Visualization of gender, race, citizenship and academic performance in association with career outcomes of 15-year biomedical doctoral alumni at a public research university

Abstract

It has long been thought that biomedical doctoral students pursue careers primarily as tenure-track/tenured faculty at research institutions. Recent reports showed, however, that the majority of biomedical doctoral alumni engage in a variety of careers. Wayne State University (WSU) undertook a project to understand the career trajectories of its biomedical doctoral alumni to create programs to better prepare its students for careers in multiple pathways. Data were collected on career outcomes of WSU's biomedical doctoral alumni who graduated in a 15-year period from 1999-2014. Careers were classified into three tiers by Employment Sector, Career Types and Job Functions and career paths were examined by alumni gender, race, U.S. citizenship status, and association with certain academic characteristics. Several statistically significant differences in career paths among all demographics were found. For example, women were more likely to be in teaching and providing healthcare, men in faculty and research; Black alumni pursued careers in Government at higher rates and Whites in For-Profit careers; Asians and non-U.S. citizens spent more time in training positions than others. There was no association of academic characteristics such as GRE, GPA, and Time-to-Degree completion with careers in the two largest sectors of Academia or For-profit. Since our trainees are engaged in this rich variety of careers essential to advancing biomedical science and research nationally, it is imperative for the graduate training community to embrace all careers as successful, and transform the model for biomedical doctoral training to foster student success across this broad career spectrum.

Fig 1. Career outcomes (by %) of WSU’s biomedical doctoral alumni.

Fig 1 represents outcomes of alumni in Tier-1 (Employment Sector), Tier-2 (Career Type), and Tier 3 (Job Functions) in the three times windows (0–5 years, inner circle; 6–10 years, middle circle; and 11–15 years, outer circle).

Fig 2. Tier 1 (Employment Sector) outcomes.

Employment data are shown as percent of WSU’s biomedical doctoral alumni depicted in three 5-year windows to visualize employment shifts over time following graduation. Fig 2A shows total alumni, Fig 2B shows Gender (men and women), Fig 2C shows Race (Asian, Black, White), and Fig 2D shows U.S. citizenship status (U.S. citizens and non U.S. citizens).

Fig 3. Tier 2 (Career Type) outcomes.

Employment data are shown as percent of WSU’s biomedical doctoral alumni depicted in three 5-year windows to visualize employment shifts over time following graduation. Fig 3A shows total alumni, Fig 3B shows Gender (men and women), Fig 3C shows Race (Asian, Black, White), and Fig 3D shows U.S. citizenship status (U.S. citizens and non U.S. citizens).

Fig 4. Tier 3 (Job Function) outcomes.

Employment data are shown as percent of WSU’s biomedical doctoral alumni depicted in three 5-year windows to visualize employment shifts over time following graduation. Fig 4A shows total alumni, Fig 4B shows Gender (men and women), Fig 4C shows Race (Asian, Black, White), and Fig 4D shows U.S. citizenship status (U.S. citizens and non U.S. citizens).

Fig 5. Academic characteristics of WSU’s biomedical doctoral alumni.

GRE Quantitative scores (GRE-Q) is shown in blocks of scores of 137–145, 146–145, 146–155; GRE-Verbal (GRE-V) is shown in blocks of scores of 130–145, 146–155, 156–170; cumulative GPA at time of doctoral graduation as blocks of 3.0–3.5, 3.51–3.75, 3.76–4.0; and Time-to-Degree completion (TTD) in blocks of 3.5–5.0, 5.1–6.0, 6.1–7, 7+ years. GRE scores are shown for the 348 alumni who took the GRE exam and are employed in the two sectors of Academia and For-Profit; GPA and TTD are shown for the 779 alumni employed in these two sectors of Academia and For-Profit.