By Elizabeth A. Godin, Course Director, LEAP, Project Director, RISE, Duke University
When most people think about pursuing a postdoc, they might think that an academic postdoc is one that is based on a bench science research program. My academic postdoc has taken me down a different career path: one centered on improving science education. I am currently in my fourth year as a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology. Although in a basic science research department, I am not doing any bench work in pharmacology, but rather am involved in science education and outreach that is pharmacology-focused. Our “lab” is called RISE—Raising Interest in Science Education and is headed by Rochelle Schwartz-Bloom.
Making the transition to science outreach actually began during graduate school, before I even realized I was interested in education. While studying at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill in the Toxicology Curriculum, I volunteered to help teach high school students for DNA Day, an outreach event designed to expose high school students to interactive, hands-on lessons about genetics, genomics, and biotechnology. After a few years of volunteering, I realized how much fun it was getting students excited about science! This became a major turning point in my career.
Fast forward a few more years: I was close to defending my dissertation and was starting the daunting job search. I knew I wasn’t interested in pursuing what I thought of as a traditional academic career, and so I was exploring other potential career paths. My current primary investigator, Dr. Schwartz-Bloom, had given a seminar at UNC and her work was very exciting to me. She was developing curricula to teach high school students about the science behind drugs and alcohol. I was able to meet with her after the seminar and expressed my interest in her work. Another crucial lesson for me was that networking is always important! A few months later, Dr. Schwartz-Bloom contacted me with a job opportunity.
Now that I am a part of the education world, I am realizing it is definitely very different from what I had expected. We have collaborated with an educational psychology group, and I have learned a lot about different teaching styles and ways to keep students actively engaged. Teaching isn’t simply standing up in front of a class. It is challenging, time-consuming, and can be exhausting! It is also incredibly rewarding! I am extremely motivated when I remember that I am training the next generation of scientists.
I love that I have the opportunity to teach; it’s definitely my favorite part of this position. Another aspect of my job that I enjoy is that it’s very different every day. Some days are spent designing curricula, while others involve collecting data in the classroom or doing administrative work. My diverse task list makes my job exciting!
One of the major challenges I have faced is that this position is still an academic one, and therefore, still grant-funded. Consequently, I face many of the same frustrations as I would have as a bench scientist, i.e., obtaining funding for one’s work is inescapable! Recently, STEM education has emerged as a larger focus of the scientific community and the public, so hopefully funding opportunities will increase in the near future.