Obtaining a faculty position in STEM at a research-intensive institution

Vigoreaux, Jim O.; Leibowitz, Michael J.

doi:10.1186/s12919-021-00210-x

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

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“…Traditional career paths in academia differ from those in the government and private sectors. For many in academia, the career path is rather linear and involves earning a PhD, completing at least one postdoctoral training position, and then securing a faculty appointment (King-Smith et al, 2021;Vigoreaux & Leibowitz, 2021). In contrast, career pathways in the government and private sectors are accessible with a bachelor's degree and feature numerous entry points (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021a, 2021b, 2021cSidoti et al, 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing the landscape of plant science careers in the United States II: Academic perspectives

Walsh

Parsley

Sidoti

et al. 2023

Plants People Planet

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Societal Impact StatementBotanical careers are more important than ever, given that environmental challenges such as climate change and deforestation threaten plants daily and because plants contribute to solutions to these problems. Plants act as our sources of food, medicine, textiles, and oxygen, which means finding ways to mitigate these environmental challenges is crucial. Despite this, little is known about what career opportunities exist for botanists outside of academia and how well academia is training graduate students for these careers. This study centers on the current state of academic botanical careers and how well students completing post‐baccalaureate degrees (herein referred to as graduate students) are being prepared to fill careers within the botanical workforce.Summary Plant science plays a crucial role in our society and in ongoing efforts to address many global challenges, including food insecurity and climate change. Despite a predicted increase in botanical career opportunities, little is known about how well academia is training graduate students for careers outside of academia. To further our understanding of the current state of academic training for botanical careers, we surveyed 85 faculty and 40 graduate students working in academia in the plant sciences in the United States. We found that the top challenges to university professors in academia are lack of support staff and funding, whereas students completing their post‐baccalaureate degrees cited finances and lack of supportive mentoring as their top challenges. Despite the fact that most graduate students surveyed wanted a career at a research‐intensive university, many botanists in academia are retiring without being replaced by more botanists. Faculty expertise is also misaligned with needs from industry and government employers, causing challenges to training graduate students for these careers outside of academia. Although our data point to a lack of career opportunities within academia, we also note that current graduate student education still emphasizes such careers and is not properly preparing graduate students for the careers they are more likely to obtain within the private and government sectors. We discuss the implications of these findings and present several recommendations for preparing future generations of plant scientists for more realistic career trajectories.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%