Abstract
Postdoc positions, intended to be advanced or continued research training in a field, are a part of the physics education research (PER) enterprise yet little is known about them. PER postdocs differ from their traditional physics counterparts in that they may have different education and research experiences. This study examined the types of postdoc positions available as well as what hiring is like. To determine the types of postdoc positions available, we used the advertisements posted in PERJobs blog. To learn more about hiring practices, interviews were conducted with both principal investigators (PIs) and current and former postdocs. Results show that many PER postdoc positions have been available since 2008, with many of these advertisements indicating that the PI will consider hiring someone with a physics or a PER or science, technology, engineering, or mathematics education background. The interviews indicate that there is no typical way for hiring PER postdocs. Some aspects that PIs consider include the background of the candidates and how well the candidates fit in with the group. Postdocs likewise consider whether they like the research group when accepting offers. For both, having ties to the PER community is important for hiring. Overall, PIs and postdocs have been satisfied. Postdocs who were originally in traditional physics have felt that being a PER postdoc has allowed them to transition to PER. In giving advice, both PIs and postdocs reiterate the importance of connecting to the community, evaluating the postdoc position as a stepping stone in the career trajectory, and holistically considering candidates.
- Received 7 March 2018
- Corrected 9 August 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.14.010152
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Corrections
9 August 2018
Correction: A reference and its citation in text have been removed.