Release date: Feb. 18, 2005
Contact: Beverly Cox Clark at 404-712-8780 or beverly.clark@emory.edu

Emory Postdocs Rank University Among Best Places to Work

Emory University is among the top 10 academic institutions in the country that provide the best work environments for life science postdoctoral research professionals in the United States, according to rankings in The Scientist's third annual "Best Places to Work for Postdocs" survey.

The more than 3,500 postdocs who responded to this year's survey rated a valuable training experience, access to research equipment and library resources, and a good mentoring relationship as the ingredients that make for a great workplace. Full survey results can be found in the article "Best Places to Work for Postdocs: 2005" in the Feb. 14 edition of The Scientist.

"This ranking reflects well on our programs for postdocs in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and its Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, as well as Emory Medical School. Our focused and well-managed efforts to provide positive, meaningful support and access to faculty and facilities go a long way in helping our postdocs move forward in their careers," says Frank Stout, Emory's vice president for research administration.

"That Emory has been recognized in this way is truly a credit to our faculty and the effectiveness of the Office of Postdoctoral Education," says Bryan Noe, interim dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and professor of cell biology. "The faculty with whom postdoctoral fellows interact at Emory take their role as colleagues and mentors very seriously. The fellows understand that their faculty advisors are invested in their career development. Additionally, the work of the Office of Postdoctoral Education has definitely played a role in assuring that postdoctoral fellows at Emory have a high level of job satisfaction."

In recent years, the Office of Postdoctoral Education, which tracks and serves the needs of postdocs university- wide, has set standards for compensation, increased benefits for postdoctoral fellows, sponsored career development seminars, and promoted other activities that "have clearly contributed to the well being of postdoctoral trainees at Emory," Noe says.

Overall in The Scientist's survey, government institutions and private research centers landed 11 of the top 15 places. In their ranking of academic institutions, Emory placed ninth; the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Washington University (St. Louis) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were the top three. Other schools in the top 10 include Michigan State University, Medical College of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Alabama-Birmingham and the University of Kansas.

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

Subscribe to News@Emory RSS feeds for automatic updates of the latest news at Emory.

Back