From city papers to national magazines, the University has long landed stellar spots on “Best Places to Work” lists.
And now WUSTL makes The Scientist magazine’s third annual “Best Places for Postdocs to Work: 2005” survey — scoring the No. 2 spot for U.S. academic institutions and earning 10th place overall.
In its quest to find what institution does the best job of nurturing “the hardworking heroes of science,” the magazine received more than 3,500 responses from scientists in the United States, Canada and Western Europe.
Respondents considered factors ranging from training and experience for future careers, to access to books, journals and supplies, to the support and communication skills of their principal investigator.
“There is a concerted effort across the United States to improve the postdoctoral experience, and we are proud to be in the leading group of universities that recognize and support our postdoctoral community,” said Mary Bradley, director of the Office of Post Graduate Affairs.
“With the implementation of the Post-doctoral Education Policy last July, and the seminars and resources we offer, we recognize the importance of postdocs to the University and our need to support them in their training.”
In an effort to further support postdocs, the majority of whom train at the School of Medicine, the Inaugural Postdoc Scientific Symposium was held Feb. 23 to recognize the contributions postdocs make to the University as well as to provide a forum for them to illustrate and share the scope of their research.
At the symposium — which was sponsored by the Office of Post Graduate Affairs, the WUSTL Postdoc Society, the Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research — Linda B. Cottler, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, received the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award.
“Mentoring our next generation of scientists is incredibly important, so I’m extremely honored to receive this award from our postdocs,” Cottler said. “We couldn’t do our research without them. Postdocs are exciting to have in the lab because they are so enthusiastic — they teach us where to go next.”