Op-ed: America's Invisible Innovators

April 6, 2022

America’s Invisible Innovators

How many Americans know they are surrounded by an invisible workforce of the most highly educated members of society working tirelessly on the most pressing issues affecting our lives and future generations? A workforce made up of more than 70,000 innovators working in every state across the nation who train others with their knowledge and experience just as they are trained themselves. A workforce addressing issues from childhood cancer to the psychological impacts of the pandemic. A workforce made up by half of individuals born overseas who represent the best and brightest of their nations of origin and half by the most aspiring young American minds.

I didn’t. Not before I entered my current position at the height of the pandemic and opened my eyes to the extraordinarily talented yet primarily unrecognized ranks of the postdoctoral scholar, or “postdoc” for short. Postdocs are individuals who have completed their terminal degree - typically a Ph.D. - in any discipline and are engaged in a defined period of mentored training, during which they conduct some of the most innovative early-stage research occurring in the U.S. Most are located at academic institutions, but others are at research centers, national laboratories, federal agencies, or in industry.

Like you, I connect regularly across a broad swath of our society -- coworkers, neighbors, friends, former classmates, colleagues at peer organizations -- and none knows what a postdoc is. I exaggerate slightly. Rarely I encounter someone with the good fortune of having worked alongside a postdoc or had a classmate undertake a postdoctoral position. But as a society, we generally don’t know who postdocs are or what they do. They comprise an invisible workforce.

Postdocs spend, roughly, between one and five years in their period of research and training after completion of their formal education and before they enter a more permanent position. They are not students. They are usually not faculty. Nor are they permanent hires in industry. They exist in limbo in between the world of structured learning and that of traditional employment. They span disciplines from the humanities to the social sciences to STEM, with the largest contingent working in the life sciences. Over time, many become influential leaders in our society, from professors to policy and business leaders.

Postdocs are known for their tireless hours in the laboratory or in front of their computers, tackling some of the most pressing and complex issues we face. Yet, not only do they learn in their postdoc positions from their own mentors, they are well-known as influential advisors to graduate students and undergraduates, or to younger workers for those postdocs not in academia. Many volunteer outside of their work to help improve the lives of others through non-profit organizations.

One might think that this workforce of our most-highly educated citizens would receive compensation commensurate with their pedigree. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. In part due to their invisibility to the general public, postdocs often struggle to receive $50,000 in salary, a rough benchmark of postdoc pay that has only reached this level recently and after a long struggle. Postdocs are typically in their late twenties or early thirties, prime time for buying their first homes or having families. Many postpone these life options due to the demands of their work. A large number live in urban areas where job opportunities exist but prices are high. Worse, due to the nontraditional nature of their positions, many struggle to receive appropriate health and family benefits that others take for granted.

Yet, postdocs forge on. They show up every day to perform services that might not reap real-world benefits for years to come, and when they do, we often don’t know who made them possible. As our nation continues to fight to retain its position as the leader of global research and innovation, postdocs soldier on, pushing us forward collectively at a national level through each of their singular projects.

This is why we launched the “What’s a Postdoc?” campaign, to bring greater awareness to the thousands of postdoctoral scholars across the nation and their remarkable work. We hope to direct well-deserved recognition their way in appreciation of their research in fields from anatomy to zoology, taking place from Alabama to Wyoming.

It’s time for this invisible workforce to see spotlights. Perhaps the next hire for your organization will be a postdoc-- innovative, professional, hard-working and ready to tackle your toughest challenges.

Thomas P. Kimbis
Executive Director & CEO
National Postdoctoral Association
Rockville, Maryland