Biology subjects

Petrie, K. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Petrie, K. A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

From goal to outcome: analyzing the progression of biomedical sciences PhD careers in a longitudinal study using an expanded taxonomy

Biomedical sciences PhDs pursue a wide range of careers inside and outside academia. However, there is little data regarding how career interests of PhD students relate to the decision to pursue postdoctoral training or to their eventual career outcomes. Here, we present the career goals and career outcomes of 1,452 biomedical sciences PhDs who graduated from Vanderbilt University between 1997-2021. We categorized careers using an expanded three-tiered taxonomy and flags that delineate key career milestones. We also analyzed career goal changes between matriculation and defense, and the reasons why students became more- or less-interested in research-intensive faculty careers. We linked students career goal at defense to whether they did a postdoc, the duration of time between defense and the first non-training position, the career area of the first non-training position, and the career area of the job at ten years after graduation. Finally, we followed individual careers for ten years after graduation to characterize movement between different career areas over time. We found that most students changed their career goal during graduate school, declining numbers of alumni pursued postdoctoral training, many alumni entered first non-training positions in a different career area than their goal at defense, and the career area of the first non-training position was a good indicator of the job that alumni held 10 years after graduation. Our findings emphasize that students need a wide range of career development opportunities and career mentoring during graduate school to prepare them for futures in research and research-related professions.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2020

Measuring effects of trainee professional development on research productivity: A cross-institutional meta-analysis

PhD-trained scientists are essential contributors to the workforce in diverse employment sectors that include academia, industry, government, and non-profit 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 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 BEST awardee institutions included career panels, skill-building workshops, job-searching workshops, site visits, and internships. An initial concern was since doctoral training is lengthy and requires focused attention on dissertation research, having students participate in additional complementary training activities might lengthen time to degree and hamper student research productivity. To address this concern, using time to degree and publication records as measures of efficiency and productivity, metrics were analyzed from ten BEST awardee institutions. 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. Furthermore, a few institutions even demonstrated a positive correlation between participation in career and professional development activities and productivity. Our findings suggest that doctoral students should be encouraged to participate in career and professional development opportunities to ensure their preparedness for a variety of diverse and important careers in the workforce. Significance StatementOur study is unique in that it compiled doctoral degree durations at ten different universities, recorded individual participation in career and professional development activities in terms of dosage, and tracked individual engagement in real-time rather than relying on surveys sent to trainees after graduation. Participation in career and professional development activities, including internships, did not decrease efficiency or productivity. Our findings suggest that doctoral students should be encouraged to participate in career and professional development opportunities to ensure their preparedness for a variety of diverse and important careers in the workforce.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2018

Applying Inter-rater Reliability to Improve Consistency in Classifying PhD Career Outcomes

In the past year, there has been an exciting groundswell of national efforts to integrate multiple taxonomies for the transparent dissemination and analysis of PhD career outcomes. In this study, we leveraged the unique resources of the Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training Consortium to examine the reliability of the three-tiered Unified Career Outcomes Taxonomy (UCOT v.2017) that was collaboratively developed at a meeting convened by Rescuing Biomedical Research in August 2017. Using an amended version of the UCOT v.2017 (UCOT v.2017-rev1) and a new Supplementary Guidance document, we categorized over 570 PhD alumni records from three different universities. Utilizing Krippendorffs alpha to measure the interrater reliability from nine different individuals, we determined moderate to robust reproducibility within the first two tiers of the taxonomy (Workforce Sector and Career Type); however, the reliability for the third tier (Job Function) did not meet established standards. The team identified significant sources of error, revised category definitions, improved coder training materials and processes, and tested for improved reliability through coding 219 PhD alumni records using the revised taxonomy, UCOT v.2017-rev2. Our results revealed that the changes introduced in UCOT v.2017-rev2 improved inter-rater reliability in all three tiers, and either met or exceeded the acceptable standards for reliability. A final set of clarifications were made to UCOT v.2017-rev2, resulting in UCOT v.2018 and a Finalized Guidance document. Our findings underscore the importance of carefully developing guidance documents to aid coders in the reliable and consistent categorization of alumni career outcomes. We propose periodic assessment of the UCOT v.2018 to address the natural evolution of PhD careers in the global workforce. Ultimately, we hope that UCOT v.2018 will aid in the classification and dissemination of alumni career outcomes that is essential to educating trainees, institutions, and agencies about the diversity of career options for PhDs, and therein empower all PhDs to pursue the careers of their choice.

scientific communication and education↗