2008 Trainee Advisory Committee Report
TAC Trainee Survey
In 2004, the Trainee Advisory Committee (TAC) conducted
the first TAC Trainee Survey to determine what each segment of APS trainees
(graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and new investigators) saw as
important issues that the Society should address. The TAC conducts survey
every three years to update APS’ information on the needs of trainees. The
survey is not limited to APS members but casts a broader net to solicit
information from the many trainees who are involved in APS activities and
meetings.
In 2007, the survey was revised and implemented online.
Recipients who received the email about the survey were encouraged to pass
the email along to other trainees and new investigators at their
institutions. More than 600 trainees completed the survey including 306
graduate students, 231 postdoctoral fellows, and 80 new investigators.
When asked what their interest was in receiving
professional development on different topics, the top choices for all three
groups were “mentoring and being mentored” and “writing grants.” This
finding has already been used in the development of a proposal to NINDS for
a grant to provide support for a new APS Professional Skills Training course
on mentoring. In the survey results, postdoctoral and graduate students also
rated “writing scientific manuscripts” highly. Graduate students also rated
“giving a talk/symposium” highly as a professional development need.
EB Symposia Experimental Biology 2008
The 2008 TAC Symposium was entitled, “Marketing
Yourself on Paper for Academic Positions,” and was organized by Lacy
Holowatz and Eric Berglund. It included presentations on developing academic
cover letters, a research statement and a teaching philosophy along with an
interactive session on developing one’s teaching philosophy.
Experimental Biology 2009
In 2009, the TAC symposium will focus on “Mentoring
Strategies: Beyond the Bench.” Committee members Karen Sweazea and My Helms
are organizing the session which will include talks on mentoring both
students and employees.
Trainee Email Newsletter
The TAC sends out a trainee email newsletter monthly to
keep all interested trainees advised of relevant APS and other news, notice
of award opportunities, postdoctoral position openings, articles of special
interest to trainees, etc. The TAC also issues a special e-newsletter issue
containing a list of all relevant career sessions for trainees at the EB
meeting. Each Committee member distributes the special list via their
Section listservs.
Trainee Web Page
In 2006, the TAC launched an APS Trainee Website
(http://www.theaps.org/trainees/) with a prominent link from the APS home
page. The site provides information on APS programs and services as well as
links and information on current topics of interest to trainees and new
investigators.
In 2008, the TAC worked to update and expand the
Trainee Webpage resources. The new page has drop down menus, information and
links for each APS Section, a scrolling list of announcements, and rollover
graphics at the bottom of the page offering instant synopses and hyperlinks
to information on awards, symposia, professional development opportunities,
and more. Each Section’s trainee-relevant activities will be highlighted for
one month at the top of the website.
APS Trainee Community and Professional Service Award
The Early Career Professional Service Award honors an
early career stage APS member (graduate student, postdoctoral fellow,
Assistant Professor or equivalent position) who is judged to have made
outstanding contributions to the physiology community and demonstrated
dedication and commitment to furthering the broader goals of the physiology
community. The TAC serves as the selection committee for the award. This
award of $1,000 was given for the first time at EB 2008.
The TAC received 14 nominations for the award and
selected Diane H. Munzenmaier, Assistant Professor of Physiology, Medical
College of Wisconsin, as the first recipient of the APS Trainee Community
and Professional Service Awardee. Munzenmaier received her award at EB
2008.
TAC Representative Outreach to New Members
In 2006, the TAC began requesting a monthly list of new
student and postdoctoral members from the Membership Office so each TAC
Section representative could offer a personal welcome to new members. This
system has worked well with most representatives contacting new trainee
members soon after their acceptance into Society membership. In addition to
a personal greeting, each new member is encouraged to: 1) sign up for
his/her Section listserv; 2) sign up for the Trainee Listserv; 3) download
and review the Professional Skills Listing; and 4) visit the Trainee
Webpage.
Outreach to Undergraduates
TAC members are actively involved in APS efforts to
encourage undergraduate student involvement in research and in EB
activities.
Council has recently approved a recommendation from the
Membership Committee allowing undergraduate students to hold a student
membership in APS. To assist the membership Committee with this new group of
students, the TAC subcommittee on undergraduate outreach has compiled a list
of suggested benefits that will be relevant to new undergraduate members in
APS. These will be forwarded to the Membership Committee for their
consideration.
TAC members attended the EB 2008 Undergraduate Poster
Session and engaged many of the undergraduate students in discussions of
their research. In addition, in 2008, TAC members also collaborated with the
Career Opportunities in Physiology Committee on the new EB Undergraduate
Orientation Session, presenting some of the orientation talks and
interacting with undergraduate students at the session tables.
Communication with Other Organizations
As part of its duty to “bring relevant matters to the
attention of Council,” the TAC monitors activities of other trainee-related
organizations (such as the National Postdoctoral Association) and
communicates with these organizations on issues directly relevant to APS
members.
The TAC learned of a new National Postdoctoral
Association (NPA) effort to promote a recommended “curriculum” for
postdoctoral fellows. The NPA identified six areas that should be addressed
in postdoctoral training: scientific knowledge; research skills;
communication skills; leadership/management; responsible conduct of
research; and professionalism. TAC member Jessica Clark attended the annual
NPA meeting. The NPA asked for input on the draft listing and the TAC
responded to their request with feedback from several committee members.
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