From Academia to the Marketplace
Post-docs explore alternative employment opportunities at job fair.
By Cassie Chew
ROCKVILLE, Md.
Firm grip, palm-to-palm and three shakes. Those are the elements of a positive first impression-giving handshake and among the pointers a group of more than 300 postdoctoral professionals received at a day-long conference and career fair designed to help them make the transition from academia to the marketplace.
Sponsored by several economic development and business groups in Maryland, organizers of the First Annual Post-Doc Conference and Career Expo encouraged these science and technology professionals to continue their careers in the region.
“We’ve dreamed about you, thought about you for the past six months and we are here to help you move along your career in Rockville, Montgomery County and Maryland,” Sally Sternbach, executive director of Rockville Economic Development Inc., told students who convened late last month at the University of Maryland’s Shady Grove campus, just outside of Washington, D.C.
About 4,000 postdoctoral professionals pass through the area each year. The newly-minted Ph.D.s conduct research at federal labs across the Washington metro area, at agencies such as NASA, the National Academies, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Naval Research Lab and the U.S. Army Research Lab.
In addition to promoting the region’s businesses as a place to advance their careers, the conference sessions encouraged entrepreneurship and introduced the post-docs to nontraditional career paths.
“Academics is a wonderful place to be, but it’s not the only place to be,” said Dr. Carol Nacy, founder of Rockville, Md.-based Sequella Inc., a biotechnology firm that researches treatments for tuberculosis.
