We know iJOBS is here to expose us sheltered grad students/post docs to the opportunities outside of academia. However, for those committed to the academic track, iJOBS, together with the Postdoc Association, hosted our very own Dr. Samuel Bunting and his wife, Dr. Nina Peel to take us through their two different academic career paths and how they pulled it all off as a husband-and-wife team. So listen up if you are interested in finding a job at an undergraduate college or a university, and are hoping that once you do, your significant other will still be geographically nearby!
Dr. Nina Peel
Currently an Assistant Professor at TCNJ (The College of New Jersey), Dr Peel started off with an undergraduate degree and PhD from the UK. She then completed her postdoc at the NIH. Dr Peel focused on research in simple organisms (in her case, D. melanogaster and C. elegans) and on expanding her teaching experience. In her position at a PUI (Primarily Undergraduate Institution) she teaches, A LOT, while maintaining a laboratory capable of conducting original research, but on a smaller scale, with a much lower budget, and with only herself and undergrads to do the work. Her salary and lab are primarily funded by TCNJ and not from external grants.
TENURE: Tenure is available at PUIs, but the requirements are less research-oriented. TCNJ requires 2 peer-reviewed publications, which due to budget and lab capacity will tend to be in smaller, lower impact factor journals; OR 1 such publication and 1 grant proposal that gets scored highly (doesn’t even have to be funded!). The teaching component for tenure is huge – student and peer reviews need to be at least average, and if they are low, the faculty member needs to have shown a very clear commitment to improving.
Advice for those interested in a PUI position:
- You NEED to have a lot of teaching experience, specifically showing you understand the limits and capabilities of undergrads; most people have TA experience, so make sure you have more than just that
- It is highly unlikely that the college will support mouse or rat work; experience with simpler organisms is preferred
- The following 3 sources put together will cover most of the available job ads for PUIs: Chronicles of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and Higher Ed Jobs
- Apply more broadly than you think you should – are you a geneticist that can also pass off as a biochemist? Great, apply to postings for both!
Dr. Samuel Bunting
Currently an Assistant Professor at Rutgers, Dr. Bunting also completed his undergraduate and PhD in the UK. However, due to an unfortunate scooping, he graduated with no first author papers, and moved to the USA to find a suitable postdoc to get him back on track. His work paid off, getting him a paper in Cell. He applied and received a K99 grant, and thus armed, began applying to faculty positions. After several months of living out of a suitcase to do interviews all over the US, he accepted an offer at Rutgers. I won’t go into details about how a lab at a university runs, because I assume most readers are very familiar with the concept. Feel free to ask for clarification in the comments though!
TENURE: Tenure is, of course, available. Generally, requirements for tenure at a university are very research-focused. 4-5 publications, with the PI as last author, are generally mandatory. Furthermore, the PI needs to have a certain number of grants funded in order to keep the lab running. Unlike the PUI, the university takes a high percentage of the PI’s grants to cover operating costs, and the rest goes towards funding the lab and salaries for the PI and all research staff.
Advice for those interested in a PI position at a university:
- You NEED to have an “it” paper - a first author publication at a highly ranked journal
- Know what grants you are eligible for and apply – having one funded and ready to go will look great during your job search
- When you get your “it” paper, GO! Don’t hang around – next week 10 more people will be ready to join the applicant pool. In a month, it might be 50. Go now!
- Apply broadly, to all sorts of departments (within reason of course)
- Cultivate relationships with senior scientists in order to get reference letters from them – the more senior, the more weight a letter holds
- NatureJobs and ScienceCareers are a good place to start when looking for open positions
"In research, one must BE PERSISTENT. Bring your A game to the lab EVERY DAY, REGARDLESS of results or failures.”
-Dr. Samuel Bunting
The Two-Body Job Search
Dr’s Peel and Bunting finished their postdocs at the NIH at about the same time. They did not make it clear when they became a couple, but by this point they were serious enough to search for their placements in a way that would allow them to move together. Dr. Peel’s job search was offset by a few months from Dr. Bunting’s, as PUIs do most of their hiring during the summer, while universities do theirs in the early Fall. So, how did they pull this off?
- Set geographic constraints prior to applying for jobs; if one of you is more limited (to big cities, or a few states or whatever), the other would likely have to limit their job search accordingly
- When applying/interviewing, announce fairly early you have a spouse/partner that might need to be taken into consideration; be honest
- Most universities have a dual-career service organization – inquire about it and make contact with it!
- Regardless of how similar or different your specialties and career goals are, you never know how far someone is willing to go to find a job for your partner if they really want YOU
I hope those of you considering the academic career path find the advice summed up in this post helpful. Academia is challenging, but both speakers stressed that they also find it extremely rewarding. Good luck!