Workshop on Enhancing Postdoctoral Professional Skills to Advance Research and Workforce Development

新墨西哥州大学将举办一个研讨会，以实现博士后学者在国家研究界的可持续参与。博士后学者是STEM专业劳动力的重要组成部分。许多NSF项目为最近毕业的博士生提供了追求博士后经验的机会，并获得宝贵的学科专业知识和技能，使他们能够在学术界，政府和商业和工业界从事富有成效的职业。因此，NSF要求任何雇用博士后学者的项目都有博士后指导计划。这些计划通常包括与学术生涯相关的培训和机会，如先进仪器，专业分析，教学和出版。然而，其他各种知识领域，技能和能力也是博士后职业成功的核心，如领导技能，协作和团队科学。本次研讨会的主要目标是确定具体的知识，技能，和能力，博士后学者认为将有助于他们正在进行的研究和未来的职业成功，并制定一个最佳实践指南，可以导致更有影响力的博士后指导和培训经验。具体的研讨会活动包括1）设计和实施一个国家-对博士后研究人员进行广泛调查，以确定他们在特定知识领域、技能和能力方面的培训需求，以及他们作为学术培训的一部分接受这种培训的程度; 2）组建一个学科专家团队，设计教育模块和培训活动，以满足博士后研究人员的需求; 3）为教师和管理人员提供指导，以设计和实施更有效的博士后指导计划。作为研讨会的一部分，对最佳实践和解决方案的识别、采用和部署将使博士后学者在进入学术界、工业界和政府部门的职业生涯时做好更充分的准备，并取得更大的成功。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

The University of New Mexico will host a workshop to effect sustainable engagement of postdoctoral scholars in the national research community. Postdoctoral scholars represent a critical component of the STEM professional workforce. Many NSF projects provide an opportunity for recently graduated doctoral students to pursue postdoctoral experiences and gain valuable disciplinary expertise and skills that enable them to pursue productive careers in academia, government, and business and industry. Consequently, NSF requires postdoctoral mentoring plans for any project that employs postdoctoral scholars. Such plans routinely include training and opportunities related to academic careers such as advanced instrumentation, specialized analyses, and teaching and publishing. Yet, various other knowledge areas, skills, and capabilities are also central to postdoctoral career success such as leadership skills, collaboration, and team science. The primary objectives of this workshop are to identify the specific knowledge, skills, and capabilities that postdoctoral scholars believe would contribute most to their ongoing research and future career success and to develop a best-practices guide that can lead to more impactful postdoctoral mentoring and training experiences.The specific workshop activities include 1) designing and implementing a nation-wide survey of postdoctoral researchers to determine their needs for training with respect to particular knowledge areas, skills and capabilities, as well as the extent to which they receive this training as part of their academic training; 2) assembling a team of subject experts to design educational modules and training activities that would address the needs identified by postdoctoral researchers; and 3) provide guidance to faculty and administrators for designing and implementing more effective postdoctoral mentoring plans. Identification, adoption and deployment of the best practices and solutions identified as part of the workshop will result in postdoctoral scholars that are better prepared and more successful as they move into careers in academic, industry, and government.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.