About SEEDS
Scholarships to Enhance and Empower the Development of ScientistsWhat is significant and unique about the SEEDS program?
SEEDS was designed with nationwide input from postdoctoral scholars and pre-tenure faculty regarding areas where they need additional support. We embraced a holistic approach to fortify the transition from early-career scientist to established faculty member/researcher. Over the course of a year, SEEDS targets key pain points that can undermine emerging neuroscientists at this stage, namely, knowledge of the culture of practice of successful academic faculty:
1) Grant writing,
2) Academic networking and utilization,
3) Strengths-based career development strategies.
Additionally, we use in-person and virtual sessions to conduct leadership training and to provide direct mentorship and professional development activities that simultaneously address the human experiences of rejection, isolation, and exclusion that some neuroscientists face.
Despite decades of progress in expanding access to advanced STEM degrees at U.S. institutions, many qualified scientists continue to face barriers to entering academic faculty positions. Some scientists aren’t afforded the same opportunities for mentorship and training as others due to constraints around institutional resources, personal networks, and other factors. The limited opportunity for these scientists’ expertise and perspectives in academia constrains the field’s research scope, depth, and capacity for innovation.
The NIH, its NINDS, and other agencies recognize that expanding participation in science, and neuroscience in particular, is an imperative for the US to remain globally competitive and to address increasingly complex scientific challenges. Billions of dollars have been invested to generate pathway programs to broaden participation in science. However, the transition from postdoctoral researcher to faculty remains a major point of attrition. SEEDS provides scholars with the training and exposure that is critically needed for advancement into faculty roles, but often left to chance in postdoctoral and early-career training.
SEEDS was designed to address challenges faced by the senior postdoc/junior faculty demographic and is unique in the opportunities offered to both groups:
1. The hidden and unspoken curriculum: Who to know and how to access key resources
Academic research trains scholars through structures and systems where mentors instill information, skills, and insight in their trainees via co-work, communication, and collaboration within the scientific community. Some postdoctoral fellows, however, are often isolated from scientific communities and work in hostile environments or under research supervisors who are less supportive.
SEEDS emphasizes the strengths and assets of individuals and provides access to supportive, culturally inclusive mentors with similar lived experience, as well as connecting scholars to larger professional networks of advocates and leaders in science.
2. Displaying scientific excellence and merit
There are many systemic forces working to hamper scholars’ success in academia despite the intellectual assets, creativity, and diverse perspectives they bring to the table. From predoctoral to postdoctoral, to early faculty levels, societal/industry hindrances must be actively overcome by the scholar for eventual advancement.
Although these issues cannot be solved by a single professional development program, SEEDS nurtures scholars to present their expertise and strengths in the best light through grantsmanship training. SEEDS also matches scholars to appropriate funding opportunities and faculty positions, as well as trains researchers to frame their work as highly relevant and impactful.
3. Professional Network
A strong professional network is vital for postdoctoral researchers aiming for competitive academic faculty positions. By developing networking skills and connecting with mentors outside their local institutions, scholars who have faced challenges in academia can navigate barriers and overcome inadequate mentorship.
Professional societies support networking for scientists through travel awards, online programs, and dedicated committees. However, these efforts cannot fully match the depth of a network gained from supportive mentors and a neuroscience-specific program like SEEDS.
4. Psychosocial Belonging
Psychosocial belonging refers to the sense of being accepted and valued within a community. In academia, particularly in fields like neuroscience, this feeling of connection is essential for the success and long-term engagement of many early-career scientists who may not have traditionally seen themselves represented in the field.
SEEDS is designed to help emerging neuroscientists recognize the unique contributions they bring to the national research enterprise and to foster a sense of identity and confidence by connecting them with senior faculty who serve as coaches, mentors, sponsors, and role models (see SEEDS Committee). These successful senior faculty members have frank, transparent, and vulnerable conversations with scholars about the barriers they will face and how to handle them. This kind of mentoring and transparent sharing is very powerful when it comes from those who have experienced, lived, and overcome these personal and professional challenges.
SEEDS Framework and Timeline
The grant coaching method is introduced and initiated over the course of a 5-day, in-person workshop where scholars engage in a range of professional development programming. Program elements include training around 1) Imposter syndrome, 2) Preparing for tenure, 3) Personal and professional growth, 4) Persistence strategies in academia, 5) NIH and NSF funding resources, 6) Unconscious bias, 7) Mentoring, 8) Negotiation, and 9) Lab Management. Visit the workshop page for other details.
Building from the introductory workshop, scholars meet virtually with their grant coaching groups for the remaining year on a bi-weekly basis to prepare grants for submission according to their individualized career trajectory plans. During this time, scholars may utilize funds to enhance existing or develop new research skills at an institution of their choosing.
Most scholars also attend the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) annual meeting to network with former cohorts and a larger community of mentors dedicated to diversifying neuroscience.
Demographics and Professional Outcomes
Data collected from five cohorts: 61 total scholars
Total number of scholars from
U.S. states and 2 countries
Position
- Faculty 64%
- Postdoctoral Fellows 36%
Regional Demographics
Success Rate
- R-type Grants: SEEDS scholars 45%
- All NIH R Grants: 2024 20.9%
- K-type Grants: SEEDS scholars 100%
- All NIH K Grants: 2024 31.2%
Professional Advancement
- 8 postdocs now in faculty positions
- 3 non-tenure-track faculty are now tenure-track
- 2 faculty members promoted from Instructor to Assistant Professor
- 1 faculty member promoted from Assistant to Associate Research Professor
- 2 faculty members promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor with tenure
What our former scholars say about the SEEDS program:
“I learned so much during the workshop about grant writing and professional development. That by itself would have made the program worth going to, but the addition of having a peer group and mentor that supported my grant preparation was unbelievable. I was able to have a mock review of my grant before officially submitting, and I think this absolutely made my grant better and contributed to getting it funded the first time around.”
“It allowed me to interact with other early career scientists that had similar backgrounds and experience as me. This provided the moral and scientific support I need during a critical time in my postdoctoral career. The ability to openly express the highs and lows of being in academia created a support system and network in my early career that has proved invaluable in my development. The grant writing support and efforts of the participating faculty have really helped grow my grant writing skills.”
“SEEDS is what I needed to launch my career. I’ve learned so much about how to write grants and be successful in doing it. Also, I had tremendous help and advice from peers and mentors on how to structure my teaching as well as navigate the requirements for tenure. All the advice and help that I received are making my experience as a new faculty member enjoyable. I can see myself staying in this profession for a long time.”