In progress
Any project, supported or not by a committee, that is currently being worked on or is considered active, and will have an end date.
Topics
A lack of action on long-standing issues coupled with recent societal disruptions has led to growing tensions and challenges between graduate students and postdoctoral scholars and the faculty and institutions that are meant to train them. Building on relevant reports and projects, this national action-focused summit will highlight changes in learning environments, skills acquisition, and the roles and responsibilities of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars while exploring proposed approaches and effective practices around changing the nature of mentorship, providing awareness of career pathways, and right-sizing the quantity of postdoctoral scholars in service of ensuring a robust U.S. research talent base.
Featured publication
2025
Early career STEMM professionals - individuals entering graduate school or seeking postdoctoral positions - face decreasing programmatic support, resulting in smaller cohort sizes. Amid growing tension and uncertainty, critical questions have reemerged around the role of trainees within this system...
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Description
A planning committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will plan and host an action-focused Summit on reimagining STEMM graduate education and postdoctoral career development. The primary goal of the Summit is to identify key levers and actions that are needed to ensure the sustainability of the U.S. STEMM research enterprise while continuing to support, engage, and promote the success of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in STEMM careers. The Summit will build on relevant National Academies reports, publications, and projects including the recent conversation series conducted across multiple National Academies divisions that examined emergent changes to education and career development for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars and the sustainability of U.S. STEMM research enterprise. In preparation for the Summit, the committee will commission a series of papers that will be made available in advance of the event. A Proceedings of the Summit will be published to summarize the discussions that take place.
Collaborators
Committee
Co-Chair
Co-Chair
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Member
Sarah Rovito
Staff Officer
Sponsors
Kavli Foundation
National Academy of Sciences Arthur L. Day Fund
National Academy of Sciences W.K. Kellogg
Staff
Rian Lund Dahlberg
Karla Riley