Creating and sustaining collaborative multi-institutional industry site visit programs: a toolkit

Tammy R L Collins; Kiri Hoff; Molly Starback; Patrick D Brandt; Christopher E Holmquist; Rebekah L Layton

doi:10.12688/f1000research.26598.2

Creating and sustaining collaborative multi-institutional industry site visit programs: a toolkit

F1000Res. 2020 Nov 12:9:1317. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.26598.2. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Tammy R L Collins¹, Kiri Hoff², Molly Starback³, Patrick D Brandt⁴, Christopher E Holmquist^{4

5}, Rebekah L Layton⁴

Affiliations

¹ Office of Fellows' Career Development, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, USA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, 27709, USA.
² Genome Integrity and Structural Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, USA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, 27709, USA.
³ Office of Postdoctoral Services, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27710, USA.
⁴ Office of Graduate Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599, USA.
⁵ Biochemistry Department, U.T. Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, 75390, USA.

Abstract

Background: As more early career scientists enter into diverse career pathways, visiting local companies or organizations can support their exploration of these paths. As an efficient way to facilitate this, we developed a collaborative regional site visit program: the Enhancing Local Industry Transitions through Exploration (ELITE) Consortium. Consortium members arrange half-day visits to local industry sites, thus providing companies and trainees the opportunity to meet and identify potential professional and career opportunities. Three different training institutions worked cooperatively in the development and maintenance of the program. The ELITE Consortium was developed with eight phased steps; guidelines and operating procedures were created for each of these steps and are provided along with sample materials for institutions interested in building similar programs. Methods: Prior to fully developing the program, trainee interests were evaluated via questionnaire. During program implementation and thereafter, program directors tracked attendance and collected career outcome data from publicly available sources to identify first job positions after training. Regression analyses and chi-squared analyses were used to examine site visit matches and career outcome data. Results: Analyses suggest a positive impact of site visits on postdoctoral and graduate trainees' career outcomes at companies or institutions that match a similar sector (e.g., for-profit) and type (e.g., biotech, pharmaceutical, contract research organization). Despite a small sample size, evidence suggests an especially positive impact on trainees who organize site visits to companies compared with those who simply participate. Conclusions: The ELITE Consortium was successful in helping trainees explore and identify a multitude of career paths. Trainees attained employment either directly or in related companies and institutions visited by ELITE participants. The joint, three-institution, flexible nature of the ELITE Consortium positively impacts the program's sustainability and reach. The toolkit provided here will help other institutions to replicate and adapt the program with minimal effort.

Keywords: biomedical workforce; career outcomes; experiential learning; graduate and postdoctoral professional development; industry site visit program.

Grants and funding

Salary support for RLL and PDB were partially funded through National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund NIH Director’s Biomedical Research Workforce Innovation Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) Award (DP7OD020317); and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences - Science of Science Policy Approach to Analyzing and Innovating the Biomedical Research Enterprise (SCISIPBIO) Award (1R01GM140282). Salary support for TRLC and KH was provided by the Division of Intramural Research, NIH/NIEHS.