Graduate students spend years pursuing advanced degrees, and many follow up their Ph. D.s with post-doctoral fellowships. But after that, there’s a world of career opportunities available beyond academia–which is something that not all graduate students understand.

“We’ve found that many students are relatively uninformed about options other than becoming professors at research institutions,” explains Rick Gourse, a professor of bacteriology in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

To this end, Gourse organizes the Life Sciences Careers Day every other year to help graduate students and post docs in the life sciences understand the many careers that are open to those with a Ph. D. About 350 graduate students and post docs have registered for this year’s careers day, which will be held Saturday, April 30, from 8:30 to 5:00 in room 125 of the biochemistry building, 420 Henry Mall.

“Many know what it means to be an assistant professor at a place like the UW-Madison,” explains Gourse, “but they have little understanding of what it might be like to be a professor at an institution where the focus is almost exclusively on teaching, or to do research in an industrial setting. There are also opportunities in law, government, clinical settings, science writing, grant administration and sales, to give a few examples.”

The event consists of 14 speakers invited from industry, government, academia and other biological science-related fields. After short presentations from each invited guest, the speakers lead smaller breakout sessions so that students can ask questions in an informal setting.

“Past speakers have really enjoyed this opportunity to share their experiences with students, and students have enjoyed the chance to acquire new perspectives about careers,” says Gourse.

The event is sponsored by a variety of training grants in the biological sciences, and by the UW-Madison Graduate School.