So far, life as a postdoctoral researcher is what Kenneth Hernandez-Burgos expected.

“You’re expected to know what you’re doing,” he said. “You don’t have to take any more exams, so you have the freedom of just developing yourself as a scientist.”

Postdoctoral researchers, or postdocs, are researchers who have completed their Ph.D. and are pursuing additional research to prepare them for their career.

Hernandez-Burgos is one of over 500 postdocs at the University.

Originally from Puerto Rico, he started as a postdoctoral fellow over a year ago, studying analytical chemistry.

So far, Hernandez-Burgos believes the training he’s received will help him achieve his goal — to one day be a professor with his own laboratory.

The role and experience of postdocs varies from person to person, but overall, they are expected to generate research ideas independently.

“Either (postdocs) can come and complement something that you need in your lab, or they can come and add something that is completely different to what you do in your lab,” said Joaquín Rodríguez-López, professor of chemistry at the University and Hernandez-Burgos’ adviser.

Along with research, publishing and studying, Hernandez-Burgos sees mentoring as an important aspect of his postdoc experience. He believes it will also prepare him to reach his goal of being a professor.

“I want to be the postdoc that teaches people,” he said.

The life of a postdoctoral researcher is heavily focused on research, but it’s much more than that.

Ambiguity in life

The work of postdocs can seem almost hidden on a college campus.

In 1969, Richard Curtis expressed this view in a report titled “The Invisible University.”

“Increasing numbers of postdoctoral students have caused them to become visible beyond the laboratory and the library,” he wrote. “But it would be more accurate to say that the larger community has become aware of them without really seeing them.”

Today, those outside of the scientific community may still find the definition of postdocs to be ambiguous.

The National Academy of Sciences defines the postdoctoral experience as “a period of apprenticeship for the purpose of gaining scientific, technical and professional skills that advance the professional career.”

Postdocs are also expected to publish their work, apply for funding opportunities and apply for jobs.

When applying for faculty positions, they are confronted with a problem that postdocs have faced for years.

Since 1979, the number of postdocs in the U.S. has tripled. Some speculate this has created a “numbers problem” and a competitive atmosphere — that there are too many postdocs and not enough faculty positions for them to fill.

For postdocs at the University and beyond, the competition for jobs brings about a number of challenges and a feeling of uncertainty about their future.

“The life of a postdoc is not necessarily very comfortable,” Rodríguez-López said. “You have to see the whole experience as part of something bigger.”

Completing and publishing research is a priority for postdocs like Hernandez-Burgos.

“In the postdoc life, you’re expected to understand what you do, so you need to move to be productive, and at least publish two papers a year or something like that,” he said.

He said he hasn’t felt pressure to publish or work more than he already does — at least not from his advisers.

“I feel like I put more pressure on myself than my boss does,” he said.

For some postdocs, this is not the case.

The race to publish

Having a good publication record is key for postdocs, especially when applying for jobs.

But for some postdocs, the expectation to publish frequently can be worrying.

Roberto Andresen Eguiluz, a postdoc in chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University, said the pace at which research laboratories are expected to publish is a problem on campus and within the larger postdoctoral system.

“I have the impression that these days, most of the researchers, it’s run like a business, rather than really for the passion and the sake of understanding,” he said. “You need to publish a lot. You’re expected to publish high quality, in a short amount of time, in order to get money.”

Not only do postdocs have to secure funding in order to pursue research, but publishing their results is a factor in seeking new funding after that.

Andresen Eguiluz said there needs to be a balance when it comes to securing funding for research.

In his two years at the University, he said he has felt the pressure to publish, and he worries this could affect the quality of research.

A 2014 research paper cited this competitive publishing atmosphere, stating that job competition has placed an increased value on publishing, which “has put the pressure on authors to rush into print, cut corners, exaggerate their findings and overstate the significance of their work.”

“You start working on something, and it’s, When is the paper coming, when is the paper coming?’” Andresen Eguiluz said.

In this sense, publishing can become a cycle in which the researcher is always thinking about their next paper and their next source of funding.

“You need to get a grant, and with that grant, you collect data, and you collect data, you publish,” he said. “But there’s no way you can get a grant if you don’t have preliminary data. How do you get preliminary data? You get money. But how are you going to get money?”

However, Rodríguez-López said publishing frequently can be beneficial for postdocs applying for jobs.

“I do think that there is some value in doing that because people will judge productivity based on that,” he said. “I think in general people want to see not only number but also quality, so you should always focus on the quality. But numbers or working toward that might be helpful.”

Though Andresen Eguiluz is concerned for what this means for the future of research, he feels he has been properly recognized for the research he has done during his postdoc.

Improper recognition of the work of postdocs and poor reward systems have been cited as problems within the larger postdoctoral system, but this can vary within research groups.

