Meeting the Nation's Needs for Biomedical and Behavioral Scientists: Summary of the 1993 Public Hearings (1994)

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SUMMARY OF ISSUES AND SUGGESTIONS FROM SPEAKERS 3 • employment conditions for working scientists, • the ability of scientists to move between academic and industrial employment, • attention to the educational and employment experiences of women and minorities, • retraining opportunities for mid-career scientists and the types of retraining programs that could be pursued on a part-time basis, and • innovative educational and employment programs between industry and academia. The Applicant Pool Suggestions for improving the applicant pool included: • maintaining and expanding the availability of traineeships/fellowships, • identifying predictors of success in research, and • opening NRSA training to foreign nationals. Physician Scientists The importance of clinical research to national goals was emphasized by a number of speakers. Many suggested that high priority be placed by the NRSA program to meet the needs for these investigators. Research Support Numerous participants commented on the need for basic research in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. Other suggestions for stabilizing the research base included the need to foster communication within the community of scholars who can act as a support group and network with each other, especially through electronic networks. ISSUE 2 ATTRACTING YOUNG PEOPLE TO CAREERS IN SCIENCE2 Young people are attracted to science for the excitement and challenge as well as the opportunity to build a stable and rewarding career. Yet, the loss of potential scientists occurs at every stage of the education path, from early childhood education through graduate school. According to some of the speakers, students think “science is neat,” but are discouraged by the long period of training. Science also suffers from an image of being boring, incomprehensible, or “not cool” and scientists are often seen as being uncaring and out-of-touch with society. Other problems people encounter along the scientific career path include: • their early education in science and mathematics is inadequate: teachers are often poorly informed about these subjects and textbooks are outdated; and • there is a lack of a realistic understanding of the job of a scientist: basic research requires enormous dedication, long hours, frustration, and sheer hard work. Students see mentors struggling to maintain a career in the face of inadequate funding and may decide a research career is not for them. Suggestions from Speakers Speakers offered a number of interesting suggestions for taking more effective action in recruiting students into science careers. 2 Material in this section drawn from testimony by: J. Fielding, B. Giddings, G. Kimmich, V. LiCata, D. Linzer, C. Lumeng, T. Malone , P. Morahan, P. Shank, H. Silber, H. Slavkin, O. Weisz, and M. Yamaguchi. See Appendix D .