Good to hear advice shared, here's some more via a very recent Mongabay followup to that 2017 Mongabay article folks are citing, ‘Not all doom and gloom’: Q&A with conservation job market researchers - *Intense competition, a flood of unpaid internships, a prevalence of short-term work, high student-loan debt: young conservationists are reporting a tough, rough time in the job market.* - *A recent study in Conservation Biology attempts to uncover some concrete data on the hard-to-quantify conservation job market in an effort to help students prepare themselves for the competitive hunt for paid employment.* - *Mongabay interviewed study co-authors Jane Lucas, who is now doing a postdoc at the University of Idaho, and Evan Gora, who is now doing a postdoc at the University of Louisville, to hear what they learned.* - *Their advice: * https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/not-all-doom-and-gloom-qa-with-conservation-job-market-researchers/
Erik -- www.erikhoffner.com On Wed, Jul 4, 2018 at 4:34 PM, Kristopher Keane < kristopher-ke...@utulsa.edu> wrote: > Hello Ecologgers! > > I know this thread was originally meant for conservation in the tropics, > but I think it is indicative of many other areas of biology as well. The > main thing I would like to add is that teaching biology is becoming a more > viable pathway for many, including myself. And because almost all teaching > positions offer summers off, no matter where your job is you can usually > escape to another part of the world to do research. Perhaps this is too > much of a compromise for some who desire to live and research full time in > remote locations. It has enabled me to find consistent and well-salaried > employment, time for research, and the opportunity to instill a love for > biology in others. > > Because I started my career as a high school teacher in Northern > California, I had time during the summer to do a wildlife > conservation/ecology internship halfway across the country (Oklahoma). The > researchers running the internship helped me get into grad school there. > They told me that "serious biology programs are free" (usually through TA > positions that cover tuition). Thus, my tuition was waived and I received a > small stipend, while fulfilling duties as a teaching assistant. I highly > recommend graduate school as long as you don't have to pay for it. > Personally, I have never encountered a situation in which my education has > worked against me. > > Because of my strong educational background (and CA teaching credential), > I ended up getting a job as a Science Coordinator/Instructional Coach for a > K-12 school district back in Northern California. This job gave me the > opportunity to engage younger students (grades 7-12) in cool research > projects. And I still had summers off to continue my own research, albeit > without institutional backing. Additionally, in California there seems to > be strong demand for community college professors (mostly adjunct positions > teaching intro bio and anatomy/physiology). With a PhD and an extensive > teaching background, I have been able to land a few part-time positions > locally. > > Currently, I am just starting as an assistant prof at a tiny, > non-traditional pre-med college, with an emphasis on teaching. The two > major benefits I have seen in pursuing a more education-focused route for > me are: > 1) being a K-12 science coach/teacher pays better than a postdoc in most > places (my PhD and corresponding units boosted my salary by about > ~$9000/year) > 2) I've only had to live in 2 places (with a young family it would be > difficult to move to a new place with no friends or family). > > Of course these could be drawbacks as well! In any case, I just want to > emphasize teaching as a viable academic career choice, even at the K-12 > level. I know many middle and high school teachers who incorporate personal > research projects into their classroom. Here's one awesome example > <https://arcadecreekproject.org/>. > > I hope this serves as an optimistic example! > > Regards, > > Kit > -- > *Kit T. Keane, Ph.D.* > Assistant Professor of Biology > California Northstate University <http://healthsciences.cnsu.edu/> > College of Health Sciences <http://healthsciences.cnsu.edu/> > Twitter: @kitkeane <https://twitter.com/kitkeane> > > > >
