Taking Collective Responsibility University of Washington, Computer Science & Engineering Aruna Balasubramanian, new faculty at Stony Brook, networking Gaetano Borriello, faculty, computing for development (ICTD) Ed Lazowska, faculty, systems and eScience Ben Ransford, post-doc, sensor systems Simon Peter, post-doc, systems and networking Dan Ports, post-doc, distributed systems and languages Sudeepa Roy, post-doc, databases

Major trends for CSE post-docs  More post-doc positions  UW had 2 in 2003, now we are at 27  growth in dept including 50% more ugrads pales in comparison  More competitive hiring  More graduating grads feel a need for a “finishing school”  Increase visibility within appropriate research community  Begin to assert more independence in choice of research topics  Inconsistency in experiences  Post-docs often viewed as “super-grad” or “staff who write papers”  Rarely is there collective department responsibility, left to PI 23 May 20142Post-doc Best Practices Meeting

Our proposal  Visibility  Increase visibility with department faculty  Seminars, discussion of exiting post-docs, exposure to other students, networking among post-docs  Independence  Support fast-tracked REU-like proposals for funding undergrads to work with post-doc on topics independent of PI  Workshops on grant writing, publication process/tradeoffs, advising, etc.  Department investment  Faculty post-doc coordinator and ombudsman  Treating post-docs as department products just as grads are – web pages, job placement, advertising achievements  Periodic progress check towards goals set out initially in post-doc plan 23 May 2014Post-doc Best Practices Meeting3

Our proposal (cont’d)  Experimental design and evaluation  Recruit a set of universities to implement UW policies  Measure differences against control group w/ no intervention  National coordination role  Disseminate practices  Checklist for post-docs and mentors 23 May 2014Post-doc Best Practices Meeting4

23 May 2014Post-doc Best Practices Meeting5

First steps  Survey of chairs of Taulbee departments  Implement department practices for post-docs at UW  REU-like small grants for independent research  Checklist for post-doc process  Decide on metrics and start collecting data (logic model)  Hire 50% professional staff to manage project (David Rispoli) 23 May 2014Post-doc Best Practices Meeting6

Thank you!  Gaetano Borriello,  David Rispoli, 23 May 2014Post-doc Best Practices Meeting7

Notes 23 May 2014Post-doc Best Practices Meeting8

Notes  Chang – NYC Ascent  Columbia, Cornell Tech, CUNY, NYU-Poly  1300 tech companies, growing ecosystem  38 total post-docs: Columbia 14, Cornell 13, Poly 7, CUNY 4  388 PhD students  Annual career symposium  IDP (UCSF-FASEB), USC form, as part of a post-doc orientation?  Post-doc leadership certificate program  How to involve NYU-Abu Dhabi and Cornell-Ithaca  Tracking their job outcomes – and later in career  Industry post-docs? – MSR, Google for us at UW 23 May 2014Post-doc Best Practices Meeting9

Notes  ASU  Multi-level support for post-docs: PI, dep’t, college, univ.\  ASU, UA, NAU + Science Foundation Arizona  CSE post-docs in other depts: BMI, EE, Biodesign  Most post-docs are foreign-born  4 REU grants  CSE Post-doc academy  Synthesis center – post-doc space, career devel skills  Several social events already  Looking for coordinator – almost an offer 23 May 2014Post-doc Best Practices Meeting10

Snowbird Panel - Sproull  90 minutes (1 of n parallel sessions)  Sproull summarizes the problem (white paper)  Jane summarizes CIFellows evaluation  Three programs – 10 minutes each – salient features, what is underway, web site, contacts  Brent talks about industry post-doc  50 minutes – then the rest q/a  Slides in advance so they can be merged into one package 23 May 2014Post-doc Best Practices Meeting11