Lakes Bonney and Fryxell. We will then discuss lessons learned from manipulated experiments on the impact of current and future climate-driven environmental change on sensitive protist taxa. Last, we will integrate knowledge gained from 25 years of lab-controlled experiments on key photosynthetic protists to extend our understanding of the function of these extremophiles within the MDV aquatic food webs. Our research group has studied the distribution and function of the MDV microbial community for nearly two decades, training the next generation of scientists to tackle future problems of these globally significant microbes. This review article will also highlight early career scientists who have contributed to this body of work and represent the future of scientific understanding in the Anthropocene.

Beyond STEM attrition: changing career plans within STEM fields in college is associated with lower motivation, certainty, and satisfaction about one’s career

BackgroundResearch and policy often focus on reducing attrition from educational trajectories leading to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), but many students change career plans within STEM. This study examined how changing career plans within STEM fields was associated with psychological indicators of career readiness. We conducted a large online survey of undergraduate students (N = 1,727) across 42 courses covering every major STEM discipline at a large U.S. research-intensive public university. Students reported about their career plans, whether plans had changed, motivation for those career plans, and satisfaction with and certainty of persisting with those plans. A trained team of coders classified whether students reported having STEM career plans at the time of the survey and at the beginning of college.ResultsStudents who said they had changed career plans within STEM fields during college also reported lower motivation for their new career plans, satisfaction with those plans, and certainty of persisting in them, compared to students who retained consistent STEM career plans. With few exceptions, these associations held across students’ gender, race, year in school, and STEM field of study. Within-STEM career plan changes were very common, reported by 55% of fourth-year STEM students. Women reported changing career plans within STEM fields more often than men.ImplicationsResults suggest that changing career plans within STEM is an important phenomenon to consider in preparing a qualified and diverse STEM workforce. Students who change career plans within STEM fields may need additional supports for their career motivation and satisfaction compared to students who do not change plans.

The Double-Edged Sword of Role Models: A Systematic Narrative Review of the Unintended Effects of Role Model Interventions on Support for the Status Quo

Role model interventions are often designed to foster students’ pursuit of careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We hypothesize that role model interventions might also unintentionally shape students’ beliefs concerning the broader social system—their ideologies—leading them to view the (inequitable) status quo in STEM as natural and acceptable. A systematic narrative review (35 articles, 42 studies) indicated that the ideological effects of role model interventions were rarely considered in the literature. Although limited, the few relevant findings revealed both desirable and undesirable side effects of role model interventions on students’ ideologies. This review demonstrates that role models can be a double-edged sword and serves as a call to evaluate role model interventions on criteria beyond motivation.

Promoting a MOSAIC future in science

Discoveries at the frontiers of science and finding solutions to pressing biomedical problems will be accelerated when talent, which is widely distributed, is better aligned with opportunities. Strategies to enhance a MOSAIC (Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers) professoriate and diversify the biomedical landscape are discussed.

Unravelling gender and ethnic bias in higher education: students’ experiences in access to ocean science education and career opportunities in Kenya

Unravelling gender and ethnic bias in higher education: students’ experiences in access to ocean science education and career opportunities in Kenya

Chapter 11: Astrobiology Education, Engagement, and Resources.

Although astrobiology is a relatively new field of science, the questions it seeks to answer (e.g., "What is life?" "What does life require?") have been investigated for millennia. In recent decades, formal programs dedicated specifically to the science of astrobiology have been organized at academic, governmental, and institutional scales. Constructing educational programs around this emerging science relies on input from broad expertise and backgrounds. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of this field, career pathways in astrobiology often begin in more specific fields such as astronomy, geology, or biology, and unlike many other sciences, typically involve substantial training outside one's primary discipline. The recent origin of astrobiology as a field of science has led to strong collaborations with education research in the development of astrobiology courses and offers a unique instructional laboratory for further pedagogical studies. This chapter is intended to support students, educators, and early career scientists by connecting them to materials and opportunities that the authors and colleagues have found advantageous. Annotated lists of relevant programs and resources are included as a series of appendices in the supplementary material.

The impact of robotics clubs on K-12 students' interest in STEM careers

This paper explores the transformative impact of robotics clubs on K-12 students' interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers. Through a comprehensive review, we delve into the experiential learning environment, critical thinking skills, and collaborative dynamics fostered by these clubs. Despite their potential, challenges such as accessibility, gender disparities, and resource constraints are identified. The recommendations provided offer strategic insights to optimize the effectiveness of robotics clubs. These recommendations aim to create inclusive, sustainable, and impactful STEM engagement by emphasizing equitable access, diversity, and integration with the formal curriculum. By addressing challenges and implementing recommendations, educators and policymakers can harness the full potential of robotics clubs in shaping the STEM trajectories of K-12 students.

The academic, social, and psychological experiences of Black men enrolled in STEM undergraduate degree programs

This qualitative manuscript examined N=20 Black male undergraduate students’ racialized interactions with non-Black higher education administrators, professors, and peers and how those select interactions either encourage or hinder their academic, social, and psychological well-being and success as science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) majors. This manuscript utilized W.E.B. DuBois’ Condition of Double Consciousness to explore how Black men enrolled in college challenge the myth that Blacks are uneducated and other cultural stereotypes placed against them and how their intersectional identities are further impacted. Findings indicate that Black male STEM majors are affected by having to combat the myth of Black anti-intellectualism, remaining resilient while experiencing various forms of discrimination, and understanding how they view themselves versus how their non-Black higher education administrators, professors, and peers view them across their intersectional identities. To cope with the effects of discrimination and other stressors, Black male scientists believe it is crucial to heal from the racialized trauma they suffer and identify counseling services. However, many of the Black men in the study never sought out counseling services. Instead, they relied on their peers and mentors to provide advice on how they should navigate academia as Black men. Lastly, Black male scientists believe that counterspaces should be created to support the increase of Black men in STEM and that higher education institutions should provide more educational opportunities to amplify the different types of scientific careers that Black men can access.