Clearing Up Confusion about Postdoc Salaries and Training Activities

Read this blog by Dr. Sally Rockey, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research for more information about NIH-supported postdoctoral activities.

Nobel Prize in Medicine Announcement

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 was awarded jointly to Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent"

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2012/#
 
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/08/world/europe/sweden-nobel-prize-medicine/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

The Rise Of Women In Tech

 From http://www.mbaonline.com/the-rise-of-women-in-tech/:

It’s time for the old adage that women neither like nor do well in math and science be put to rest …

Women are increasingly involved in the tech field, both as consumers and as practitioners, which shouldn’t come as a surprise since over half of social media users are women and the average social gamer is a woman in her 40s.

This trend is also reflected in education. Of the computer science majors graduating in 2013 from Harvard, women make up 41%. And although only 25% of science, tech, engineering and math (STEM) jobs are currently held by women, the numbers are beginning to shift. Between January of 2011 and 2012, the  number of women in the IT field jumped by more than 28%.

The benefits for women who enter tech are hard to deny. They experience smaller wage gaps due to gender than women in other industries. But the relationship between women and tech companies isn’t one-sided – the companies get some nice perks, too. Companies whose boards of directors contain 3 or more female members had higher returns on sales, returns on investments and returns on equity.

The infographic below delves deeper into how the phenomenon of women in tech is on the rise.
Click here to see the graphic!

Former NIH Director Discusses Record Low Success Rates

‘In a talk at the National Press Club entitled "What Impedes Cancer Research," Harold Varmus, Nobel laureate and former National Institutes of Health (NIH) director (1993-1999), discussed a range of obstacles to the field, including the complex biology of cancer and science budgets that haven't kept pace with inflation since 2001. Despite a wealth of new knowledge and tools, “The pace of research is slower than it could be and should be,” Varmus said.’ To read more, please click the link below:

Success Rates: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/

myIDP: So You Think You Have Skills

The first step in honing your skill set is figuring out what you’re good at and what needs to be improved. 'When Keren started her Ph.D. program nearly 5 years ago, the prospect of completing her thesis and setting a date for her defense seemed far off. But now the date was approaching—and the thesis and the defense weren't the only things weighing on her mind. She was also thinking, “What next?”'

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2012_09_21/caredit.a1200107

This is the second article in a series designed to help you create an Individual Development Plan (IDP) using myIDP, a new Web-based career-planning tool created to help graduate students and postdocs in the sciences define and pursue their career goals. To learn more about myIDP and begin the career-planning process, please visit http://myidp.sciencecareers.org.
By Jennifer A. Hobin, Cynthia N. Fuhrmann, Bill Lindstaedt, Philip S. Clifford

Content Collection: Getting your Research Published

Great tips and resources from the Science Careers Staff on how to get your research published!

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2012_09_28/caredit.a1200110?goback=.gde_51557_member_169482646

Annual Top Employers Survey: Stability in the Face of Change

Biopharmas that have fared well despite global economic turmoil have done so by making smart acquisitions, paying attention to global opportunities, investing in R&D, looking beyond the bottom line—and valuing and respecting the scientists who work for them, according to this year’s Science Careers Top Employers Survey. By Anne Harding


…’if you’re working for the right company and you’re ready to ask for what you need, says Lori Morton, associate director of cardiovascular research at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which is #1 on the 2012 ScienceCareers Top Employers Survey—after making the list for the first time ever, at #2, last year. “I really believe that having an engaged parenthood and career success are not incompatible ideas here,” says Morton, who has worked at the Tarrytown, New York-based biotech for 10 years and has two young children.’ 

Read more about the top20 biopharma companies with the best reputations as employers and the top three driving characteristics for each company, according to respondents in the 2012 survey undertaken for the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office:

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2012_09_21/science.opms.r1200125?goback=.gde_51557_member_169488974

Big Pharma Ramps Up Postdoc Programs

‘Pharmaceutical industry watchdogs have long looked to 2012 as the year of the steepest drop off the industry's so-called patent cliff, and so far this year companies have indeed lost a record number of patents on blockbuster drugs. These and other changes in the industry have led to years of lower corporate earnings, massive layoffs (of scientists and other workers), and experiments in outsourcing all sorts of activities that once were done in-house, including early-stage research and development.’

Thinking about a career in industry?  Read this recent Science Careers article about how some of the major pharmaceutical companies are expanding their postdoctoral programs:

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2012_09_28/caredit.a1200109