Overview of the UMass Chan BEST program

Our community 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

Defining characteristics of our approach

• Require professional development as a critical component of graduate and postdoctoral training.
• Consider training needs for all career outcomes equally. These are not educational initatives aimed at "alternative careers." Professional development benefits trainees' success while at UMass Chan, and for any future career.
• 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 goal. All careers are highly competitive. Furthermore, career interests and life circumstances can change. Trainees are coached to focus their goals while keeping options open.
• Measure outcomes of interventions with rigorous educational evaluation and research methodologies.

Ph.D. students

• Develop professional skills via a co-curriculum across the first few years of graduate training (required for all students, starting with the 2014-15 cohort)
  • Short, periodic workshops or mini-series timed to complement standard training and research
  • Strengthens profesional skills needed for success both in thesis research, and in future careers
  • Skills include: interpersonal communication & working styles, leadership & team science, presentation, writing, career planning, and communicating with mentors
  • Integrates discussion of career planning at various stages, beginning in Year 1 and culminating with a mini-course in which third-year students create their first Individual Development Plan (IDP)
• Create an IDP annually (required for all students in third year (or post-qualifying exam, whichever comes first)
  • Our IDP process is designed to complement the existing annual advisory cycle 
• Join two learning communities themed around career pathways of students' interests  (required for all post-qualifying students; to be launched in 2015)
  • 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)

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 postdoc's research advisor)
• 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)