April 2018

Preparation for Non Academic Careers by Lauren Celano, Co-founder and CEO of propel Careers to present to postdoctoral scholars, fellows and research staff about the opportunities and preparation for industry careers. In this talk, Propel Careers will highlight the range of career options available to postdoctoral level scientists and will discuss skills and experiences to highlight to showcase experiences in a resume, cover letter, and during an interview. This seminar will also include how to identify organizations, roles and utilize informational interviewing during a job search. Following the seminar there will be small group coaching sessions on a range of topics.

Seminar 1: Overview of Career Opportunities and Tips to Develop and Effective Career Search Strategy

Seminar 2: How to Evaluate, Build, and Highlight Transferable and Career Relevant Skills and Acing the Interview.

There will be a short break between the two seminars that will be announced by the speaker.

Register at https://goo.gl/forms/D8jL3TTLcPNxScpJ3 Following the seminar there will be small group coaching sessions on a range of topics. 

Contact postdocaffairs@psu.edu with any questions.

March 2018 

Workshop on Individual Development Plan, Seminar on Creating and Maintaining a Successful Online Presence,  Information session for new and recently appointed postdocs, presented by Pallavi Eswara, Director, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

Lunch n Learn for March will be with Dr. Suvrath Mahadevan, Associate professor, Astronomy and Astrophysics and Dr. Monica Medina, Associate Head, Diversity and Inclusion and Associate professor, Biology.

The topics can range from what it takes to succeed in a postdoc position, how to mentor undergrads, incorporating outreach into research programs and other topics of interest to postdocs.

February 2018

The workshop, "Best Practices for Developing your research proposal" was presented by Dr. Lorraine Mulfinger.

Seminar on writing your first NSF grant  presented by Dr. Conrad Tucker

Lunch-n-Learn series for postdocs, the theme is on teaching careers.

Invited speakers are Dr. Brian Crosby, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Psychology and Dr. Susan Stewart, Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering

to discuss teaching undergrad/grad students as a career at a higher education institution, their career path, and preparation for a career transition into teaching and related topics.

Dr.Jasmeet Dhaliwal, postdoc in Geoscience and Dr. Joyce Sakamoto, Research Associate, Entomology were awarded the first OPA Science Outreach Grant.

Dr.Dhaliwal will execute her outreach project at the Bellefonte Youth Center on "Designing Missions to Enceladus and Titan" to familiarize students with solar system, planetary bodies, habitable world and International Space Station.

Dr. Joyce SAkamoto's project will be implemented at Ferguson Township Elementary School and is titled 'Hobnobbing with insects".

PANEL DISCUSSION ON INTERVIEW PROCESS AND NEGOTIATING THE OFFER FOR A FACULTY POSITION

Office of Postdoctoral Affairs is pleased to organize a  panel discussion on the interview and negotiation process for faculty positions, specifically tenure track assistant professor. 

The panelists are Dr. Darrell Cockburn, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Food Science; Dr. Melissa Gervais, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science; Dr. Donald Schneider, Head, Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics; Dr. Janis Terpenny, Head, Dept. of Industrial Engineering.

The goal of the panel is to provide information and insight from both sides of the process- those reviewing and evaluating the candidates and those who just went through the process successfully. Whether you are currently on the job market or are curious about the process, a discussion like this gives insight into what search committees are looking for and to learn from experiences of recently appointed assistant professors. Panelists will present their experiences and advice with sufficient time for Q and A.