A cross-institutional analysis of the effects of broadening trainee professional development on research productivity

Abstract

PhD-trained scientists are essential contributors to the workforce in diverse employment sectors that include academia, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. Hence, best practices for training the future biomedical workforce are of national concern. Complementing coursework and laboratory research training, many institutions now offer professional training that enables career exploration and develops a broad set of skills critical to various career paths. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded academic institutions to design innovative programming to enable this professional development through a mechanism known as Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST). Programming at the NIH BEST awardee institutions included career panels, skill-building workshops, job search workshops, site visits, and internships. Because doctoral training is lengthy and requires focused attention on dissertation research, an initial concern was that students participating in additional complementary training activities might exhibit an increased time to degree or diminished research productivity. Metrics were analyzed from 10 NIH BEST awardee institutions to address this concern, using time to degree and publication records as measures of efficiency and productivity. Comparing doctoral students who participated to those who did not, results revealed that across these diverse academic institutions, there were no differences in time to degree or manuscript output. Our findings support the policy that doctoral students should participate in career and professional development opportunities that are intended to prepare them for a variety of diverse and important careers in the workforce.

Entrepreneurial sensemaking and transdisciplinary graduate entrepreneurship education

“…In this way, awareness and capacity rather than capability and performance are emphasized. Moreover, such entrepreneurial agency aligns with previously described calls to transform graduate education in ways that more fully prepare for and promote career pathways outside of academia (Bienkowska and Klofsten, 2012; Brandt, et al , 2021; Sharmini and Spronken-Smith, 2020).…”

Using stakeholder insights to enhance engagement in PhD professional development

“…In addition, some faculty stakeholders do not see the value of CPD activities and expressed some concern about the time their pre- and post-doctoral researchers dedicate to these activities. However, recent evidence-based research has shown that participation in internships, career development programming, K-12 outreach programs or IRACDA programs does not lead to increased time to degree or decreased productivity [ 3 , 24 – 26 ]. Pre- and post-doctoral researchers, faculty/administrators and external partners all noted the value of flexible programming to encourage pre- and post-doctoral researcher engagement.…”

“…Foremost among them is the faculty. Data from the BEST Consortium indicated that a large majority of faculty are supportive of career training for various careers and have recognized that pre- and post-doctoral researchers participating in CPD activities were happier and making timely progress toward degree completion–a fact that can be used to recruit additional internal stakeholder engagement from faculty [ 3 – 5 ]. Faculty don’t always believe they have the knowledge or resources to assist pre- and post-doctoral researchers whose career interests lie outside academia, although they largely support their career pursuits [ 5 – 8 ].…”

Creation of a Novel Biomedical Engineering Research Course for Incarcerated Students

“…Our experiences serving as instructors while doctoral students corroborate findings from prior literature-rather than detracting from our research goals, designing and teaching this course contributed to our professional development as researchers, educators, and mentors. [47][48][49] We learned about ourselves and our own teaching philosophies and gained translational skills such as practicing techniques for project and classroom management and creative problem solving. Throughout the year we also learned much from, and were inspired by, our students.…”