Announcement of postdoc positions occur regularly as announcements in journals and newsletters, posting on relevant list serves, and word of mouth. Dr. Andersen also regularly receives inquiries from students in the States and abroad. Inquiries at any time are welcome.
Trainees have typically had backgrounds in psychology, other behavioral sciences, or a medical specialty (e.g., ob-gyn, nursing). Postdocs have arrived with variable backgrounds in research and methodology. All postdocs are initially funded with current grants, and those individuals eligible to remain longer than 12 months have successfully submitted their own grant application. Grants usually are extensions of the lab's ongoing research programs.
A post doc comes to a mentorship and research environment that enables and facilitates his/her growth as an independent investigator (see also descriptions above for predoctoral mentoring and opportunities). The training agenda begins with designing a curriculum of methodology, statistics, and/or any content remediation. The Quantitative Psychology and Biostatics Departments are strong, and post docs readily avail themselves of course offerings. Curriculum planning also extends to address future research needs.
Post docs are fully involved in the ongoing grant projects, data analyses, and paper writing. If appropriate, postdocs submit a grant application within the first six months to fund a project tailored to his/her interests and within the context of the lab's ongoing projects. The post doc conducts and manages his/her research grant with the full support of the laboratory. This includes trained data collection staff, administrative and fiscal management personnel, data management personnel, Ph.D. level statistical consultation, and many eager, bright, and successful graduate students and undergraduates with which to work. Post docs also mentor a graduate student on a specific project, as this is an essential skill. In the past, postdoctoral trainees have completed an average of 4.5 papers and 6 presentations during their training.
Finally, assistance is provided, when necessary, to postdocs to find limited clinical practice opportunities. This is done for the sole purpose of enabling clinical psychology post docs to be license-eligible (if not licensed) upon training completion. (Licensure is essentially a requirement to be a competitive applicant for academic appointments in psychology or psychiatry departments.)
Mentorship is also offered during the initial year or two for an assistant professor/beginning investigator. Mentorship of assistant professors can be one of the critical success factors in academia. As requested by the trainee, this includes mentorship for initial grant submissions, for example, and other assistance (e.g., identifying local mentors, reviewing manuscript submissions). For trainees interested and in-need, this plan offers a time-limited continuation of mentorship designed to be maximally useful during his/her transition years.
(L-R): Kristen Carpenter, Lisa Thornton.