We had a recent talk on this in my department (I'm a PhD student who will
probably stay in research but am still interested in learning about these
alternative paths). A few suggestions that haven't been mentioned are
below:
Have you considered editor of a scientific journal, or science writer
for a major newspaper/newsmagazine?
A policy consultant is another possibility. There are 1-yr fellowships
available for people with PhD's to be congressional staffers, work on
capital hill. They are competitive and a little hard to find, but I know
of ones sponsored by AAS and ASM. Search on the web.
Some patent law firms need science consultants and will even pay for
you to go to law school while you work for them.
In short, there are plenty of careers out there besides
academic/industrial research which will hire you BECAUSE of your PhD and
not DESPITE it.
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Jennifer Robbins
Department of Immunology
Stanford University
