Research Career Mentoring in Communication Sciences

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Research Career Mentoring in Communication
Sciences DisordersDuring a Period of Species
Endangerment

• Christopher A. Moore, Ph.D.Professor and Chair
• University of Washington

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Consideration of CSD Mentoring Training Using
an Endangered Species Model
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Threats Can Present Opportunities

• There are administrative opportunities to create
  a research-centric program - including doctoral
  research training
• There are comparatively few programs providing
  sustainable academic research training in CSD.
• The opportunities for new or rising CSD programs
  are relatively rich compared to more densely
  populated disciplines (e.g., chemistry).
• An investment of 14 faculty positions can anchor
  a new program.
• Students, demand for graduates, and career paths
  are all in place.
• NIDCD support is unparalleled.

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Identification of a Species as Endangered

• For most species, the problems and solutions are
  complex interactions of multiple factors.

• Recruitment
• Retention
• Training

• Propagation
• Nurturing
• Survival

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Identification of a Species as Endangered

• Propagation rate is exceeded by mortality
• Annual shortfall of new PhDs in CSD is about 100
  with respect to faculty openings. Even
  assuming that all new PhDs go into academic
  research, the shortfall is dire.

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Identification of a Species as Endangered

• Numbers alone will not perpetuate the discipline.
  The propagation of CSD as a discipline depends
  on a healthy population of academic researchers.
• Distinct from master clinicians or accomplished
  teachers, these researchers provide the
  foundation for new knowledge in treatment and
  advanced instruction.
• Whos tending the pipeline?

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Identification of a Species as Endangered

• The less-quantifiable, far more insidious threat
  degradation of research training
• Responding to increasing need, faculty are
  increasingly hired with lower levels of research
  training experience (post-docs are rare in CDS)
• Teaching loads rise with shortages, reducing time
  allocated to research training
• Its not too late for junior faculty.
• Formalized continued mentorship (local or
  external)
• Formalized expectations, including continued
  training, as needed

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Optimizing Habitat

• How can academic research programs improve the
  recruitment, retention, and training of our
  successors?
• Make pigs sing annoy pigs
• We know of many other strategies that arent
  working, and some that help individuals, but not
  the discipline or dept.
• Can youShould youWhy would you want toprovide
  administrative guidane, viion, and mucle to
  make strategic (i.e., lab group) hires to create
  effective research habitat.

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Incubation by Acculturation

• Inevitably raises self-expectations establishes
  a model of performance and protocol
• Reduces organizational demand on individuals
• Provides redundancy in identifying areas of
  training importance, thereby reducing gaps
• Establishes a long-term community

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IncubatingFuture Research Faculty

• Explicit attention to research training as the
  primary objective for those seeking the research
  doctorate
• Exploiting all available resources to enhance
  research training
• Removing threats, barriers, and distracters from
  research training.

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Training Elements

• Culture
• Mentoring
• Curriculum
• Funding

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Specific Training ElementsCulture

• Creating a more general culture of expectation
• Joining with established research groups
• Promoting participation in the larger culture
  (e.g., presentations at scientific meetings
  specific to the students research area

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Specific Training ElementsMentoring

• Use a Strong Mentoring Model
• Include students in mentors work
• e.g., manuscript review, human subjects
  approvals, purchasing, analysis)
• Build toward solid, early independence (its
  unlikely theres a post-doc in his/her future).
• Create expectations that build toward career
  goals at a high level (e.g., scientific
  presentations, journal publications,
  grantwriting, technical skills)
• Within each research group, stay product-focused

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Specific Training ElementsCurriculum

• Departmental core-discipline curriculum
• e.g., speech acoustics, speech physiology,
  bioacoustics, psychoacoustics, spoken language
  production, speech perception, speech, language,
  and hearing development
• Research forum as an incubator
• Grant writing (e.g., require an F31 app)
• Lab rotations have advantages and disadvantages

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Specific Training ElementsGrants

• Training Grants (T32 or F31) andResearch Grants
  (e.g., R01, R15, R21)
• Enforce a common research focus within a
  research group

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Specific Training ElementsGrants
NIH 20-year survey of research training
Institutional trainingIndividual training
awardsResearch assistantships
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Specific Training ElementsGrants

• Matching educational goals with research support
• e.g., using doctoral students as clinic
  supervisors only when their research area or
  career focus includes supervision.

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Threats
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Specific Threats

• High teaching and supervisory expectations
• Reduced research exposure
• Part-time enrollment denies the student the
  opportunities afforded by a cohort.
• Overprotection

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Specific ThreatsCultural Insufficiency

• Science in a vacuum
• A viable cohort is essential
• Abandoning the basic sciences
• Ever-increasing M.S. certification requirements
• Clinical doctorate (AuD, SLPD)
• Diverting basic research support and students
  into advanced clinical training

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Possible Actions When a Cohort is Too Small to
Thrive

• Merging with healthy populations
• Cross-breeding to take advantage of established
  disciplines strong traditions, habitats, and
  cultures of research rigor
• With other departments
• Across universities
• Capitalizing on the strengths of other species
  (e.g., psychology, physiology, neuroscience)

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How small is too small?

• Too small to provide a sense of community
• Too small to justify the resources (attention,
  teaching load, space) necessary to provide the
  community
• Doctoral students are too rare to yield a regular
  pattern
• Too small to offer doctoral-level coursework
  overly reliant on independent study.

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Training PitfallsProgrammatic

• Still-growing programs
• No generation is expendable
• Building research programs that rely too heavily
  on hired (i.e., non-student) researchers.
• Future mentors without adequate research training

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Strategies

• Getting by
• Ramping up
• Building a Whole Department

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Alternatives
Raphus cucullatus ( - 1681)
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camoore_at_u.washington.edu