Four years ago the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) launched the Postdoc Best Practice Program (Postdoc BP), designed to develop, implement and institutionalize the implementation of best practices for supporting postdocs. The Postdoc BP program was initiated due to a 157% rise[1] in computing postdocs between 2005 and 2010, which demanded attention from the computing community. A Steering Committee, led by Anita Jones (University of Virginia), was assembled to choose a set of institutions or consortia to design and investigate potential best practices for these postdocs.
Ultimately, the CCC awarded grants to three institutions/consortia:
- The University of Washington, led by Brian Curless and David Rispoli;
- Arizona’s Foundational Model for Postdoctoral Programs in Computer Science & Engineering at Large Universities (AZ), led by Chitta Baral and Partha Dasgupta;
- and Advancing Computer Science Careers through Enhanced Networking and Training (ASCENT) in New York, led by Shih-Fu Chang and Julia Hirschberg;
Over the course of the last four years, the programs have facilitated workshops, allocated travel grants, and provided mentorship to their postdocs. After the program concluded, Burçin Tamer and Heather Wright of CRA’s Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP) wrote a final report about the outcomes and experiences of the postdocs.
Below you can find key takeaways they identified in the report.
Key Lessons Learned:
- Regularly review progress with the postdocs: Systematic evaluation of progress helps postdocs stay on track and increases the quality of mentoring. Conducting these reviews using 3-6 month progress reports or individual development plans (IDP) can facilitate a productive assessment of progress. Adapting the reporting tools and/or IDP for the computing field will increase their usability.
- Match skill-sets with professional development opportunities: Postdocs may choose to attend activities on topics they feel more comfortable with or perceive as more immediately relevant to their careers; however, it is important to build all skills necessary for successful careers. Advisors and mentors should help identify the skills that are in greater need of improvement by closely reviewing progress reports and IDPs with each postdoc. Then, actively encourage professional development opportunities that are targeted towards refining those specific skills.
- Organize skill development activities in a variety of formats: Because postdocs are busy and may not be able to attend each event organized by their institution (or partnering institution), offering a variety of formats for skill development activities may help accommodate postdocs’ schedules and increase attendance rates. For example, live-streaming workshops or hosting webinars would help engage postdocs in professional development activities who still need to manage the demands on their time. Furthermore, this approach can reduce the number of resources and time required of the faculty/department. These online formats, in addition to hands-on activities held in person (e.g., job market preparation; grant writing), are important aspects to the overall postdoc training experience.
- Facilitate networking: Networking is a key component of postdoc professional development and future success as researchers in the field. During advising or mentoring sessions, identify opportunities for the postdoc to participate in that are tailored to building strong communication and networking skills. Further, incorporate networking opportunities into organized workshops and seminars, even for specialized topics.
- Keep in mind the geographical proximity of activities to the postdocs: While organizing activities as part of a postdoc program, it is important to consider the geographical location of the activities. For instance, when multiple institutions with a large geographical spread form a partnership for postdoctoral affairs, if events are primarily held in a single location, many postdocs are unable to attend.
The success of the postdoc program at AZ has led to the creation of a new Arizona State University Postdoctoral Affairs Office (UPAO). Per the AZ team’s final report: “The university-wide postdoc program has learned from the experience from the Postdoc BP AZ program and is expanding the offerings and communications with over 330 postdocs at ASU.”
Thank you to all the PIs, evaluators, program assistants, and postdocs who helped make this program possible! You can download the key takeaways in pdf format here and read the entire final report prepared by the CERP team at this link. Learn more about the recommended best practices on the Postdoc BP Resources page.
[1] https://cra.org/resources/taulbee-survey/
