Graduate School Network > NIH Protein Biotechnology Training Program > Program Outcomes

Program Outcomes

Our core mission is to provide an enriched graduate training experience that prepares individuals for a broad range of careers and expands participant access to the biomedical workforce. We monitor trainee outcomes to improve the program and report them to inform current and future participants about anticipated outcomes for program participation.

Here we present traditional program outcomes to show our current success and historical growth in the four following areas:

  1. Strong trainee publication records, including first-author publications, show that trainees perform research with increasing self-direction. On average, 2007–2022 BTP Ph.D. graduates published a mean of 5.4 papers (median of 4), with an average of 2.5 first-author publications. All (100%) of the 2007–2022 BTP PhD graduates published at least one first-author publication, a result of program efforts to help trainees develop skills necessary for independent careers. Several trainees contributed to patented IP as graduate students and collaborate in academia-industry partnerships with WSU from their current industry-based positions.
  2. High completion rates and short time-to-degree statistics have been improving. For BTP trainees from 2007–2022, 68% graduated with a doctoral degree in an average of 4.8 years. This completion rate is 6% higher than the rate for an older 2000–2015 BTP cohort and compares favorably with the national 63% completion rate cited in a 2008 Council of Graduate Schools study (Fisk, 2008).
  3. Metrics for trainees from underrepresented groups are either comparable to or approaching metrics for the entire cohort. Trainees with underrepresented diversity comprise 22% of the BTP 2007–2022 cohort. Compared with the entire cohort, these trainees completed doctorates at a 7% lower rate (61%) with a shorter mean time-to-degree (4.6 years) and similar publication productivity (6.4, mean; 4, median). We are committed to improving overall completion rates and closing the 7% completion rate gap for trainees from underrepresented groups, noting that the completion percentage is now 11% higher than that for diverse trainees in the BTP’s 2000–2015 cohort (50% completion rate).
  4. Trainees are prepared for a variety of research and research-related careers in various workforce locations. BTP 2007–2022 trainees acquired positions in the for-profit industry (31%), academia (41%), government (15%), and other workforce settings (13%). Despite the inclusion of recent graduates, 99% of 2007–2022 BTP graduates have research or research-related positions and a majority are now in permanent positions (non-postdoctoral fellows).

Graduate Training Outcomes

Career Placement Data