Center for Engineering Education, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States of America.
Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2022 Feb 2;17(2):e0263185. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263185. eCollection 2022.
Discussions about science and engineering postdoctoral researchers focus almost exclusively on academic postdocs and their chances of eventually securing tenure-track faculty positions. Further, biological sciences dominate policy research and published advice for new PhDs regarding postdoctoral employment. Our analysis uses the Survey of Earned Doctorates and Survey of Doctorate Recipients to understand employment implications for physical sciences and engineering (PSE) and life sciences (LS) graduates who took postdoctoral positions in government, industry, and academic sectors. We examine postdoc duration, reasons for staying in a postdoc, movement between sectors, and salary implications. There is considerable movement between employment sectors within the first six years post-PhD. Additionally, postdocs in PSE are shorter, better paid, and more often in nonacademic sectors than postdocs in LS. These results can help science and engineering faculty discuss a broader range of career pathways with doctoral students and help new PhDs make better informed early career decisions.
关于科学和工程博士后研究人员的讨论几乎完全集中在学术博士后及其最终获得终身教职岗位的机会上。此外，生物科学主导着政策研究和针对新博士的关于博士后就业的已发表建议。我们的分析使用了《获得博士学位者调查》和《博士学位获得者调查》，以了解在政府、工业和学术部门从事博士后工作的物理科学与工程（PSE）和生命科学（LS）毕业生的就业影响。我们研究了博士后的工作期限、留在博士后岗位的原因、在不同部门之间的流动以及薪资影响。在获得博士学位后的头六年内，就业部门之间有相当大的流动。此外，与生命科学博士后相比，物理科学与工程博士后的工作期限更短、薪酬更高、更常在非学术部门工作。这些结果可以帮助科学和工程学院的教师与博士生讨论更广泛的职业道路，并帮助新博士做出更明智的早期职业决策。
