knowknot at mindspring.com wrote:
>
>
> In the sciences, the "point" of a post-doc position is to do good and
> nteresting science.
>
> This is especially so for post-docs in the neurosciences at instititions
> like Cal-Tech (the OP's daughter's bf's new affiliation) -- hardly a place
> a recent Ph.D in some compromised way "settles" for as "some kind of
> employment" because "no [other] jobs are available" as, to the contrary,
> such positions are very much sought after and competitive.
One person I know who had a post-doc in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins was more or less immediately plunged into advanced research in Parkinsons disease there. She became irritated with the place for various reasons, but it certainly was a positive in her career rather than a job for lack of a better one. One could probably compare it to the more desirable internships in other fields (e.g., an internship at IBM for someone in computer science. The person I know who got one of those internships was earning over 100K in another 15 years.)
Carrol