New G3 Editors:

• Flexible manuscript submission formats: submit your manuscript in any format! Save time and get your work sent for review faster.
• One-touch manuscript transfer: Because GENETICS and G3 are sister journals, submissions to GENETICS that report high-quality and useful findings—but lack the broad appeal, significance, or novelty of a published GENETICS article—may be offered a transfer to G3. This seamless process either guarantees review at G3, or G3 editors will use GENETICS reviews to offer decisions at G3 within days.

GSA member Steve Scherer appears on Good Morning America.

Included in this Issue:

• Society News

• The GSA Journals

• Members in the News

• Education and Professional Development

• Funding, Fellowships, and Awards

• Policy

• And finally...

December Issue December Issue

NEW POSTINGS IN GeneticsCareers.org Postdoctoral Researcher, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA Public Outreach Manager, American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC Assistant Professor - Health Promotion and Genomics Research, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT Visiting Assistant Professor, Stetson University Biology Department, DeLand, FL Asst. or Assoc. Professor, Plant Quantitative Genetics, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA Assistant Professor - Tenure Track, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT POSTDOC at Oregon State Univ: testing candidate genes for disease resistance in snails, Oregon State University, corvallis, OR Director, Research Ops, Phoenix Children's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ Clinical Geneticist, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC Faculty in Human Genomics, UC Davis Genome Center, Davis, CA Faculty in Human Genomics and Bioinformatics, UC Davis Genome Center, Davis, CA Pediatric Geneticist, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, Hollywood, FL

Education and Professional Development

The Lilly International Spring Conference on College and University Teaching and Learning is currently accepting presentation proposals for everything from 75-minute workshops to posters. The conference, held in Bethesda, MD, May 28–31, 2015, has "Evidence-Based Teaching and Learning" as its theme. Presentation proposals are due by January 10, 2015.

A report published by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine recommends major changes that will improve postdoctoral training in the United States. In short, postdoctoral positions should be refocused to have training and mentoring at their core, and postdoc salaries should be increased to acknowledge the value of their contribution to research. Importantly, the committee also recommends that graduate students "avoid viewing postdoctoral positions as the default next step, given that growth in the number of postdoctoral researchers far exceeds growth in the number of tenure-track jobs." [more…]

Two other reports, one from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from the United Kingdom and one from the Future of Research Symposium held in Boston, delved into the "plight of postdocs" aiming for academia. The UK report found that "of 100 science PhD graduates, about 30 will go on to postdoc research, but just four will secure permanent academic posts with a significant research component." In the US report, junior scientists stated that they feel that they are treated as cheap labor, and that an academic career is still presented to them as the default. As a Nature News article states, "the solutions are many, but will require time because they demand a change in culture."

What do you need to know before looking for a postdoc? Naturejobs provides some advice on what steps will help and when you should take them; one of the first steps they recommend is becoming active in a professional society like GSA!

President Obama humorously muscles his way through molecular biology jargon in a speech commending NIH researchers on their hard work during his visit last week. Source: The Washington Post.

• James Watson's Nobel prize medal has sold at an auction for a record-breaking $4.1 million to Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov. Usmanov will return the medal to Watson, stating that, "a situation in which an outstanding scientist has to sell a medal recognizing his achievements is unacceptable."
• The White House has catalogued stories of inspiring women in science and technology, and invites you to share yours as part of efforts to encourage women to pursue scientific careers. Former GSA president Barbara McClintock and Rosalind Franklin are among those featured.
• A survey of nearly 1,000 scientists examines their motivations, while underscoring the positive and negative influence of competition on scientific culture. "If research stops being about finding out how the world works for the benefit of society, and becomes being about competing to get your work published in a particular journal, then the most creative and brilliant people will go and do something else," warns the Deputy Chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, which carried out the survey.
• Who owns the biggest biotech discovery of the century? MIT Technology Review delves into the debate on the origins of the CRISPR DNA editing technology.
• A quick tale about the perils of misidentified cells plus food for thought: is fierce competition stifling good science?

Deadline for next issue: January 2, 2014. Send items (and feedback) to GSA's Communications and Engagement Manager, Raeka Aiyar, raiyar@genetics-gsa.org.

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