Trajectories into Early Career Research

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The proposed project will examine the linkage between graduate skill development and postgraduate career outcomes by (1) identifying the ways in which the development of research skills and professional goals during graduate training may predict postdoctoral career attainment and trajectories, (2) examining the capacity of postdoctoral research positions to serve as inflection points in early career researchers' career trajectories, and (3) characterizing the extent to which demographic characteristics mediate the relationships between graduate and postdoctoral experiences and subsequent professional trajectories of early career researchers. The research team will follow a sample of biology Ph.D. students through their final stages of graduate school and into early years of their scientific careers to determine which skills acquired during graduate education might predict and facilitate postdoctoral attainment and scholarly productivity. The project also will provide novel insights into inequalities in early career researchers' (ECR) trajectories and outcomes and inform policies and interventions aimed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of graduate training and postdoctoral support mechanisms. The overarching framework for the study is Social Cognitive Career Theory. The research team proposes to integrate the social cognitive, socialization, and economic and sociological lenses to conduct a longitudinal study of 286 Ph.D. students as they complete their degrees and enter the workforce in the biological sciences. They will investigate four hypotheses: (1) Professional trajectories within the cognitive, community, and organizational careers of ECRs will reflect "Matthew Effects" in which small initial differences account for increasingly large differences over time. (2) Research skills, self-efficacy, and organizational career goals during graduate school will jointly predict initial attainment and persistence in a postdoctoral position. Variance explained by these factors for subsequent career trajectories will wane over time, and variance explained by indicators of successes within the community and organizational careers will increase. (3) The features and opportunities associated with postdoctoral positions will predict both linear and geometric trends in subsequent cognitive, community, and organizational career trajectories of ECRs, as well as persistence in a research career path. (4) Professional trajectories within the cognitive, community, and organizational careers of ECRs, including persistence in a research career path, will vary as a function of interactions between sociodemographic characteristics, skills development, and environmental factors. The researchers will use longitudinal structural equation modeling to estimate and characterize trajectories within each career type and to quantify anticipated "Matthew Effects". Longitudinal structural equation modeling also will be used to understand how trajectories are related to each other and to participants' skill development, motivational factors, and graduate/postdoctoral experiences, as well as how trajectories could vary by demographic characteristics. They will estimate a latent growth curve model for this purpose. The research results could generate new insights and interventions for diversifying the scientific workforce by facilitating more equitable outcomes.The project is supported by the ECR program that emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. ECR supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent challenges in STEM interest, education, learning and participation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.