The Future of Science Training: Institutional and Departmental Recommendations from Trainees

For over twenty years, reports from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and other groups have recommended changes to improve the training environments of graduate and postdoctoral trainees and promote a sustainable STEM workforce. In a hypercompetitive climate with a shortage of funds, academic institutions and departments have largely failed to prioritize and implement these recommendations, leading to a lack of change and exacerbation of problems. Here, we describe seven concrete and implementable changes, developed as part of a set of larger guidelines at a national meeting of stakeholders from across career stages, that departments and programs can make to improve their training environments.