Monthly Archives: February 2011

Chemists face employment woes – but there are ways to prosper

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The rise of the biochemist and the challenges faced by recent chemistry graduates were among US employment trends discussed by analysts from the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in a webinar last week. We’ve summarised the key points for you below – let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Troubling figures

Unemployment among ACS members in 2009 and 2010 was at the highest level since 1972, when the society started collecting annual data, according to ACS researcher Gareth Edwards. “It’s a very troublesome figure,” says Edwards. “We are hoping it has at least plateaued or is going to decrease in forthcoming years.”

But biochemistry is blossoming

Brian Roberts from the BLS says employment trends for life scientists are much more positive than for chemists.

One of the reasons is that while chemists are “falling out of favour” in pharmaceutical research, biochemists are flourishing due to the shift in emphasis towards biotechnology and other life sciences in the sector.

Experience beats youth

Recent chemistry graduates are losing out to older, more experienced employees when it comes to finding a job. “In the race between people with experience and new graduates, people with experience are winning,” says David Harwell, assistant director for careers at ACS.

“Having seasoned vets on staff seems to be cheaper than hiring two [less experienced people] at half the price,” adds Edwards.

“Try before you buy”

The unpredictable financial climate in the United States has resulted in an increase in the number of people being employed on fixed-term contracts. “That’s especially true at the bachelor’s or associate level,” says Harwell. “It’s a little bit of ‘try before you buy’ for the employers.”

Have you been affected?

Are you a recent chemistry graduate struggling to find a job? Are you looking at biochemistry as an alternative option? Share your experiences in the comment box.

Should animal research scientists speak out?

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“Stay as far away from the camera as possible.” That’s the advice given to scientists involved in animal research by Ranga Yogeshwar, a TV presenter and former scientist, in this week’s issue of Nature. As part of a special focus on animal research, Yogeshwar goes head-to-head with Tipu Aziz and John Stein from John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, UK, on the contentious topic of whether scientists who conduct research using animal models should become public advocates for their research (see ‘Animal testing: TV or not TV?’).

Yogeshwar contends that speaking out will have no discernable impact on the threat posed by fanatical activists. “No amount of argument will change such views,” he says. He isn’t against speaking out in support of animal testing in public per se, but says it should be done via the print media. Television, he argues, is a “totally unsuitable” platform for discussing nuanced subjects such as animal research because it is dominated by emotionally charged simplistic messages.

– Read Yogeshwar’s viewpoint in full

Aziz and Stein, who spoke about their work on macaque monkey models of Parkinson’s disease in a BBC documentary in 2006, contend that scientists must speak out to counter anti-vivisectionists who twist the truth. They add that the documentary led to a proper national discussion on the issue. And with researchers’ details freely available on the web, “remaining silent is not an option”.

– Read Aziz and Stein’s viewpoint in full

If scientists do speak out, what support should they expect from their employer? In many cases not much, according to a survey of nearly 1,000 biomedical scientists also published in Nature this week. Although 55 per cent of animal researchers said their institutions encouraged them to communicate with the general public, less than half of them were offered support and training to help them do so (see ‘Battle scars’ and ‘Animal rights and wrongs’).

What do you think? Should animal researchers speak out in public in support of their work, and if so, how? Should institutions only put forward researchers who have been appropriately trained to deal with the media? Share your views in the comments below.

You can read more on this issue in Nature’s animal research special, or take part in a live Q&A about our animal research survey results on Friday 25 February at 4pm UK time.

Will the iPhone revolutionize research?

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One of the first scientists to use an iPhone application as a research tool thinks ‘apps’ could revolutionize psychological and social research.

Kathy Rastle, a cognitive psychologist at Royal Holloway University of London, is part of an international team that has adapted a classic behavioural psychology experiment so it can be downloaded as an app for the iPhone or iPad.

Apps offer access to a much wider audience than the typical pool of university undergraduates, and preliminary results suggest the data is as reliable as that from similar experiments under controlled laboratory conditions. Rastle adds that downloading an app is a much more attractive prospect for users than asking them to visit a website. “There’s something quite sexy about doing it on an iPhone,” she told Naturejobs.

