By Rick Vacek | November 12, 2024
They are commonly called postdocs across higher education, but the role of postdoctoral scholars is not commonly known – even at universities.
“It’s not something I heard about until I began volunteering in a lab,” said Dr. Evan Smith, President of The University of Texas at Dallas Postdoc Association.
“What’s a postdoc?” he asked someone at the time.
“Well, they have their PhD but aren’t a professor yet,” was the answer.
“So, they’re still a student?”
“No …”
Now that he actually is a postdoc, he has a succinct description for his occupation:
“It’s kind of an invisible section of academia.”
UT Dallas is working to help postdocs feel seen and heard through the National Science Foundation’s Re-Imagining STEM Equity Utilizing Postdoctoral Pathways Alliance (RISE UPP), which bestowed a $10 million grant to The University of Texas System, the Texas A&M University System, the University of North Carolina System and University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
In September, UT System held Postdoctoral Research Symposium 2024 at UT San Antonio, which attracted a proportionally large contingent from UT Dallas.
That same week, UT Dallas staged National Postdoc Appreciation Week, which included a meet-and-greet with Dr. Stephen Spiro, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.
The Provost Office’s work didn’t stop there. It also instituted postdoctoral mentoring, complete with a resource-filled webpage, and supports the University’s postdoc association, which organizes regular social gatherings.
A happy hour might seem like a wasted hour to busy postdocs, but Smith explained why it could be career changing.
“Unless you’re a particularly social person or a particularly business-minded person, and many of us aren’t, you need to catch up on networking opportunities,” he said.
“Regardless of what field you’re going into, who you know matters. Who you know tells you, ‘There’s this position open that’s not being advertised, but I think you’re a good fit for it.’”
The irony of postdocs is that even though they are temporary employees (usually for two or three years) who simply are refining their research and academic skills while trying to determine their next career step, they are in demand.
“Recruiting postdocs these days is very challenging. It’s competitive,” said Dr. Francesca Filbey, Senior Associate Provost for Faculty Success and the administrator of UT Dallas’ postdoc program.
“UT System decided this is a priority because not only is it going to help bring talent to the state, but it might also help convert them to faculty. That’s the goal of the program.”
Dr. Inga H. Musselman, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, invited postdocs to meet with her and Filbey over tea and treats in January for “Communi-Tea with the Provost.”
“It was like a town hall,” Filbey said. “They just asked questions. Dr. Musselman started it by saying, ‘We want to develop and support postdocs. How can we help you?’ From that we got ideas that we took to the RISE UPP discussions.”
The message isn’t just for postdocs. Filbey also aims to target principal investigators (PIs), to whom postdocs report.
“We’re trying to make sure the PIs see some value in the postdoctoral mentoring program, and I think we can provide value by doing some things they may not always have time to do – helping postdocs with grant writing, helping them learn how to present better,” she said.
“Those are the kinds of things that would really help the PIs, but they don’t have time to do them. Additionally, most grant funding institutions require structured mentoring programs for grant proposals that have postdoctoral scholars in the budget.”
And yet the value of postdocs can be right out in the open.
“We direct the research, based on collaboration with them,” Smith said. “We’re advanced enough in science to have our own ideas and contribute ourselves.
“If you ask any professor about that, they’ll say, ‘I have a postdoc who is crucial to me. We write papers together. They really help me out a lot.’ I’ve never met a professor who didn’t have a story like that about a postdoc.”
Postdocs are at a fork in the road. Their career choice is usually academia or industry, but deciding which path to take can depend on the skills they acquire apart from what Smith calls the “grunt work” of the postdoc journey.
Smith, who works for Dr. Denise Park, Director of Research in the Center for Vital Longevity, is grateful for the opportunity to learn those skills.
“I’m picking this venerable professor’s brain about how to get a job, how to run a lab, how to find funding while I’m the person running her lab,” he said. “It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. I’m capable enough that she can say, ‘Manage this complex task,’ and I can do it without oversight. And then, in turn, I can learn from her and she can help me find places to apply.”
There’s another reason some PhDs become postdocs: It buys them more time to operate like a student.
Dr. Chris Brewer, Administrative Coordinator of the UT Dallas Postdoc Association, likes to sit in on classes unrelated to his degree field and ask questions. The answers might affect his career choice.
Or a postdoc can venture into a different research realm.
“With the postdoc, you’ve got one more opportunity where you can walk in and not be the expert,” said Brewer, essentially the association’s co-president, in Smith’s view, because they are the only two administrators and plan events together.
“I’m a synthetic chemist. Those skills would be great if you want to go into pharmaceuticals. What if I really want to be in the semiconductor world? I could. But if I want to learn a little bit before I go there, then I take a postdoc that is more engineering or device focused.
“Now you’ve broadened what you know, you’ve expanded your skill set and you can open up new job tracks that may not have been accessible. Maybe you weren’t the best candidate for it based on just walking in with a PhD.”
More postdoc irony: He has time to sit in on random classes … but his time at UT Dallas is running out.
“By the time we start getting to know people, we’re moving on,” Brewer said of postdocs’ plight.
That’s why UT Dallas is giving postdocs more chances to make sure they’re visible. The window doesn’t stay open for long.