PhD to Postdoctoral Fellow

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Presenter

Colette Patt, California Alliance

Co-Authors

Mark A. Richards (University of Washington); Rodolfo Mendoza Denton (UC Berkeley); Page Chamberlain (Stanford); Doug Rees (Caltech)

Abstract

The fraction of URM PhD students in the Mathematical, Physical, Environmental Science and Engineering (MPESE) fields has doubled from ~5% to ~10% over the past 25 years, but the fraction of URM postdoctoral scholars in these fields over the same time period has not increased proportionately. Persistent stagnation in the representation of URM postdoctoral scholars seems to have gone largely unnoticed amidst a multitude of STEM diversity efforts, but it should be a major concern given how closely faculty appointments, especially in the nation’s research universities, track postdoctoral availability. Indeed, research universities recruit many, if not most, of their faculty from the postdoctoral ranks, explaining, in part, why little progress has been made in diversifying the MPESE professoriate over the past quarter century.

The main purpose of the California Alliance postdoc program has been to address this problem head-on by supporting the transition into postdoctoral fellowships, and the advancement and professional development of URM PhD and postdoctoral scholars into academically oriented careers. The California Alliance leveraged funding for ~5 postdoctoral fellowships to support 40, of whom half have advanced into their next appointments. Of the 20 postdocs who have advanced, three quarters have stayed in academia, moving into faculty positions or second postdoctoral jobs. The California Alliance welcomes the opportunity to describe the approach we have taken, the barriers we have confronted, and the possibilities for replication that our experience might offer to other universities and alliances.