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The principal investigator in a lab is often thought of as a graduate student’s primary mentor, but a new study suggests that postdocs play an even more important advising role. Researchers led by David Feldon at Utah State University studied 336 grad students in the biological sciences from 53 US universities over four years and found a positive link between the students’ skill development growth and the engagement of postdocs and more senior students in lab discussions, reports Inside Higher Ed. The study, which was published in PNAS September 30, didn’t find the same association regarding faculty.
Although postdocs do not typically have formal mentorship roles, they seem to play an important role in helping grad students develop a scientific skillset. In labs where postdocs actively participated in lab discussions, students were five times more likely to have annual skill development growth, based on the authors’ ...
