This group was formed to explore alternative career paths that might be attractive to Neuroscientists, beyond conventional academic research and teaching. This effort is aimed not only at students near the beginning of their careers, but also for established Neuroscientists who may be interested in thinking about other ways to use their skills and inclinations.

One of the obvious alternative pathways would be joining a company working on neuroscience-related issues, and this has been a choice for many recent graduates. However, it is important to appreciate differences in commercially-oriented research versus academic research. Thus, one of our goals is to collect a comprehensive set of useful information that would make the choice between these two paths an informative one.

On the other hand, the Neuroscience majors are often talented in many ways, so that limiting their career paths to those directly involving the theoretical knowledge and experimental skills in Neuroscience might be over-simplistic. Thus, we are trying to understand which personal characteristics and motivations bring people to Neuroscience, and which other careers might benefit from the talents of Neuroscientists. We approach this issue through questionnaires and discussions within our Department and elsewhere.

If you are a student, postdoctoral trainee, or a faculty member, and would like to contribute your opinion or join our group in attacking these questions, please send a message to Dr. Irina Zhdanova at zhdanova@bu.edu.