1. The Ohio Miami Valley Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience May 16, 2014 Making your way on the journey to a postdoc Patrick Sonner, Ph.D. Labib Rouhana, Ph.D. Nadja Grobe, Ph.D.

2. Who are we? It’s all relative.

3. Current challenges in academia Schillebeeckx et al. 2013, Nature Biotechnology 31: 938-941 Declining grant success rates 800,000 PhDs versus 100,000 faculty positions in science and engineering NIH IMPAC, success rate file

4. Why is a PhD worthwile? contribute to understanding of nature pursue a subject out of love design own research be creative and meaningful constant intellectual challenge mentor young scientists

5. Career options Academia (research- or teaching-intensive) Science education for general public or schools/universities Healthcare Science writing Government (NIH, NSF, EPA, DOE, USDA, DOD) Policy Intellectual property career (patents) Business Sales, marketing Biotech/Pharma (research- or administrative-intensive) Check out http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/

6. Benefits of a postdoc No longer a student - not yet faculty Explore career and environment Expand network of experts Flexibility Opportunities Mentoring experience Practice grant writing More stable funding rates for fellowships Increase publication record Additional time for decision about future career choices

7. Case studies break-out groups read 3-4 case studies Discuss each case study within group chooses favorite profile groups report and discuss their choices and rationale to the full audience rationale for profile choices are noted on a white board

8. Questions?