The BSD PDA Seminar Committee is pleased to announce the Fall Quarter Seminar Series!

Seminars take place in BSLC008 on Friday unless otherwise noted

Wednesday, September 5th 11:00 am – Mentoring & Networking Roundtable
Location: BSLC Lobby
In this annual career development event, postdocs rotate in small groups with faculty to discuss the following topics: Academic Job Search & Interview Tips, Negotiating a Job Offer, Starting & Managing a Lab, Grant Writing, Getting Your Paper Published, and Career Development Plan. Register here!

September 21st 4:00pm – Postdoc Town Hall Forum
Location: BSLC Lobby
Have any ideas for how to improve postdoc training at UChicago? We want to hear from you! Interested in learning more about the Postdoc Association (PDA) and find out how to get involved? PDA Committee Chairs will be there to answer any of your questions. Just looking to meet some of your postdoc colleagues? Come out to celebrate the end of National Postdoc Appreciation Week with pizza and beverages!

October 5th 4:00pm – CVs and Cover Letters for Academic Positions (with UChicagoGRAD)
Location: UChicagoGRAD Headquarters – 3rd floor of the UChicago Bookstore
Preparing for the academic job market? This workshop will cover all the basics of preparing your CV and cover letter—expected formatting, necessary elements, and do’s/don’ts for each document, as well as how to target and tailor your materials to the institute you are applying to.

October 12th TBD  – Informational Lunch with Sean McConnell, PhD (Science Policy Careers)
Join us for an informal lunch with former BSD postdoc alumnus, Sean McConnell, to find out more about careers in science policy and consulting. Sean is a Senior Policy Analyst at the American Medical Association and President of McConnell Consulting, which advises on a variety of science-related topics (specializing in personalized medicine, genomics, stem cells, animal models of disease).

October 26th 4:00pm – Career Exploration Workshop: Skills, Values, and Interests
Understanding yourself is the most important part of finding the right career for you. Take time to explore and reflect on what careers are the best match for you in a workshop specifically designed for postdocs led by Valerie Miller, PhD, Assistant Director, Postdoctoral Affairs.

November 2nd 4:00pm – Teaching Fellowships Panel Joint event with myCHOICE
Christopher Pena, PhD, myCHOICE Communications Manager
Interested in a teaching career at the university level? Find out more about teaching fellowship programs designed to train you to not only be a productive researcher but also an effective classroom teacher.

November 9th 4:00pm – myCHOICE Intern Alumni Panel Joint event with myCHOICE
Learn more about how former myCHOICE trainees leveraged their internship experience to find a job!

November 16th 3:30pm – Informational Interview Strategies (with UChicagoGRAD)
Location: UChicagoGRAD Headquarters – 3rd floor of the UChicago Bookstore
Briana Konnick, PhD, Assistant Director, Graduate Career Development, will discuss best practices for one of the most powerful—and underutilized—tools for finding the right career fit and landing a job.

November 30th 4:00pm – Grants Seminar for Postdocs
Aaron House, Assistant Director, eRA Training & Communication, URA; Nancy Schwartz, PhD, Dean and Director of Postdoc Affairs; and Valerie Miller, PhD, Assistant Director of Postdoc Affairs. Learn about funding opportunities and how to use grant databases.

December 7th 3:30pm – Ethics Seminar for Postdocs
Discuss publishing ethics with Fabiola Rivas, PhD, Senior Editor at Cell Immunity and Peggy Mason, PhD, Professor in the Department of Neurobiology.
This is a quarterly ethics seminar that fulfills the NIH RCR requirement.

December 14th 4:00pm – Diversity Discussion