PNNL

Abstract

After listening to my friends for many years (and reading numerous online comments in The Scientist), I was surprised that being a biologist was considered a low stress job with a bright future. Grousing about our jobs has always been a favorite pastime for biologists, but I suspect that in our hearts, we know how good we really have it. Even though research funding is tight and faculty positions are scarce, biologists still have one of the most interesting and exciting jobs around. I certainly don’t think that our current situation is worse than in the past. The real reason why the job outlook in biology seems dim is that research professors are training students to be university research scientists instead of preparing them for the broader job market. The result is that many new PhDs are frustrated to find that the specific positions they are trained for either don’t exist or have 300 applicants.