Executive Summary prepared 3/17/05 by Elsa Strotmeyer:

Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Sigma Xi Postdoc Survey (authors: Geoff Davis, Jenny Zilaro, Pam Blondin) is designed to improve the training and research environments for postdocs by providing a better understanding of their experiences. The University of Pittsburgh was a pilot site for testing the survey and the full survey results will be released within the next few months by Sigma Xi. The survey was done in Fall 2003 prior to the major changes made to postdoctoral classification, benefits, and guidelines at the University level. Considering the results by gender is of interest to monitor equality in research & training experience, benefits, and salaries. Since national data shows fewer women at each progressively higher academic rank, there was also an interest in evaluating potential factors contributing to this discrepancy.

Results of this pilot study are not representative and have the following biases: 1) Self-selected and low response rate (N=138: high non-response rate for some questions), 2) The University of Pittsburgh Postdoctoral Association (UPPDA) distribution list (e-mail) was not up to date and excluded new postdocs hired Fall 2003.

The female and male postdocs at Pitt have similar salaries, benefits, research & training experiences, and overall satisfaction with their postdoc. Major differences are 1) more female postdocs are US citizens than male postdocs, and 2) female postdocs are more likely to report importance of childcare & family leave benefits and family considerations in career decisions.