Going Beyond the Bench for Good: Alternate Careers for Science PhDs

For various reasons, ranging from imposter syndrome to burnout, I’ve thought a lot (but mostly in vague terms) about “alternative careers.” During my PhD third year slump I was even convinced, much to the chagrin of my advisor, I was going to join the Peace Corp. But a few months later, research picked up, leading to my first publication. I again felt the thrill of discovery and decided to pursue the next rung in the academic ladder: a postdoc.

Still, nowadays drive and interest in research are often not enough as less than 20% of PhD graduates are in tenure-track positions five years later. And so it is important to keep other careers in mind. For me at least, the only apparent “alternatives” were teaching or industry. But after years of attending discussion panels, talking to former colleagues, and delving into (somewhat unhelpful) books, such as “Alternative Careers in Science: Leaving the Ivory Tower” I realized there are a lot more options available. Therefore I thought it would be valuable to share what I learned and hopefully get other suggestions, anecdotes, or comments in return. The sections presented below include Science Policy, Teaching on various levels, Consulting, Writing and Communication, etc.

Science Policy

The realm of public policy that involves science, including funding of science and research, promoting technological innovation, monitoring environmental issues, and of course health care policy. As someone with no experience in politics I didn't know what a career in science policy looks like. Luckily, there is an article in ASBMB today titled “What Is Science Policy?” The author describes the field thus: “Science policy experts thus serve as the bridge between researchers and the public, using their talents to find ways to translate esoteric, often highly technical scientific issues into something that can be sold as good policy.” Policymakers can work either for legislators or for scientific societies.

Paths for entry:

There is a wealth of fellowships, offered by different organizations. Most are through government agencies and most offer stipends. Many will want writing samples to demonstrate that you can explain scientific concepts to the general public. One possibility is to volunteer writing for department or university newsletters.

OSTP Internship Program: 3-month unpaid internship with Office of Science and Technology Policy, which advises the President on the effects of these issues on domestic and international affairs.

Phoebe S. Leboy Public Policy Fellowship:  2-year paid fellowship with the Association for Women in Science in D.C. Work includes analyzing policy issues related to gender and science, working with advocacy agencies, preparing advocacy documents, and attending conferences.

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: 1-2-year paid fellowship for recent PhD graduates with public affairs office of ASBMB.

FDA ORISE Fellowship: Paid (no benefits), gives recent graduates “opportunities to participate in project-specific FDA research and developmental activities.” This is rather vague but from a former colleague is in the program I learned that the duties and experience is very specific to position so that some fellows do lab work while others do not. Non-lab work includes reading scientific papers, data organizing and analysis.

FDA Commissioner’sFellowship Program: receive regulatory science training and work on science, regulatory, and policy issues. Specifically for those with a PhD.

NIH/NHGRI Geneticsand Public Policy Fellowship: "Designed as a bridge for genetics professionals wishing to transition to a policy career.” 16 month, paid with benefits with 3 rotations: NIH, Legislative Branch, nonprofit science advocacy sector.

Christine MirzayanScience & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program: 12-week ($8,500 stipend) at National Academy of Sciences working with a mentor to learn about science and technology policy through an immersive (ie intense) experience.

AAAS Science &Technology Policy Fellowship: 1-year. “Fellows engage their knowledge and analytical skills while learning first-hand about policymaking and implementation at the federal level.”

Science Writing/Communication

Science writer:

A science writer can write for either the general public in a newspaper or magazine, distilling the science, or to other scientists, for example, writing the “Perspectives” column in peer-reviewed science journals. Clearly journalism as a whole has come on hard times and so not surprisingly, most jobs are freelance. Though salaried positions are to be found. Part of the job of a science writer is to decide which discoveries are important for the public to know about.

Point of entry: There are Master’s programs for science writing and communication as well as some fellowships, including the AAAS Mass Media internship. A good resource for those interested is the National Association of Science Writers.

Medical writing:

This broad category includes writing reviews or practice guidelines for medical societies and writing the manuscript for publishing results from clinical trials. The former means communicating and coordinating with the doctor’s actual conducting the studies. Often times, this writing is contracted out to companies by the hospital. Finally, medical writing can include writing the labels that go on drugs.