The app, ‘Science XL: Test your word power’, presents users with a series of real and made-up words and tests how quickly and accurately the user can spot fake words. It was launched at the beginning of February and within the first few days had been downloaded and completed by around 500 people, thanks in part to Royal Holloway students promoting it on Facebook.

Rastle expects the number of people participating to increase further now that the app has started to attract greater attention, and says the method could be applied to a wide range of research. “Using the iPhone or iPad to conduct scientific research is a revolutionary new concept,” she says. “The possibilities are endless.”

The app is free to download from the iTunes app store – search for “Science XL”.

What do you think about using an app as a research tool? Do you have any suggestions for experiments that would work well as an app? Share your views in the comment box.

Tips for job hunting in dual-career relationships

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Chemists Sarah Tolbert and Benjamin Schwartz shared useful insight on some of the challenges of a dual-career relationship in academia at an American Chemical Society webinar last week.

The ‘two-body’ issue, which arises when one member of a couple with dual careers is exploring a job opportunity in a distant location, is widespread in academia: in Naturejobs’ 2010 salary survey, almost half of respondents said it was problematic (see ‘A dual dilemma’). The ‘trailing spouse’ must either look for a post in the new location as well, or take on a lengthy commute, deal with a long-distance relationship or accept unemployment.

Tolbert and Schwartz, an academic couple at University of California, Los Angeles, offered several tips from a US perspective on how to approach the first option: looking for two new jobs.

When looking for two equal academic jobs, if possible they advise choosing your fields so that you can both add to the academic diversity of a department. “If you have the same research background, it is very hard to justify a department hiring both of you,” says Tolbert.

It’s also a good idea to go on the job market together, and when you are both as close as possible to your peak. If you can, avoid having one of you labelled as ‘the spouse’ at all – it’s better for whoever is hiring you to feel that they are making a free decision.

If you’re looking for jobs in different sectors or types of organisations, focus on bigger cities where you have better odds of finding two appropriate positions due to the greater number of academic institutions and companies. In addition, most departments have personal ties to local industry or community colleges that you may be able to take advantage of. “It is okay to ask people to use these personal connections to help find a position for your spouse,” says Tolbert. Most universities also have lecturer positions that may be suitable for spouses.

Tolbert adds that universities sometimes have extra pools of money earmarked for hiring spouses, although these will only be used if a department really wants both members of a couple.

Whatever tactic you use, timing is crucial. “Your maximum negotiating power as a couple is in that very small window between when the department has given you an offer and when you actually say yes,” says Tolbert. “You have incredible power.” She ascribes this to the stubborn nature of many academics – once they have finally agreed on who they should make an offer to, they’ll work very hard to get that person.

Do you agree with their advice? Do you have any other useful tips for managing job hunting in dual-career relationships? Are you affected by the two-body issue? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment.

New squeeze on tenure in the United States?

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Hundreds of tenured staff are taking early retirement deals on offer at US universities, Times Higher Education reported last week. Universities are offering incentives of up to two years’ salary in a move that some see as a way to further reduce the proportion of tenured positions in academia, according to the report.

John Curtis, director of research and public policy at the American Association of University Professors, says that although the incentives are not targeted at tenured staff, they may be contributing to tenure’s continuing decline. “Many of the tenured faculty members who are retiring, or who depart a particular university for a different reason, are not being replaced by a tenure-track colleague,” he told Naturejobs.

The proportion of faculty members in the tenure stream in the United States has been dropping for the past 40 years, falling from around three-quarters in 1970 to around 30% in 2007 (see ‘The changing face of tenure’). Curtis says that faculty members in limited-term or part-time positions are essentially ‘at-will’ employees, referring to the mode of employment that basically means staff can be fired at will without good cause, and are therefore wary of pushing their students too far or speaking out on controversial topics. He says universities moving away from the tenure system are failing to invest in their core mission of teaching and research.

What do you think? Have you been affected by the early retirement of a tenured colleague or professor? Are you struggling to find a tenure-track position? Do you live in a country where there is no tenure system? Post a comment to let us know your thoughts.