Expanding Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue in the Postdoctoral Community

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The National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) will organize and host a 1.5-day workshop at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va., to expand dialogue in the postdoctoral community towards: (1) learning more about the postdoctoral experience in fields of study where postdoctorate study is not very common and (2) providing professional development opportunities for the postdoctoral participants.The NPA will invite postdoctoral scholars (postdocs) in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences, in computational science/cyber-infrastructure, and in other related fields of study to attend. Postdocs have not been a tradition in these sciences as in the life sciences, where completing a postdoc has become a requisite to career success. The NPA will also invite other relevant parties to participate, including representatives from appropriate professional societies. The NPA is called upon by Federal agencies and institutions across the country to provide a national voice for postdocs. It is crucial that the NPA learn more about the challenges faced by postdocs in fields of study where postdoctorate training is not common in order to better represent them and to make informed recommendations for best practices to improve retention of these postdocs in academic research. Some of the expected outcomes of this workshop are:1. That a written report of the proceedings of the workshop will be widely disseminated to the postdoctoral community and other relevant parties through the NPA.2. That the participants will build or strengthen their network of support.3. That lessons learned from this workshop will have a broader impact and provide insights as well as concrete recommendations for supporting new scientists across all disciplines.Intellectual MeritThere is little data/information available regarding the experiences of postdocs from these fields of study. Learning more about the social, behavioral, and economic sciences postdoctoral community is essential, as this population has been steadily increasing. Learning more about the postdocs in the computational sciences/cyber-infrastructure is also essential. The field of cyberinfrastructure is a relatively new cross-disciplinary field that provides sophisticated tools for all disciplines and so has the potential to involve postdocs from many and varied fields of study. Any information that can be gained from this workshop will be valuable.The NPA leadership engages on a regular basis with the most recent scholarship on postdoctoral scholars' experiences. The NPA will be able to create an informed and understanding platform for the workshop.Broader ImpactsThe workshop will result in a written report of the proceedings that will be widely disseminated by the NPA, on its Web site, at its meetings, and through its contacts. The information gained from this workshop will have a broader impact and provide insights for the national postdoctoral community across all fields of research.