Editor at a Scientific Journal:

I saw job postings for assistant editors open to recent PhD graduates, but postdoctoral experience seemed to be preferred. Generally, strong communication and interpersonal skills, ability to meet deadlines, and multitasking is required. Some positions include travelling to conferences to promote the journal. Here is a good anecdote of someone who transitioned from apostdoc to editor. 

Freelance Editor:

Edit content, form, style, and language for research groups submitting their papers for peer-reviewed publication. Have to check for both language and scientific mistakes (figures match up with text). The speaker on the panel said she gets a lot of non-English-speaking clients. She said that in order to break into this field as a freelancer, she volunteered to edit many papers for free and then depended on word of mouth.

Consulting

Okay, if someone has a concrete description of this job, other than strategic problem solving for clients, please tell me. I became aware of this job only because of recruiters coming to school from various consulting firms, including McKinsey and the Boston Consulting Group. Another popular one is Booz-Allen & Hamilton. From what I heard you are generally assigned a specific project and may have more than one project at a time. Often travel is required, but there is some job flexibility. Oh yeah, and the possibility for a pretty good paycheck. Additionally consultants can work for themselves or with a firm and may or may not be permanent employees. I had a pretty good idea this wasn’t for me, but for more information, check out http://biocareers.com/resource/getting-started-consulting.

Marketing

This involves marketing products from different scientific companies like Eppendorf, to laboratories. No offense but this job is a bit too schmoozey for me. But I met someone at a discussion panel who seemed to genuinely enjoy her job. She said it involves travelling to different universities companies and talking to people (the amount of travel depends on whether you live in a city or more rural) and learn about new products than can help the client. She enjoyed gaining sales experience. The hours seemed pretty good with only a bit of work required from home to give clients a quote or set up an account.

Tech Transfer

When a lab in a university develops a technology, such as a drug or vaccine, they first check with the university’s technology transfer agency to assess the possibility for a copyright, patent, or trademark. The job requires basic science knowledge as well as patent law, business, and marketing skills because the transfer specialist has to determine the potential for intellectual development, identify companies to approach, and even pitch the product and negotiate contracts. The job is fairly varied from day to day and was described as “moderately stressful.”

Teaching

At the college-level:

If you only want to teach without maintaining your own lab at the college-level, you are most likely looking at either a full-time position at a liberal arts school or community college (which usually don’t conduct research) or a part-time/adjunct position. Many science courses have a laboratory component, which you as the instructor would be responsible for. Additionally certain universities may want faculty to run a small lab to support undergraduate research projects.

What to expect when applying: The university/college will most likely request a teaching statement and possibly a teaching portfolio. It seems that many colleges/universities hiring full-time faculty require 1-2 years of teaching experience preferably at a similar institutional level (i.e. community college if you’re applying to a community college). I was told that postdoctoral experience is preferred, even for teaching-only positions. There are increasingly more “teaching postdocs” available and many universities have either classes or certification programs to expose scientists to pedagogy.

Resources: http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/teaching-statements/

Where to look: Sites such as Chronicle of Higher Education, Higher Ed Jobs, Inside Higher Jobs

At the high school level:

Admittedly, I don’t know too much about this. Most states will require a certification or licensing, an exam to test competency, background check (obviously), and possibly “student teaching” experience. It appears that the bureaucracy is a lot less for private school, but so is the pay. I came upon an interesting looking online teaching certification program called TeachNow.

Nonprofit/Science Outreach

Society for Science and the Public: – publishes Science News and organizes education programs such as the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (of which I am a 2002 alumnus ;)) and the Broadcom MASTERS. They have internships and jobs as science writers and editors.

One panel member was a science historian for the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia. Her job entailed conducting oral history interviews with scientists as well as contributing to the foundation blog, writing a monthly feature for the foundation newsletter. The CHF also does outreach programs to get women in chemistry.

Other nonprofit organizations:

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

AAAS (see science communication and policy sections)

Patent Law

Work for a law firm, which is hired by drug companies to do searches for claims on patents and litigation support. Often, the firm will pay for you to go to law school, although the panel speaker I heard did not have or want to get a law degree.

Point of entry: Panel member emailed law firms to find position.