Washington, DC (September 29, 1999) - The greatest mysteries facing many aspiring biomedical researchers have nothing to do with biology. Rather, postdoctoral students and junior faculty who hope to succeed in science need to uncover the secrets of funding, networking and the peer-review process.
A new Career Development Center on the Web solves many of these mysteries, exploring such practical questions as how to set up and maintain a lab, negotiate for space and assemble a staff.
Part of Science's Next Wave, a site for people interested in science careers, the Career Development Center fills an important niche by helping postdoctoral students and junior faculty get ahead in the tough academic job market. Access is free. The Burroughs Wellcome Fund (http://www.bwfund.org) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (http://www.hhmi.org) provided support for the center.
The address is http://nextwave.sciencemag.org/feature/careercenter.shtml.
"The Career Development Center will increase communication between postdoctoral students and help them establish their own niche within the scientific community, which is ultimately what they want to do," said Vid Mohan-Ram of Science's Next Wave, a not-for-profit project of Science magazine and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The job market for postdoctoral students is more competitive than ever before. According to the National Science Foundation, the number of science and engineering postdoctoral students increased 32 percent between 1988 and 1995. "The Career Development Center at Science's Next Wave helps give these students a competitive edge by preparing them for the transition to careers in traditional research or alternative fields," said Ellis Rubinstein, editor of Science.
The federal government funds 75 percent of all postdoctorates, primarily in the form of research grants. But information on applying for, and more importantly, winning these grants is scarce. The Career Development Center includes features such as grant writing and grant management. It offers insight into what makes a good proposal and how government agencies make funding decisions. A "GrantDoctor" column tells how to appeal a grant proposal that's been reviewed unfavorably, or find money for research on "alternative medicine."
Mohan-Ram said that as a former postdoctoral student, he knows firsthand how confusing and overwhelming it can be to apply for grants. "I felt like it was me against the world of funding organizations," he said. "But as I investigated, I found that grant money is awarded through a comprehensive, logical process."
The Career Development Center also offers a "reading list" of online reprints and selected resources associated with postdoctoral and junior faculty career development. Reprints are cited from a variety of sources, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, the journal Science and the HMS Beagle Web magazine. The site also includes a concise bibliography of offline references.
Science's Next Wave is a weekly online magazine written by and for young scientists. More than 100 universities, private research labs and government facilities in the United States have subscribed to Science's Next Wave. Academic institutions and government labs in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and China are eligible for free access to the site thanks to grants from a variety of national organizations in those nations.
AAAS, the world's largest federation of scientists, works to advance science for human well-being through its projects, programs and publications. With more than 143,000 members and 276 affiliated societies, AAAS conducts many programs in the areas of science policy, science education and international scientific cooperation. AAAS publishes the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Science, as well as a number of electronic features on the World Wide Web.