Kryptonite Pressure

DOM HAMERMAN

Jesse Spencer-Smith (left) studies the dynamics of facial expressions.

But along with the autonomy and higher funding come great expectations. "The hurdle is higher indeed" for superpostdocs, says Pierre Wiltzius, director of the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He says these researchers are expected to be go-getters in return for the hefty investment.

The institute — which fosters multidisciplinary research in biological intelligence, human–computer interaction, and nanostructures — offers three-year fellowships to new PhDs. Applicants propose research plans bringing together teams across the diverse faculty of cognitive scientists, chemists, computer scientists and electrical engineers. Fellows receive an annual salary of $50,000 and modest start-up funding to run their research programme either in their own space or within a faculty member's lab.

Beckman fellow Jesse Spencer-Smith, a mathematical psychologist, says that his work on the role of dynamics in human facial expressions requires collaboration with the different traditions represented on campus. Being the first to pursue a new line of research would have been extremely difficult in a conventional postdoc.

The fellowships help some researchers make a transition to new fields. After completing his PhD on the biophysics of bacterial flagella, William Ryu did a one-year postdoc in his graduate adviser's lab at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But when he decided to investigate the behaviour of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, he took a five-year stint at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University in New Jersey, where his group strives to quantify the worm's response to temperature. There he has the funding and freedom from grant-writing to pursue high-risk work without having to worry about funding or tenure.

Alan Jasanoff, a current Whitehead Fellow, says he gets to see a side of academia and to establish collaborations that are not open to most postdocs. This has helped to advance both his neural-imaging research and his career. Later this year, when his postdoc ends, he will start as an assistant professor at MIT with a dual appointment in nuclear engineering and brain and cognitive sciences.

Full Speed Ahead

Although most programmes are non-renewable, it is fairly common for superpostdocs to be offered jobs at their fellowship institution. Spencer-Smith will start as a faculty member at the Beckman Institute in August, and Anita Sil, a microbial geneticist, only had to move her lab across the hall from her power postdoc when she joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, in 2003. Inevitably, if positions are available, institutes end up holding on to promising researchers they have fostered. Other superpostdocs have found good research jobs in industry.

Setting up a lab, handling administration and managing people can be daunting for a young scientist fresh out of postgraduate studies. When Sil started her fungal-pathogenesis project, she chose to set up her own lab, even with the hassles of buying glassware, because the research would "clearly be mine and mine alone", she says. But she admits that for other postdocs, working in an already established lab may be the best path for doing creative experiments quickly.

Two of the biggest challenges, say the research fellows, are competing with senior labs in their field and feeling as if they are in limbo — half postdoc, half junior faculty — without an extensive support network. But during her subsequent job search, Sil says, it was obvious to prospective employers that she was already an independent investigator.

Accelerated Tracks

In mathematics and theoretical physics, one of the most coveted postdoctoral spots is the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Members, or postdocs, work at essentially the same level as assistant professors, explains theoretical physicist Harlan Robins. They start on a salary close or equal to that of an assistant professor, enjoy subsidized housing and a private office (there are no labs), and have free rein for their research.

It is almost impossible for experimental physicists to set up their own 'mini-labs', given the extent of collaboration and the equipment needed to make a particle-physics experiment fly. Promising graduate students often apply for postdoctoral fellowships at US national or international laboratories. Two years ago, Argonne National Laboratory began an international competition for outstanding postdocs that carries an annual $70,000 stipend and $20,000 expense account for posts lasting two or three years. Last year, Sandia National Laboratories launched the President Harry S. Truman Fellowship, which offers similar autonomy for postdocs in physics and engineering.

European Experience

Recognizing the need to attract talented young scientists to establish their careers in Europe, the European Science Foundation in Strasbourg started the European Young Investigators Awards programme last year. Researchers of any nationality with 2 to 10 years' postdoctoral experience can apply for up to 250,000 (US$306,000) a year for five years. Applicants must first find a host institution in one of 15 participating European countries to back their proposal.

Dominique Martin-Rovet, ESF science policy adviser, envisions a "Nobel prize for the younger scientist". The programme creates positions in which young European scientists can be autonomous, and seems to be a hit with both local and expat European researchers, bringing in 770 applications for the 25 awards to be given out this autumn.

Postdocs hoping to step up to superstar status can also apply for a Career Development Award from the UK Medical Research Council (MRC). This gives experienced postdocs resources to establish themselves as independent researchers with a total budget of about £500,000 (US$917,000) over four years. It also allows for up to two years of overseas training and career development.

"What we are looking for is the potential for future research leadership," says Shabih Syed, manager of the research career awards group at the MRC. "We can only look for signs of potential, but we generally get it right." Judging by the calibre and career paths of superpostdocs, most other programmes do, too.