Yes, now that I've received the contract and signed it, I'll officially announce what some of you already know - effective July 1st 2009, I will be a faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto.
One of my "first acts" will be to collect a little payment from Larry Moran.
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Congratulations!
Now let's observe what happens to a blog when its owner goes from post-doc to professor....
Yeehaw! Congratulations!
Do you always keep your needles handy like that? Good idea.
Anyway, let me be the first to congratulate you!!!!!
A fine institution, if I do say so myself... I'll have to pop by the new lab when you get here in the summer!
Congratulations!!!
Congratulations Alex, Welcome on board!!!
Congratulations! Couldn't you have announced it though by making us guess from an overhead view????
Bottom line? Just one more university that is not on the shores of the Mighty Lake Michigan, and does not have a wildcat as a mascot. :(
But seriously, way to go, I love Toronto, and it sounds like an exciting opportunity.
Absolutely fabulous news, Alex! Congratulations to you and congratulations to the U of Toronto Biochem dept on their wisdom.
Congrats Man.
Congratulations! Best of luck with your new career.
Congrats and welcome to the neighboUrhood.
Congratulations, Alex.
Cool, dude!
Yay! Where will you physically be? ('cause I *happen* to know the labs of the department are spread out over a LOT of buildings...)
Congrats!!
(from a reader just down the 401 westbound in Waterloo ON)
Congrats Alex!
Quick question for you though. Now that you have moved out of the gerbil wheel that is being a postdoc, how are you going to feel about encouraging others (ie: grad students and other postdocs) to work in your lab and pursue a career with little chance of a stable career. Frankly I was in the same boat and turned down a faculty job for industry (it was also for monetary reasons too but the other was my distaste for the system). If you truly believe it's a pyramid scheme then will you find it difficult to perpetuate it, which you must now do to get tenure.
Quick question for you though. Now that you have moved out of the gerbil wheel that is being a postdoc, how are you going to feel about encouraging others (ie: grad students and other postdocs) to work in your lab and pursue a career with little chance of a stable career. Frankly I was in the same boat and turned down a faculty job for industry (it was also for monetary reasons too but the other was my distaste for the system). If you truly believe it's a pyramid scheme then will you find it difficult to perpetuate it, which you must now do to get tenure.
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It is easy to not to feed into the pyramid. My advisor was able to avoid it. Treat getting a PhD as an academic degree and not as a professional one. The skills one develops as a PhD especially in the sciences can be used in so many ways besides being a Professor at an R1. If you are a PI with that mindset and open for trainees moving on to other career options then you are not feeding the worst aspects of the "system" that you speak of. Those that have come out of my advisor's lab have all sorts of careers. Some are professors at R1s, others a primary undergraduate institutions, others are researchers in industry, others at research institutions, others are school teachers, others still are in science policy, while others are editors and writers, some serve as administrators (spread across industry, non-profits, and government), etc. The advisor's mentality is that it his job to create and provide an environment to develop and learn the skills to be successful in whatever they choose to do in life while working on research projects in our particular subfield.
Steve,
That's an excellent question. I think that the best thing that I can do, is to use my position to advocate for better working conditions for my underlings. Of course this will be within the confines of the Canadian system, that has suffered a major blow recently (I'll try to post something about that later this week), but I will do what ever it takes. I hope that I will be frank with my grad students and postdocs. Time will tell.
Science is a wonderful career, provided that everything works and that we offer our trainees an environment where they feel secure financially and career wise. One role model for anyone aspiring to be a good mentor is Anthony Bretcher. In the past, he's been a great advocate for postdocs. He's lobbied the NIH on their behalf and seems to genuinely care the welfare of his underlings. As a result, he has a dedicated following in his lab.
Congratulations, Alex! Best wishes for the future.
Congratulations, Hope you are a great addition to the UofT Biochem department. I am only an undergrad biochem student (not even at the main campus - UTSC), but still wish you the luck for making to the level that i would wish to reach. Change is always welcome. Good Luck in your scientific endeavours.