1. Postdoc Conference Reimbursement Award Attending scientific conferences regularly is a crucial component of the postdoc training experience. The PDA discovered that due to lack of lab/personal funds, many RU postdocs were unable to attend scientific meetings. Postdocs in their third to fifth year who have not attended any conference during their time at Rockefeller may apply for a grant from the conference travel fund (which has a total budget of $1,500), set up jointly by the PDA and the Dean’s Office. Due to the potentially large number of applicants and the small size of this initial fund, a lottery system will be used to award one or two grants. The PDA and the Dean’s office are looking to increase this fund so that more applicants can benefit from this grant. Application forms are available in the Dean’s office for the March 31 lottery deadline.

2. Mentoring of Postdocs Through discussions with the Dean’s Office and Human Resources, the PDA has emphasized the need to enhance the mentoring of postdocs. The PDA is developing a ‘Best Mentoring Practices’ handbook that will serve as a guide to both mentors and postdocs in providing the best training experience to RU postdocs. The RU and the Dean’s office are finalizing a one-page document that summarizes the objective and scope of this handbook. Subsequent elaboration of this document into a handbook will help develop more comprehensive guidelines for proper postdoc mentoring.

3. Careers Symposium Friday March 24 is the date for this year’s Tri-Institutional careers symposium, co-sponsored and organized by the PDA in conjunction with our colleagues at Weill Medical College and Memorial Sloan-Kettering. The symposium is an all-day event taking place at Weill Medical College, and will feature speakers from a wide range of careers including academia, the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, science writing, science policy, law, and finance. The 2005 symposium was hugely popular, and we expect this year’s program to be similarly successful.

4. Annual Poster Session with Award In an attempt to improve scientific interactions among postdocs and other members of the Rockefeller community, the Annual Poster Session that is held in conjunction with the student recruitment (March 3 and 10; 1:00–3:30 p.m.; 17th floor of Weiss) will include a postdoc poster competition. The postdoc participants will be judged by a panel of postdocs and faculty, and the top three posters will be awarded prizes, with a first prize of $1,000 and the opportunity to present a seminar in the Monday lecture series.

5. Scientific Retreats The PDA polled the postdoctoral community in the fall to determine the interest level in holding a Rockefeller University retreat for postdocs. Out of 88 respondents, 94% would attend a retreat and 78% would prefer a campus-wide (i.e. not topic-specific) postdoctoral retreat. Given the high interest level, the PDA is currently discussing with the administration the possibility of holding a retreat for Rockefeller postdocs and research associates that may be held as soon as this summer.

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