POSTDOC ACTIVISM:
Getting to the Front of the Bus
Dan Ferber
Postdoctoral associations are sprouting throughout North America to push for improved salaries, benefits, career training, and protection against exploitation, giving voice to a population that most universities have ignored. But change has come slowly, if at all. That slow pace has also led postdocs to seek help from the government agencies that fund the universities where they work, although the National Institutes of Health, the largest supporter of postdocs, appears loath to dictate policies to the private sector.