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.