“It depends completely on the (research) group, and the culture of each group,” he said. “In my group, the postdocs are recognized.”

Hernandez-Burgos said he has had a similar experience.

“If you do the work, your name’s in the publication,” he said. “That, for me, is a really high reward. It’s like only you know how much work you put into it.”

At the end of the day, a postdoc’s publication record is going to play a large part in their ability to get a job.

Andresen Eguiluz feels that his experience at the University has prepared him to move on to the next step of his career, which he hopes will be in a faculty position.

This transition, however, is proving to be difficult.

An uncertain future

Andresen Eguiluz sent out 55 applications to faculty member positions.

So far, he’s received two responses.

“There’s a lot of anxiety because I don’t have anything concrete,” he said.

He feels as if his future is up in the air. He’s married with two kids, and thinks about having to move his family again if he doesn’t find a job that is more stable.

If he isn’t accepted into a faculty position, his options are to either continue his current postdoc or start a new one at another institution.

This has become a problem in the larger postdoctoral system as well. Many postdocs stay in their positions indefinitely if they can’t secure a job — a situation that some refer to as a “permadoc.”

According to an article in the Nature journal, 4,000 of the 40,000 U.S. postdocs in 2013 had been in their position for six years.

Some universities have a fixed-term postdoc, setting a time limit on postdoc appointments. The University has a policy in place that puts a five-year limit on postdoc appointments.

However, most postdocs at the University don’t stay five years, according to Alexis Thompson, the assistant dean for graduate student development and postdoctoral affairs.

“I would say, anecdotally, and it differs a bit by field, but a lot of people are in a postdoc position for two to three years,” she said.

Hernandez-Burgos said he has seen that postdocs who stay longer are often stigmatized.

“If you don’t find a job in your first time and you have to stay a fourth or fifth year as a postdoc, then instead of increasing the chances of you getting a job, that decreases, because you have been a postdoc for five years, so you’re not good enough,” he said. “Then the hiring gets tougher for you.”

Though Hernandez-Burgos is in the early stages of applying for faculty positions, he knows the process of applying is a long one.

“Applying for a faculty position is really, really hard,” he said.

In addition to writing proposals and submitting applications, potential applicants are often required to travel to interested universities to deliver a seminar and talk about research they want to pursue.

“That’s like defending your dissertation again,” Hernandez-Burgos said. “It’s like you’re applying for two or three positions at the same time. And you’re competing with people that are really good.”

This long process, along with the pressure to find a job within the appropriate time and the increased competitiveness for jobs only adds to the feelings of uncertainty experienced by postdocs like Andresen Eguiluz.

What can be done

As someone who frequently hears the concerns of postdocs at the University, Thompson is well aware of their concerns with finding a job.

“It’s an often-discussed topic within the postdoc community,” she said.

Thompson encourages postdocs to think creatively about where their careers could go.

This mindset is almost necessary, considering the competitive job climate postdocs are entering today.

But this can be a difficult mindset for postdocs to grasp, Thompson said.

“I think one of the biggest challenges is that many people who are in postdocs have basically been in school or in a postdoc their whole life, so they don’t have those experiences in other settings,” she said. “That means there’s a lot they have to learn about moving into another field and that’s a barrier. You have to overcome that barrier in order to really prepare for that.”

Rodríguez-López has seen this barrier mindset in the postdocs he advises.

“A lot of the limitations students put on themselves, sometimes they’re also in their minds,” he said.

He encourages postdocs to think about alternative careers — such as working in national laboratories or other research institutions.

Thompson said networking with others can help, but that this is another barrier postdocs have to overcome.

“One thing I think is true of postdoc communities worldwide is they tend to be somewhat isolated,” she said. “They tend to be on a campus but they’re very embedded in their research. So they may have some connections within their department or their close circle, but they’re not as networked into all of the things that a university has to offer.”

The University has resources such as the National Postdoctoral Association and the Society of Postdoctoral Scholars, which Andresen Eguiluz said have been helpful in his experience at the University.

“I learned equally from my mentor as I did from other postdocs,” he said.

Now, as he prepares for the next step in his career, the only thing Andresen Eguiluz is certain of is that his postdoc at the University will end in June.

He said he is feeling confident about his most recent interview for a faculty position.

But, he won’t hear back for two months whether he got the job.

Overall, he said his experience in applying for jobs has been a confirmation of what he already knew.

“There are not enough faculty positions for people wanting to do academia,” he said. “I think that it’s super competitive.”

In the meantime, the role of the postdoc and what can be done to improve the postdoctoral experience is still being heavily debated.

There is still much to be overcome in this system that is the face of the future of research.

For Andresen Eguiluz, that means pushing on in the face of uncertainty.

“The only thing I am certain of now is I have a termination date (for my postdoc). That’s everything I know, and after that I need to figure out something,” he said. “I’m going to keep trying.”

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