Because I got my Ph.D. in a large lab I overlapped with many people during my time there. In fact, 10 people left the lab before I did. This morning I found myself thinking about these people, graduate students and postdocs, who went before me and what they have ended up doing since leaving the lab.
Postdocs:
1) Left after a 6 year tenure in the lab to take a position at a government-run institution in the same state as our lab. She is one of the heads of a microscopy core there. She does not run her own lab and does not do much bench work in this position. She took this job because it was both conducive to a family and in the same city where her then boyfriend, now husband lived and worked.
2) Left after a 3 year tenure in the lab and enrolled in a 1 year teacher-training program in his home country. Is now a high school science teacher. Chosen because he felt his calling was in education and because he wanted to live closer to his parents and siblings.
3) Left after 5 years in the lab. Got a faculty position as mid-sized university where teaching and research responsibilities were split about 50/50. At the last update he was very unhappy because the teaching was taking up most of his time and he was making nearly zero progress with his research. Chosen because it was the best position he was able to get.
4) Left after 2 years in the lab. Went back to school and got his MBA, is now in a marketing program with really big corporation. Chosen because it was more in-line with his career goals and because the timing of the MBA program was right with the amount of time it would take his wife to finish her Ph.D. (This is my husband, by the way).
5) Left after 4 years in the lab. Got a faculty position at small-ish university in her home state. Chosen because teaching is the primary responsibility with a little bit of opportunity for research, but there isn't a lot of pressure on that aspect of the career. Also chosen so that she and her husband and son would be closer to both of their families.
Graduate Students:
1) Left the lab and attended business school. Currently lives in California with his wife and son and works for mid-sized accounting/consulting firm. Chosen because he has always been very interested in money - and he wasn't going to make much of it in science.
2) Left the lab and went to a postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH. Not sure what she's doing currently.
3) Left the lab to do a postdoc at the same institution where he was for grad school. Is now the head of the antibody core at our school.
4) Left the lab and worked with another PI at our institution on AIDS-related studies in Haiti. Her passion is public health, not basic science research and she is currently trying to get into a masters of public health program.
5) Left the lab to do a postdoc at a large, prestigious lab in a major city. Looking into city planning jobs.
6) Left the lab and tried a postdoc but was in such a bad environment that he left after just a few months. Is now the head of the microscopy core at that same institution.
Sensing the trend? Most of the grad students at least try a postdoc and then move on to something that makes them happier. The postdocs have mostly left academia or haven't found themselves quite as successful as they envisioned. It's pretty clear that something about science needs to change. All of these people I worked with were incredibly smart and could produce nice data at the bench. So why are we all leaving the traditional research career path? And more importantly, when are the people who run science going to realize that some very smart people are running away? And what are they going to do about it? When will it no longer be taboo to get a Ph.D. in science and NOT want to run your own lab? When will the resources for people like me and those others I worked with who are good at science but might be more suited for non-academic science careers be stronger?
I certainly hope that people are trying to find answers to these questions and that they do it quickly, before basic science research suffers any more than it already has.
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