Non-Academic Careers for Astronomers and Physicists

A talk for the physics and astronomy department at the University of Utah (fall 2016)

Links:
STEM PhD finishers in the UK: https://royalsociety.org/~/media/Royal_Society_Content/policy/publications/2010/4294970126.pdf
Science & Engineering PhDs awarded and faculty positions: http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v31/n10/full/nbt.2706.html
Declining proposal success rates in astronomy: http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.01647
Pamela Gay on soft money positions: http://www.starstryder.com/2015/11/12/dreaming-of-success-in-an-age-of-diminished-possibility/
Katie Mack: https://twitter.com/AstroKatie
Josh Wills: https://twitter.com/josh_wills
Drew Conway: http://drewconway.com/zia/2013/3/26/the-data-science-venn-diagram
Oliver Keyes: https://ironholds.org/blog/data-science-is-not-magical-unicorn-foo/
David Robinson: http://varianceexplained.org/r/year_data_scientist/

Transcript

1. NON-ACADEMIC CAREERS FOR ASTRONOMERS AND PHYSICISTS Julia Silge @juliasilge • http://juliasilge.com/
2. WHO AM I? HOW DID I GET HERE?
4. MY BACKGROUND ➤ BS in physics in 2000 ➤ PhD in astronomy in 2005 ➤ Studied galaxy kinematics and dynamics Silge, J.D., Gebhardt, K., Bergmann, M., & Richstone, D. 2005, AJ, 130, 406
5. MY BACKGROUND ➤ Developed near-IR spectroscopy techniques to trace the older, redder stars in galaxies and reduce the effects of dust ➤ Used dynamical modeling to find masses, etc from kinematics ➤ Measured supermassive black holes!
7. MY BACKGROUND Silge, J.D., Gebhardt, K., Bergmann, M., & Richstone, D. 2005, AJ, 130, 406 My work was observational in focus, with lots of DATA ANALYSIS
8. PhD in astronomy postdoc in physics adjunct professor teaching physics, astronomy, etc stay-at- home mom data scientist ed tech content developer
9. WHERE DO PHDS GO? STEM PhD finishers in the UK
10. UNDER PRESSURE Science & Engineering PhDs awarded and faculty positions
11. SINCE 1982, ALMOST 800,000 PHDS WERE AWARDED IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FIELDS. ABOUT 100,000 ACADEMIC FACULTY POSITIONS WERE CREATED IN THOSE FIELDS IN THE SAME TIME FRAME. Science & Engineering PhDs awarded and faculty positions
12. WHERE DO PHDS GO? ➤ A large portion of people who finish astronomy/physics PhDs end up, like me, working outside of academia ➤ A variety of forces within academia and outside of it work together to limit the number of people who eventually get tenure track jobs
13. WHERE DO PHDS GO? ➤ Talking to someone with a tenure track faculty job? ➤ Remember that she or he is the exception, not the rule
14. UNDER PRESSURE Declining Proposal Success Rates
15. WHERE HAS MY GRAD SCHOOL COHORT LANDED? ➤ Tenure track astronomy jobs ➤ Soft-money astronomy research positions (see Pamela Gay’s recent discussion of her experiences) ➤ Non-tenured teaching positions (full-time or adjunct) ➤ National labs or government research jobs ➤ Finance ➤ Various jobs in tech ➤ Data science
16. WHERE HAS MY GRAD SCHOOL COHORT LANDED? from Katie Mack
17. WHERE HAS MY GRAD SCHOOL COHORT LANDED? ➤ Tenure track astronomy jobs ➤ Soft-money astronomy research positions (see Pamela Gay’s recent discussion of her experiences) ➤ Non-tenured teaching positions (full-time or adjunct) ➤ National labs or government research jobs ➤ Finance ➤ Various jobs in tech ➤ Data science
18. WHAT IS DATA SCIENCE? from Josh Wills
19. WHAT IS DATA SCIENCE? from Drew Conway
20. WHAT IS DATA SCIENCE? from someone who thought he was hot stuff
21. WHAT IS DATA SCIENCE? from Oliver Keyes
22. PROBABLY ALL OF YOU COULD DO DATA SCIENCE
23. “ I am a grad student/postdoc. What can I do to prepare for a job outside academia? -you, probably
24. LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK
25. LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK Carefully consider the tools you invest time to become proficient in ➤ IDL and IRAF ➤ Python and R
26. LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK This is not a value judgment on the quality of work done with any of these tools, but a comment on their use outside academia. Carefully consider the tools you invest time to become proficient in ➤ IDL and IRAF ➤ Python and R
27. LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK Learn key practices from software development ➤ version control ➤ unit testing ➤ test-driven development ➤ continuous integration
28. LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK Build a public (online) portfolio/presence ➤ have an active GitHub account ➤ write a professional blog ➤ contribute to an open-source project
29. LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK Don’t consider this separate from your academic work; find ways to integrate them so you make it happen. Build a public (online) portfolio/presence ➤ have an active GitHub account ➤ write a professional blog ➤ contribute to an open-source project
30. LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK from David Robinson
31. LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK Emphasize communication skills ➤ speaking ➤ writing ➤ diverse audiences
32. ➤ Consider taking an actual statistics course ➤ Should you study machine learning now? ➤ Data science bootcamps? LOOKING FOR A MIND AT WORK
33. I’M A TRUST FUND BABY, YOU CAN TRUST ME ➤ Most of us have never thought a lot about ethics in our research. ➤ Moving outside academia almost always means the work you do will impact real people.
34. I’M A TRUST FUND BABY, YOU CAN TRUST ME ➤ Ask what the ethical implications are of the work you are doing. ➤ Seek out organizations that have good ethical practices. ➤ Don’t be afraid to admit (or report) when you make a bad call.
35. “ I am a professor here. What does this have to do with me? -others of you, probably
36. FOR FACULTY ➤ Remember that your career path is atypical ➤ Consider the ramifications of your choices and students’/postdocs’ choices on a possible non-academic career
37. FOR FACULTY ➤ Be sensitive to the pressures on students and postdocs ➤ Expand your definition of success
40. QUESTIONS? Julia Silge http://juliasilge.com julia.silge@gmail.com