The Roundtable on Mentorship, Well-being, and Professional Development will be holding an open session on the roles, responsibilities, expectations, and benefits that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students and postdoctoral scholars serve and receive across the U.S. STEM enterprise. Through this session, the Roundtable is hoping to explore the current landscape and history of graduate student and postdoctoral scholar labor movements, including questions such as:

• What are the current expectations of STEM graduate students and postdoctoral scholars and how have these changed?
• Why are these critical members of the STEM ecosystem turning to unionization and collective bargaining?
• What is the full extent of this current movement?
• What might the STEM community learn from the movement towards unionization and collective bargaining?

Panelists included:

• Emily Ackerman, Postdoctoral Researcher at Lahav Lab, Harvard Medical School
• Don Dixon, Astrophysics PhD student, Vanderbilt University
• Bill Mahoney, Associate Dean of Student and Postdoctoral Affairs, the University of Washington
• Trent McDonald, Staff Organizer, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
• Gary Rhoades, Professor and Interim Department Head of Department of Educational Policy Studies & Practice, Interim Director of Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona