Investments in Early Career Scientists
Organized by Donna K. Ginther, Joshua L. Rosenbloom, and Bruce A. Weinberg
Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
April 23, 2026
Royal Sonesta Hotel, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd., Cambridge, MA and Zoom
FORMAT: 35 minutes for presentations and 10 minutes for Q&A for longer papers. 18 minutes for short paper presentations and 7 minutes for Q&A.
Wednesday, April 22
6:30 pm
Group Dinner at Monteverdi Restaurant (Royal Sonesta)
Thursday, April 23
8:30 am
Continental Breakfast
8:45 am
Welcome
Donna K. Ginther, University of Kansas, and Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research
Advisors and Mentors
9:00 am

Advisor Engagement in Interdisciplinary Centers and PhD Training

Andres Madariaga Espinoza, KU Leuven
9:45 am

The Power of Mentors in Research Training Relationships

Enrico Berkes, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Bruce A. Weinberg, The Ohio State University and NBER
Rainer Widmann, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
10:30 am
Break
Graduate Education and Science
10:45 am

Beyond the Lab: The Effect of PhD Programs on Innovation

Manfredi Aliberti, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF)
11:30 am

Finding Nemo, Abroad: International Education and the Direction of Science

Vastav Ratra, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
12:15 pm
Lunch
Short Presentations with Interesting Data
1:00 pm

Increasing Scholarly Productivity for Early-Career Tenure-Track Faculty: A Cohort Analysis (2011–2021)

Jamie Powers, Academic Analytics Research Center
William Savage, Academic Analytics Research Center
Anthony Olejniczak, Academic Analytics Research Center
1:25 pm

Interdisciplinary Scientists Are More Innovative Than Interdisciplinary Teams

Yiling Lin, University of Pittsburgh
Zak Risha, University of Pittsburgh
Erin Leahey, University of Arizona
Lingfei Wu, University of Pittsburgh
1:50 pm

Interdisciplinary Faculty Hiring Reveals the Fungibility of Credentials Across Disciplines and Drives Differential Career Outcomes

Ben Aoki-Sherwood, University of Colorado, Boulder
Daniel Larremore, University of Colorado, Boulder
2:15 pm
Break
Gender and Politics
2:30 pm

Gender and Academic Mobility

Aliénor Bisantis, Aix-Marseille University
3:15 pm

Talent Lost to Politics? Field Experimental Evidence from Academia

Kris Gulati, University of California, Merced
4:00 pm
Closing Remarks
4:30 pm
Adjourn
This is the seventh of a series of workshops that was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The goal of this workshop series is to foster research collaborations among NBER affiliates, research funders, and research offices to gain a better understanding of the effect of scientific training on scientific careers. It will examine the interaction between research funding, graduate training, postdoctoral researcher positions, and early career independence. Studying these questions will contribute to a better understanding of the role and impact of postdoctoral research positions and inform policy designed to promote independent research careers.