In the field of physics, it’s considered de rigueur to complete a postdoctoral position, or postdoc, after earning a PhD and before beginning a faculty job. “It’s expected that you’re going to broaden beyond your PhD work,” says Duke Physics Interim Chair and Prof. Dan Gauthier. “Search committees want to see to what extent you were able to jump into another lab and another environment, and to what extent you’re able to come up to speed quickly and start to generate publications. If you do well at publishing and mentoring as a postdoc, then you’re probably going to do well as a junior faculty member.”
According to Administrative Manager Randy Best, there are 22 postdocs in the physics department this year.