As a Beckman Fellow, David Mayerich discovered a completely new outlet for his skills in reconstructing biomedical imaging data: applications in cancer research. New Fellow Malini Ranganathan is taking results from fieldwork she did tens of thousands of miles from Illinois and forging a unique research line involving the political ecology of water. Eddie Wlotko spent many hours as a graduate student toiling in a Beckman Institute lab, but was thrilled when he found out he could continue working here as a Beckman Fellow after earning a Ph.D.
They are just three of 12 current Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellows who are given a stipend and other resources and are asked in return only to continue doing research. Ranganathan knows she is fortunate to be a Beckman Fellow, in part because there are no teaching duties or other requirements to distract from her research goals, and in part because of the resources a Fellow enjoys.
“It’s rare to have a period in your life where you are using the time just to work on the things you want to work on,” she said. “It’s a privilege to be in this spot.”
Ranganathan, like the other current Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellows, didn’t just fall into her position. She and the other Fellows earned their spots by being among the top Ph.D. candidates or postdoctoral researchers in their respective fields. Ranganathan, who came here in late last year, was one of only five out of 59 applicants chosen for the 2010 class of Beckman Postdoctoral Fellows.
Fellows come to Beckman from around the globe and work in so many different areas there is no way to summarize all their research. They come with Ph.D.s in hand from the top universities across America, Europe, and a few other distant corners of the world. They do research in everything from neuroscience to robotics to the environment to nanoelectronics.
We have the means to do our own research and more and more, I understand, that is very unusual. If you are not faculty it’s very unusual to pick a project and run with it.
– Eddie Wlotko
The Beckman Institute Fellows program was begun in 1991 and is funded by the Arnold O. and Mabel M. Beckman Foundation. It was created to give recent Ph.D. students an opportunity to do research before they begin their professional careers, without having to worry about funding or having teaching or other duties. Michael Walsh holds the unique position of being the first-ever Carle Foundation Hospital/Beckman Institute Fellow, a position that was created in 2008 and is funded jointly by the hospital and the Foundation.
Four to five Fellows are selected each year from the areas of the behavioral and biological sciences, chemistry, engineering, and physics for appointments of up to three years and are, according to the guidelines, selected “on the basis of their professional promise, capacity for independent work, interdisciplinary interests, and outstanding achievement to date. Preference is given to those applicants whose research interests correspond to one or more of the programs in the Beckman Institute.”
The Beckman Postdoctoral Fellows are given an office, computer resources, and staff support from the Beckman Institute. Beckman Fellows are expected to collaborate with faculty researchers, as well as work independently doing interdisciplinary research. For many, it is a time to continue and/or expand research lines begun while earning degrees, while also preparing for an academic, business, or government position.
Former Fellow Jose Jimenez says that the most important thing he took away from his experience was learning the importance of having a big picture view of science.
“The details help you to write a paper, to advance the field, but to make strategic decisions doesn’t come from super specialization, it comes from understanding the field in which you are working,” he said. “The Beckman Institute allows you that because you can interact with more people and see a completely different picture than as an individual Ph.D. student in a group.”
When some of the current Fellows describe the advantages of their position, interestingly the terms seem to all start with the letter f: freedom, flexibility, and funding. The current Fellows echo the program’s mission statement, which states it “provides an excellent opportunity for young scholars to initiate a post-Ph.D. career of independent research in a stimulating and supportive interdisciplinary environment.”
Ranganathan, who is focusing on issues such as access to water in developing countries, cited the flexibility Fellows have in pursuing their research.