A start.

This is making the rounds of bloggosphere. I first saw it at YFS.

NIGMS has a long-standing commitment to research training and biomedical workforce development. As science, the conduct of research, and workforce needs evolve, we want to be sure that our training and career development activities most effectively meet current needs and anticipate emerging opportunities, and that they contribute to building a highly capable,diverse biomedical research workforce. To this end, we are engaged in a strategic planning process to examine our existing activities and articulate strategies to help us build and sustain the workforce that the nation needs for improving health and global competitiveness.

We are seeking broad input for this planning effort from university and college faculty members and administrators, current and former predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees, industry representatives, representatives of professional and scientific organizations, and other interested parties.

There are a series of questions that they want answers to:

What constitutes "success" in biomedical research training from the perspectives of an individual trainee, an institution, and society?

What can NIGMS do to encourage an optimal balance of breadth and depth in research training?

What can NIGMS do to encourage an appropriate balance between research productivity and successful outcomes for the mentor’s trainees?

What can NIGMS do through its training programs to promote and encourage greater diversity in the biomedical research workforce?

Recognizing that students have different career goals and interests, should NIGMS encourage greater flexibility in training, and if so, how?

What should NIGMS do to ensure that institutions monitor, measure, and continuously improve the quality of their training efforts?

Do you have other comments or recommendations regarding NIGMS-sponsored training?

I have organized the biology postdocs at SmallUniversity to meet and discuss our contributions to the above. After our meeting next Friday, I'll let people know what came of it.