BEST-catalyzed program overview
Our community believes in and aspires to a training experience that
- Recognizes and values the diverse array of scientific career paths
- Empowers Ph.D. students and postdocs to take action toward career development throughout their training
Our approach
Defining characteristics
- Require professional development training
- Treat all career outcomes equally (including academic careers)
- Teach in the context of what trainees want to learn in a timely, efficient manner
- Emphasize preparation for both a primary and a back-up career career goal
- Measure outcomes of interventions with rigorous educational evaluation and research methodologies
For Ph.D. students
- Develop professional skills via a co-curriculum: short workshops timed to complement standard training and research (required for all students)
- Skills include: interpersonal communication & working styles, leadership & team science, presentation, writing, career planning, and communicating with mentors
- The co-curriculum integrates discussion of career planning starting in Year 1, and culminates with a mini-course in which third-year students create their first IDP
- Create an IDP annually (required for all students post-qualifying exam; 3rd year students create their first IDP through a mini-course)
- Check out a diagram of the IDP process and how it integrates into the existing annual thesis advisory meetings and thesis advisor student progress report
- Select two Career Pathways learning communities in Spring of their 3rd year (required for all post-qualifying students)
- Each learning community meets three times per year, facilitated by student co-leaders and a PhD scientist employed in that career path
- Enhance their own training based on priorities they set in their IDP. We will offer advanced professional skills and career-specific training on-campus, develop partnerships for full- and part-time internships, and offer professional development scholarships for unique opportunities off-campus (optional)
For Postdoctoral scholars
- Learn career planning skills via an IDP lesson in the Responsible Conduct of Research course (required for onboarding postdocs)
- Create an IDP annually (encouraged; monitored by PI)
- Participate in Career Pathways learning communities, intermixed with students (optional; application process to ensure commitment)
- Enhance their own training based on priorities they set in their IDP (see student section above) (optional)