Trainee Advisory Committee (TAC) Survey
The Committee is currently finalizing a manuscript describing the 2004 and 2007 survey results for submission to Advances in Physiology Education. The plan for the next survey is keep many questions from the 2007 survey, which proved informative. In addition, new questions will be added to assess the usage of current trainee related resources offered by the APS. The 2010 survey should help both the Committee and APS determine the efficacy of currently offered resources, and whether current resources are reaching their target audience. The survey will likely be implemented online in late 2010. TAC members will again be asked to send notifications through section listservs in hopes of reaching a wide audience. In addition, information about the survey with reference links will be added to the Committee’s new Facebook page. Twitter will also be used to announce the survey.
EB Symposia
Experimental Biology 2009
Multimedia presentations for the EB 2009 Trainee Symposium, “Mentoring Strategies: Beyond the Bench,” were edited and posted at the APS website and catalogued at the APS Archive of Teaching Resources for wide dissemination.
Experimental Biology 2010
The 2010 TAC Symposium was entitled, “Publish, Not Perish: How to Survive the Peer Review Process.” It included presentations on how to select a journal, who the reviewers are, responding to reviewers, and how to be a constructive reviewer.
Experimental Biology 2011
In 2011, the TAC symposium will be entitled “The Individual Development Plan – Plotting a Career Trajectory.” The session will include a 90-minute, activity-based presentation aimed at guiding the audience through the steps of self-assessment of skills, values, and interests. Audience members will learn how to explore their career options. In addition, they will learn about setting goals and working with their mentor to implement an Individual Development Plan. The session will conclude with approximately 30 minutes of informational interviewing, during which a number of more senior society members have been asked to join the trainees and facilitate group discussions of various career paths.
Trainee Facebook Site and Twitter
The APS Trainee Facebook page was launched in January. The approach was to first transfer members from the old Facebook “group” page to the Fan Page. The Facebook page was promoted heavily during the weeks leading up to EB 2010. Business cards with the links to Facebook and Twitter were provided to undergraduate students at EB10. The Committee is devising ways to include similar information in new member packets. The number of new fans on Facebook has spiked with each advertising event. The current administrators police the page for content. Topics currently not allowed include job postings and solicitation of positions. The site continues to be enhanced with pictures, content, and postings. Daily updates from EB 2010 were provided along with a listing of daily trainee events.
Congruent with the FB page a Twitter page was launched. FB postings are integrated with FB postings. Any TAC member is allowed to post to the Twitter account. Currently the Twitter feed is being used to advertise society wide trainee events. TAC discussion needs to address whether the main Twitter feed should be for a broader content base.
APS Trainee Community and Professional Service Award
The TAC received six complete applications for the award in 2010, its second year. The Committee was extremely pleased to note that the applicant pool was highly competitive. The Committee selected Catharine Clark, graduate student in the Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri-Columbia, as the award recipient. Clark received the award at EB10.
Outreach to Undergraduates
The Committee is pleased that undergraduates are now accepted as student members in the Society. TAC members are now using social media tools (Facebook and Twitter) along with the website and newsletter to engage both undergraduate students and Physiology trainees. TAC members attended the EB 2010 Undergraduate Poster Session and engaged many of the undergraduate students in discussions of their research. The Committee also collaborated with the Career Opportunities in Physiology Committee on the 2010 EB Undergraduate Orientation Session, presenting some of the orientation talks and interacting with undergraduate students at the session tables. The TAC plans to continue these activities in 2010-2011. Finally, the TAC plans to expand the TAC survey to include undergraduates when it administers the Trainee Needs survey later this year.