<\/p>\n Led by Tammy Collins, Ph.D., Director of the NIEHS\u00a0Office of Fellows\u2019 Career Development<\/a>, team members collected detailed career outcomes for nearly 900 NIEHS postdoctoral fellows over the past 15 years and used the categorization framework to standardize how careers were classified. Lead author Hong Xu analyzed the data using the R Language for Statistical Computing, and Shyamal Peddada, Ph.D. \u00ad\u00adserved as a key advisor. The study appeared online in the journal Nature Biotechnology<\/em> and is the first standardized method for categorizing career outcomes of NIEHS postdocs.<\/p>\n (Click to enlarge image)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The team found striking differences between postdocs from the United States\u00a0and international postdocs in the kinds of jobs they landed. In an almost 2:1 ratio, international postdocs entered into academic tenure-track positions to conduct basic research, but most of this subpopulation entered these tenure-track positions abroad. Postdocs in the U.S. tended to enter for-profit companies to do applied research. Overall, nearly half of all NIEHS postdocs went into the academic sector.<\/p>\n An in-depth location analysis that mapped the movement of NIEHS postdocs around the globe found that career paths were heavily influenced by both the postdoc\u2019s country of origin and the location of postdoc training. A large proportion of postdocs became employed in North Carolina, the location of NIEHS. On the other hand, a large proportion of international postdocs entered into careers in their home countries, with fellows from Japan and South Korea returning at the highest rates. Career paths were also influenced by the discipline of study; for instance, those with degrees in biostatistics and epidemiology entered into tenure-track positions at a higher frequency than other fields.<\/p>\n Aside from tenure-track positions, postdocs chose other career paths such as consulting, grants management, science policy, etc. \u201cThis study demonstrates that NIEHS postdocs are using their science backgrounds to make positive contributions to society in a wide variety of ways. I can\u2019t wait to follow the career progression of our former postdocs over time and witness their continued success,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n Collins noted that having this institution-level information will allow current trainees to evaluate their career prospects based on real data, rather than anecdotes. Likewise, prospective trainees will be able to better gauge whether a program matches their career interests compared to others. This information will also allow organizations to critically evaluate their program\u2019s effectiveness so that data-driven decisions can be made to best support trainee transitions into the modern career environment.<\/p>\n The article was adapted from this NIH Press Release<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Xu H, Gilliam RST, Peddada SD, Buchold GM, Collins TRL. 2018. Visualizing detailed postdoctoral employment trends using a new career outcome taxonomy. Nat Biotechnol; doi: 10.1038\/nbt.4059. Feb;36(2):197-202. Retrieved from\u00a0https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nbt.4059<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"figure-1\"](\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Figure-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nConnecting the job sector, job type, and job specifics data reveals the diversity of job types held within each sector, and illustrates what individuals are specifically doing within each job type. (Image courtesy of Tammy Collins)<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nVisualizing postdoc alumni migration by pairing country\/continent of origin with country\/continent of job location (arrows point to job locations).\u00a0 (Image courtesy of Tammy Collins)<\/h6>\n
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