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2008 Career Opportunities in Physiology Committee Report
Career Development at Experimental Biology
2008 Careers Symposium
In 2008 the Career Opportunities in Physiology, Trainee
Advisory, and Women in Physiology Committees again coordinated the topics of
their sessions to provide a complimentary set of career advancement sessions
for physiologists. The Careers Committee chose to focus its symposium on the
career development of more senior physiologists. Committee members Rolando
Rumbaut and Nansie McHugh organized the session, entitled, “Mid-Career
Transitions: Choices and Challenges.” It featured speakers with experience
in government, academia, and industry. Attendees gave the presentations high
“usefulness” ratings. The workshop drew a moderate-sized group of about 30
attendees. Based on information from the exit surveys, nearly half of those
attending were established or new investigators and 29% were postdoctoral
fellows, and less than 20% were graduate students. Therefore, the session
attracted the career group for which it was designed.
2009 Careers Symposium
In 2009, the Committee will focus its EB symposium on
gaining tenure and promotion in academia and industry. The session is being
organized by Committee members Carolyn Sussman and Kamal Rahmouni, and is
entitled, “Rising and Surviving: Elucidating Tenure and Promotion in
Multiple Career Paths.” The tenure and promotion process in both academia
and industry are of crucial importance for career development, and cause
intense stress among early career investigators in both settings. Yet many
are confused and overwhelmed by these issues and at a loss where to find the
critical information they require. The goal of this symposium is to
elucidate these issues as they apply in several settings including medical
schools, universities, colleges, industry, government, and the military. The
target audience is early career investigators in these settings as well as
graduate students and postdoctoral fellows seeking information on the career
development process in different career paths. Specific issues that will be
addressed include publicized vs. unpublicized expectations, the changing
face of tenure, transparency of the promotion process, advice speakers wish
someone told them. Some of the speakers and topics of this symposium are:
“Tenure and Promotion at Medical Schools,” Paul Rothman, MD, Univ. of Iowa
College of Medicine; “Tenure and Promotion at Universities,” Marian R.
Walters, PhD, Penn State Capital College; “Comparing Promotion in Academics
and Industry,” Richard Klabunde, PhD, Ohio University; and “Promotion in
Industry,” Magdalena Alonso-Galicia, PhD, Merck & Co., Inc.
Career Presentations at APS Conferences
In 2007, the Committee presented two workshops at the
APS Conference, “Sex and Gender in Cardiovascular-Renal Physiology and
Pathophysiology,” using the materials from the Professional Skills Courses.
The first workshop, “Making a great impression at a scientific meeting:
Presenting your poster, presenting yourself,” focused on how to effectively
present a poster and how to introduce oneself at a scientific meeting. The
second workshop, “Writing your first papers: The “ins” and “outs” of
authorship,” focused on how authorship on manuscripts is determined and
engaged participants in an authorship case study. Presenters also shared an
overview of the career development resources offered by the APS, including
the new Professional Skills Courses. In the coming year, the Committee is
developing a menu of career session topics and resources to share with those
developing proposals for future APS conferences so that proposals can
integrate APS-developed career materials from the start.
Summer Research Fellowship Program
The APS Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship (UGSRF)
Program was established in 2000 with the goal to excite and encourage
undergraduate students worldwide to pursue a career as a basic research
scientist. The UGSRF Program supports 24 full-time undergraduate students
annually to work in the laboratories of established investigators. Faculty
sponsors/advisors must be active members of the APS in good standing. These
Fellowships provide a $3,000 summer stipend to the student (10 weeks
support), a $300 grant to the faculty sponsor/advisor, and a $1,000 travel
award/reimbursement for the students to attend and present their data (if
appropriate) at Experimental Biology or an APS Conference. For the first
time in 2007, the UGSRFs completed interactive online assignments, exploring
how to structure a research project/series of experiments and
exploring/discussing physiology-related careers.
The 2007-08 UGSRFs completed their fellowship year by
attending EB 2008 in San Diego. Of the 24 fellows, 18 attended EB and 19
submitted an abstract, with two students submitting more than one abstract.
The 2007-08 UGSRFs, like those in the past, competed successfully in the
David S. Bruce Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award program, winning
one or more Bruce awards each year.
2008-09 Program Update
For the ninth year of the program, 48 applications were
received, a decrease of 30% from last year. The quality of the applications
was deemed very high by the Committee and they were pleased to be able to
recommend 24 students for fellowships; these students were subsequently
approved by Council ballot. Thus, 50% of the applications were funded, which
still allowed for high selectivity on the part of the Committee. Over the
nine-year history of the program, the program has received 427 applications
for the 132 awards granted, with the average funding rate less than
one-third.
Undergraduate Orientation Session at EB
With support from the APS Council, the Committee
launched the new Undergraduate Orientation Session at EB 2008. All
undergraduates who submit a first author abstract to APS were invited to
this special Saturday session. The session included “how-to” presentations
on making the most of the EB meeting, making a poster presentation, and
introducing oneself. It also served as the formal recognition session for
the UGSRFs and David Bruce finalists.
