UAB ranked 5th best workplace for scientists

Searching for a stimulating scientific environment? According to a recent survey, there’s no place like home! 

In a survey conducted by The Scientist magazine, UAB was ranked 5th in the nation when readers were asked to rate their workplace on features such as quality of mentorship, salary, and tenure opportunities. The survey, entitled, “The Best Places to Work in Academia,” revealed that, overall, scientists on campus are particularly enthusiastic about their level of pay and the resources that are available to them; many also enjoy a good deal of job satisfaction.

“I personally knew UAB is a great place to work, but to get the national spotlight shown on us was like going to a BCS bowl game for [the] scientific community here on campus,” said Mick D. Edmonds, President of the Graduate Student Association.

Edmonds, a graduate student in the Department of Pathology who studies cancer, feels that he made the right choice when he decided to move across the country from Washington State in order to attend UAB.

“The University's training environment has allowed me to interact with world experts in my field of study, and compete and receive a fellowship from the Department of Defense.”

UAB’s 5th place ranking comes as an enormous jump from last year’s ranking of 47th. Much of this advancement is attributed to the school’s interdisciplinary style of research that pulls together scientists from a variety of campus departments to study a certain topic. In this way, each department brings their own expertise to the table, and the issue at hand can be approached from multiple angles.

According to graduate student Marcienne Wright, there are currently over twenty Interdisciplinary Research Centers in the UAB Joint Health Sciences. It is this type of environment that she feels fosters cutting-edge research.

“The collaborative structure of these centers has led to groundbreaking discoveries and therapeutic applications. For example, the UAB Atherosclerosis Research Unit, which is a part of the UAB Center for Aging, includes faculty with backgrounds in computational structural biology and informatics, biochemistry, and physiology. Research from faculty in each of these disciplines has contributed to the development and therapeutic use of a class of mimetic peptide drugs designed to treat vascular disease. These drugs are currently in early stage clinical trials.”

One UAB student finds a heightened inspiration for his work as a result of collaborating with other labs to research a topic.

“My overall work experience has been great … everyone I've worked with is so helpful,” said Sean Markwardt, a graduate student in the Department of Neurobiology. “It's also exciting for me to be developing collaborations with other labs; it really motivates me as a scientist.”

UAB President Carol Z. Garrison, Ph.D. anticipates that this 5th place ranking will aid recruiting efforts to bring new students and faculty to the University.

“Students and faculty want to learn and work in supportive and creative environments,” she said.

Edmonds agrees and adds that that the news will also serve to increase retention rates for the students already enrolled at UAB.

“There is a huge increase in enrollment in the biomedical/basic sciences right now because students are taking undergraduate science classes, becoming exposed to fields of science where the knowns are outnumbered by the unknowns, and deciding they would like to join those investigations,” Edmonds said. “When they ask their professors about the top places to do those studies, undoubtedly the answer is UAB.”

In the midst of celebration, however, key issues still exist in the area of student health care.

“I can speak as a scientist, both from the perspective as a UAB employee and a UAB graduate student, that UAB is a fantastic place to work,” said graduate student Rachel Gill. “My only complaint is in regards to graduate student medical benefits, but I'm confident the UAB administration is working hard to ensure that the health of its students is not an afterthought.”

Wright says that she would like to see more interactive methods that announce, among other things, discoveries taking place on campus.

“UAB Blazernet is a great portal for learning about the UAB research community. I’d like to see Blazernet incorporate message boards for reagent, equipment and protocol exchange and develop campus wide interactive blogs that review recent UAB advances in science research.”

Published in the UAB Kaleidoscope newspaper on November 25, 2008