About the author

Dan Rhoads

Dan is a postdoc working at the University of Cyprus in developmental biology. He has a BSc in molecular biology and a PhD pharmacology and biochemistry.

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The September 20th issue of Science had a news article that I hope Bitesize Bio readers didn’t miss. In case you do however, the article was And Then There Was One:

A decade after 26 members of the entering class of 1991 earned their Ph.D.s from Yale’s elite molecular biophysics and biochemistry program, only one holds a tenured faculty position. But is an exodus from academia a bad thing?

It’s a good article. But what really makes it a must-read for students thinking about grad school is the fact that these 26 one-time grad students have ended up in a truly diverse range of careers. Only a handful are actually in the tenure-track path, some are in industry, and a bunch aren’t even molecular biologists and biochemists anymore.

The attitudes and ethics of those 26 former Yale students are also portrayed – a PhD creates as many career problems as they solve, with the successful researcher “doing whatever it takes,” and at times, learning from some tough choices. Check it out.