Careers Poster
In 2007, the Committee developed a new poster which
will be distributed next summer. In the past, the APS poster directed
students to the main page of the APS Careers Web. This did not allow staff
to track how many persons came to the website due to the poster. The URL at
the bottom of the new poster is unique and will allow the staff to track
“hits” arising from the poster (as opposed to those from browsing the APS
website). In addition, the Committee is exploring the possibility of
including a small (e.g., 8.5” x 5.5”) insert of the new APS Careers Poster
with physiology career information on the reverse side as a “blow-in” or
page insert in undergraduate physiology textbooks.
Career Outreach PowerPoint Presentation Package
Elementary teachers, especially those involved in PhUn
Week activities, recommended that APS develop physiology activities that are
more interactive for early and upper elementary students as opposed to a
“sit-and-listen” PowerPoint presentation. The Committee is working with the
Education Office to develop offline physiology activities that are
appropriate for use in early elementary (pre-reader) classrooms. For upper
elementary students the Committee hopes to develop simple, interactive
online activities that allow students to explore a physiology concept
online. For example, students can change the speed at which a jogger (or
research animal) runs and make predictions about how this will affect
his/her heart rate and respiration. This activity would be coordinated with
the current PhUn Week theme.
APS Local and Regional Science Fair Awards
This program, launched in December 2007, encourages APS
members to make an APS physiology award at their local or regional science
fair at the elementary, middle, or high school level. The program provides
opportunities for students from elementary through high school to learn what
physiology is and to become “associated with the field” through recognition
of their work. The program also builds connections between APS members and
their local schools. Finally, it encourages local fairs to promote
physiology-based projects to their students, since there are potential
awards to be won. Student winners receive an APS t-shirt and a certificate
for the best physiology project. The teachers of the winning students
receive the APS book, Women Life Scientists: Past, Present, and Future and
an APS resource packet. Up to 100 awards are available each year on a
first-come, first-served basis. The judge (or judges) must be an APS member
in good standing who is willing to present the award on behalf of the APS to
the student with the best physiology project (one winning student per
science fair). After the science fair the judge reports on the winner via an
online report form and winners are posted on the APS website. In the first
three months of the program, 16 requests were received for award packets.
Pictures of winners can be seen at http://www.the-aps.org/education/sciencefair/index.htm.
APS Careers Web Site
The website was developed by the Careers Committee and
launched in March 2003. It provides extensive resources for two major
purposes: 1) to assist students and new and experienced physiologists in the
development of their careers; and 2) to help the general public gain a
better understanding of the work that physiologists do. The site includes
separate sections and resources for elementary, middle/high school,
undergraduate, graduate/professional, postdoctoral fellows, new
investigators, established investigators, and the general public. Within
each section, the user finds resource categories customized to their needs.
The specific resources (such as biographies, hands-on experiments, career
resources, etc.) are written at the appropriate educational level. It also
serves as a dissemination site for the macromedia flash (PowerPoint plus
audio) versions of EB career-related sessions developed by the Careers,
Women in Physiology, and Trainee Advisory Committee. The Committee also is
exploring the idea of building an online “career exploration” tool that can
help students identify potential physiology careers that match their
interests and talents.
Career Committee Activities
The Career Opportunities in Physiology Committee, along
with the Trainee Advisory and Women in Physiology Committees, recognizes the
need to provide career development resources and training at all career
stages. The three committees continue to coordinate their efforts to expand
the topics and focus of their EB sessions so that different career levels
are targeted by the different committee-developed sessions.
Mid- and Late-career physiologists: In 2007-2008, the
Committee expanded its focus to include career advancement issues. At the
fall meeting, the Committee will discuss additional ideas for addressing the
career development needs of both mid- and late-career physiologists and
providing additional resources for them.
Physician-scientists: The Committee also made progress
this year in considering how the APS can better attract and support
participation by physician-scientists. At EB 2008, Rolando Rumbaut (MD/PhD)
and Zachary Sellers (trainee member and MD/PhD student) distributed surveys
and collected 131 responses with organizer approval from
physician-scientists at two EB translational sessions. The survey asked
career stage; degree(s) or degree(s) stage; whether the person is involved
in clinical activities and if so, the percentage of time; how often the
person attends EB; and any suggestions to promote clinician/scientist
attendance at EB.
Chapter Documentation. The CAC is encouraging all
chapters to keep a running history of the chapters in a permanent location.
This will help provide continuity for the chapters. Since each chapter is
set up as an incorporated state society, a tax report has to be filled with
the IRS. The CAC will request that all chapters house this documentation in
the permanent location, too.
Future Activities. The CAC will work on creating a
Chapter Handbook which will help APS members when starting a new chapter,
and will provide information for new chapter officers.
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