THE POWER OF A POSTDOC POSITION
By Joe Reyes, Ph.D.
During my graduate years, I spend hundreds of hours developing
hypotheses for my ideas. However, the primary goal was to complete
the original set of experiments, write the dissertation, and move
onto the next step - a postdoctoral position. What was this
postdoctoral position to accomplish? Initially, my goals were to
obtain expertise in new techniques so that I could continue
investigating my research ideas. The postdoctoral position met
those and many more goals.
Obtaining an APA-Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship in
Neuroscience allowed me to choose a lab which would provide me
exposure and training in research skills I needed. Through a
summer workshop at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole,
Mass., sponsored by the APA-MFP, I was exposed to aspects of the
academic environment I was not completely aware of. The program
prepared us with job seeking skills, presentation skills,
negotiating strategies, grant publication writing, teaching sills,
and the responsible and ethical issues that are faced by academics.
Many students during their graduate career are exposed to some of
these issues, but it is unlikely that they are covered in depth.
In my case as a first year postdoc in this program, I realized that
grant and publication writing was incredibly important to
maintaining my research career. What I did not realize was how
important the skills taught in the workshop were to my advancement
into a research career. Because of the job seeking skills I
acquired, finding a well suited position was not as strenuous as
many have experienced. Because of the presentation skills
acquired, I was perceived as a professional who could communicate
his ideas clearly and concisely. And because of my understanding
of the rigors of a tenure-track position I was able to negotiate my
teaching load and lab requirements to the satisfaction of both
myself and my employer.
I am now an assistant professor at an institution that I
believe will suit my particular skills and goals very well. I have
the research methodological skills necessary to pursue my research
interests and the academic collegial exposure necessary to begin my
career at an academic institution. I owe 90% of this to the lab I
conducted my postdoctoral training in and to the APA-MFP in
Neuroscience for providing the vehicle for my goals to flourish.
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