The existence of many good and rewarding jobs outside academia - in federal agencies (EPA, NOAA, FWS, USGS, FDA etc.) as well as in state agencies, the private sector (e.g. consulting firms) and non-profits (environmental groups) or for those who love teaching, teaching in K-12 seems to be ignored in this discussion.
> If we agree that jobs for ecologists are resource limited, and > If we agree that resources are not increasing, > then it follows that ecologists who wish to produce intellectual offspring > (MS and PhD) should produce such offspring in a way that maximizes the > probability that they will be represented in the next generation's career > 'gene pool'. > > If ecologists believe the current job market is competitive, they should > reproduce like albatrosses, maximizing their investment in a very few > highly competitive offspring with a wide array of attractive skills > (K-slection). > If they believe the current job market is essentially a crap shoot, then > they should spawn like salmon, investing little or nothing, with > subsequent > massive mortality, and only a few offspring surviving (r-selection) > > The present situation seems to be more salmonid in an albatross > environment > with considerable human carnage. What can be done? > > Individuals can look into other fields but that means giving up a dream > and > acquiring more debt if they go back to school to retrain. If they stay, > they risk remaining on the outside of academic/professional leks, > opportunistically exploiting irregular and marginal rewards. They can > teach, becoming contingent faculty, a growing national scandal where > untenured faculty with precarious teaching positions may rely on food > stamps to get by. If they have a large debt from student loans, they will > end up taking just about any job that allows them to make their monthly > repayments. > > The long term solution is a ZPG for ecologists: professors should > essentially only reproduce themselves. Some may reply that they need > 'excess' grad students as teaching assistants. In reality these positions > could be filled and better taught by what are now contingent faculty. Make > these better paid, give them a heavier load than one or two classes a > semester and provide five-year contracts that would give them with more > security. Faculty should not admit grad students unless they can be fully > supported by fellowships. > > With fewer degrees each year, agencies might consider increasing the > number > of independent post docs that are long enough to be useful (5 years?) to > allow people to develop. Funders should be prepared, if they fund projects > with interns, to fund them at a living wage. Funding agencies should also > support programs that support those in overcrowded fields who wish to > retrain for teaching or health fields. We make a big point of wanting more > people to enter the STEM fields, maybe we need to think more about how to > retain them. > > > > David Duffy > > > > > On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 10:57 AM, David L. McNeely <mcnee...@cox.net> > wrote: > >> ---- Kevin Klein <kkl...@mail.ic.edu> wrote: >> > I haven't been able to follow the entire thread but one thing I draw >> from >> > what I have read is that it is incumbent on those of us who work with >> > students at all stages in their academic careers to also advise them >> to >> > consider the job market in their chosen disciplines. In so doing, >> they >> > make more informed decision and they study with eyes open wide on the >> > possibilities open to them at the next stage in their life and career >> > journey. Much easier said than done. It reminds me of two PhD >> markets >> in >> > recent years. One, where hundreds of applicants vied for the reported >> 2 >> or >> > 3 job openings that year and second the hundreds of positions open for >> the >> > 2 or 3 PhD candidates graduating each year. Hopefully we advise our >> > students of the job market realities. One place a student might look >> for >> > this information can be found here. >> > http://www.bls.gov/ooh/occupation-finder.htm >> > >> > >> Hmmm.... . I was an academic biologist for 35+ years, after the time >> spent preparing. I cannot recall a time when there were "hundreds of >> positions open for 2 or 3 Ph.D. candidates graduating each year." I do >> recall a good many times when the opposite was true. >> >> David McNeely >> > > > > -- > > Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit > Botany > University of Hawaii > 3190 Maile Way > Honolulu Hawaii 96822 USA > 1-808-956-8218 >
