Today, September 24th is the National Postdoctoral Association “National Postdoc Appreciation Day”.

Given the interpretation of “postdoc” used by the NPA I therefore offer a hearty and heart-felt

Bloody Good Show, keep up the hard work, and treat yourself to your beverage of choice

To all Postdocs, Research Assistants, Technicians and fresh-faced Junior Faculty.

Postdocs number in the tens of thousands in the US research system and are arguably responsible for the majority of the research output of the nations Universities and Institutes. They are frequently underpaid (compared to terminal-degree holding compatriots, especially in academia), over-worked and poorly compensated (via healthcare, retirement & other work-related rewards). Furthermore, because of the dearth of Faculty positions and an increasing expectation of high postdoctoral output, many postdocs find themselves in extended periods of service, stretching far beyond the original genesis of the system.

I’d like to urge everyone who works with postdocs, as well as postdocs themselves, to take a minute and thank the postdocs around you. Students, talk to your postdocs, use them as the valuable resource they are. Faculty, thank your postdocs for their hard work, Administrators, thank your postdocs for providing your institute with the research output necessary to generate the indirect costs that keep our universities working.

Happy NPA day!