Postdoc ideas change the world: Dr. Sally Morton speaks during Postdoc Appreciation Week

ASU’s Executive Vice President for the Knowledge Enterprise Dr. Sally C. Morton was the guest speaker at the annual Postdoc Appreciation Breakfast on September 21, 2021.

Morton shared her academic and professional journey with the crowd of ASU postdocs who came together to enjoy coffee and omelets. She talked about her love for statistics and her admiration for her mentor, who inspired her to pursue a career as a statistical analyst. 

“I fell in love with statistics through the influence of one amazing professor, Rupert Miller…I’d guess that there are similar stories in this room about how you were drawn to your field,” Morton said. “And you may have already been or will be that one person to that young undergraduate student or graduate student. Be the inspiration that I know you can be.”

Morton also talked about her journey from academia to industry and back to academia. After completing her PhD, her love for statistics led her to a job with the Rand Corporation, where she worked on science policy and honed her leadership skills. Years later, when she noticed a job listing for the head of the statistics department at the University of Pittsburgh, she started to consider going back to academia. 

“I like new things. I’ve been in industry. I’ll try academics. If I am ever going to make the jump, this is the kind of job it would be,” Morton explained. 

As the Executive Vice President for the Knowledge Enterprise at ASU, Morton’s focus has changed. She leads an operation of more that 2,000 people and has the charge of increasing ASU’s research expenditures to $1 billion annually. She recognizes that postdocs are pulled in a dozen different directions, and that they have to do many things to keep their career moving on the right trajectory. She emphasized that postdocs need to prioritize writing and getting published, no matter if they are in academia or an industry job. 

Even though most of her job is administrative, she still finds time to do her own research and occasionally publish. But she doesn’t mind that she doesn’t have much time for her own research.   

“It's working with folks like you, your ideas can change the world. And my job is to figure out how to support you in doing that,” said Morton.