The Career Field Resource pages describe the more common fields that employ scientists with advanced training, with a short list of websites which will help you understand the field. Each section has:
- at least one or two articles to provide an overview of the field or career paths;
- resources specific to Berkeley (access to opportunities you can pursue while a student or postdoc);
- more general sources of information including professional associations, sites with industry news and career advice, and fellowship/job listings.
Higher Education
Opportunities include faculty positions at research or teaching focused institutions, or roles in academic administration. A small sampling of non-faculty roles include: working in institutional research, grants administration, student affairs, research administration, tech transfer.
Jump to section:
- Berkeley Resources
- Faculty Careers in Higher Education
- Careers Outside the United States
- Careers at Teaching-focused Institutions (or teaching-focused roles)
- Careers in Higher Education Administration
Berkeley Resources
- Graduate Division’s GradPro(opens in a new tab), GSI Teaching & Resource Center(opens in a new tab) and Graduate Diversity(opens in a new tab); including the “Path to the Professoriate(opens in a new tab)” program
- Berkeley Sponsored Projects – list of Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Biological Sciences(opens in a new tab)
- Visiting Scholar and Postdoc Affairs (VSPA)(opens in a new tab)
- Berkeley Career Engagement – offers workshops in the fall semester each year on the faculty job search. See Handshake (opens in a new tab) for details.
- Postdoc Teaching Opportunities Program (PTOP)
- QB3-Berkeley’s interview with Professional in Residence Elise Kikis, PhD, “Balancing Teaching and Research at a Liberal Arts College”
- QB3-Berkeley’s interview with Nicolas Altemose, PhD, who was a graduate student in Aaron Streets’ lab. Nicolas Altemose is an assistant professor of genetics at Stanford University and a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator.
Faculty Careers in Higher Education
- ASCB articles – “What your PI forgot to tell you: why you actually might want a job running a research lab(opens in a new tab)” and “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Career as an Academic Scientist(opens in a new tab)”
- NRMN (opens in a new tab)– National Research Mentoring Network supports trainees and faculty with the aim to strengthen diversity in the biomedical research workforce
- HERC – Higher Education Recruitment Consortium(opens in a new tab) – resource especially useful for both faculty and administrative job postings, dual careers and other issues of identity, work-life balance. Look for job application guides/webinars, for example “Writing Your Diversity Statement in 4 Steps(opens in a new tab)“
- Preparing Future Faculty(opens in a new tab) – see the resources(opens in a new tab) pages in particular
- National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity(opens in a new tab)
- COACHE articles and surveys about academic recruitment, retention and faculty life (Harvard based research initiative)
- Insights from a survey based analysis of the academic job market bioRxiv preprint(opens in a new tab) (Dec 2019) and a searchable dashboard with subsequent surveys (2020, etc)
- NIH OITE presentation (webinar) on preparing your job package(opens in a new tab) (June 2020)
- UCSF’s Academic Career Readiness Assessment (ACRA)(opens in a new tab)
- UC Berkeley’s Rubric for Assessing (opens in a new tab)Candidate Contributions to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging(opens in a new tab)
- The Academic Job Search Handbook(opens in a new tab)
- Article with advice from HHMI faculty – “Making the jump: Expert guidance on transitioning to academic independence(opens in a new tab)”
- MBOC article, “How to Design a Chalk Talk – the Million Dollar Sales Pitch(opens in a new tab)“
- AAUP(opens in a new tab) Faculty Compensation Surveys – accessible, searchable databases from AAUP (opens in a new tab) and Chronicle of Higher Ed (opens in a new tab) help you search data by type of job (assistant professor tenure track vs. adjunct, for example) or discipline, or by institution.
- HigherEd Jobs(opens in a new tab) and Inside Higher Ed(opens in a new tab) – job postings, job search advice, and current information about trends, news and events in the field.
- The Chronicle of Higher Education(opens in a new tab) – job postings and resources in the Vitae(opens in a new tab) section
- Burroughs Wellcome Fund(opens in a new tab) – BWF’s goals include helping early career scientists develop as independent investigators (see resources in the Career Tools(opens in a new tab) sections including Lab Management Guides) and funding: Career Award at the Scientific Interface(opens in a new tab) (CASI)
- “Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty(opens in a new tab), Second Edition (HHMI)
- Resources for research fellowships:
- John Hopkins has compiled an extensive list of postdoc funding opportunities here. Download the full list or browse files by specific research area
- Institute for Broadening Participation(opens in a new tab) (Pathways to Science Grad(opens in a new tab) and Postdoc(opens in a new tab) portals); NIH Project Reporter(opens in a new tab)
Careers Outside the United States
- EURAXESS(opens in a new tab)
- The Association of Commonwealth Universities(opens in a new tab)
- Canadian Chemistry Faculty positions (blog)
- Times Higher Education(opens in a new tab)
- German Academic International Network(opens in a new tab) (GAIN)
- Academicpositions.com(opens in a new tab) lists opportunities by discipline, primarily in Western Europe, also has a “by country(opens in a new tab)” feature
Careers at Teaching-focused Institutions (or teaching-focused roles)
- California Community Colleges Registry(opens in a new tab) – information about annual job fairs, one for Southern CA and the other for Northern CA, as well as other resources
- National Institutes of Scientific Teaching(opens in a new tab)– summer professional development activities nationally
- UC Teaching Professor(opens in a new tab) initiative
- Council on Undergraduate Research(opens in a new tab)
- List of Bay Area colleges and universities(opens in a new tab)
- American Association of Community Colleges(opens in a new tab)
- Association of Jesuit Colleges & Universities(opens in a new tab)
- POD(opens in a new tab) – The Professional and Organizational Development(opens in a new tab) Network in Higher Education is “devoted to improving teaching and learning in higher education.”
Careers in Higher Education Administration
- Chronicle of Higher Ed article, “From Doctoral Study to … Administration(opens in a new tab)”
- AUTM(opens in a new tab) – Association for professionals in the field of technology transfer (see the section on Science and the Law for more on this career path)
- AIR(opens in a new tab) – Association for Institutional Research and article, From Doctoral Study to … Institutional Research(opens in a new tab)
- GCC(opens in a new tab) – Graduate Career Consortium
- LADO(opens in a new tab) Liberal Arts Diversity Officers Consortium
- National Consortium of Directors of LGBT Resources in Higher Ed(opens in a new tab)
- NADOHE(opens in a new tab) – National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education
- NAFA(opens in a new tab) – National Association of Fellowship Advisors
- NASPA(opens in a new tab) – Student Affairs Professionals in Higher Education
- NACADA(opens in a new tab) – National Academic Advising Association
- NCURA(opens in a new tab) – National Council of University Research Administrators
- NORDP (opens in a new tab)– National Organization of Research Development Professionals
- POD Network for educational development professsionals at Centers for Teaching and Learning
- SRA(opens in a new tab) – Society of Research Administrators