The leaves and the weather weren’t the only changes at The Rockefeller University (RU) this season. This fall the PDA Board handed over the reigns to mostly new members. Among the newly appointed were Paul D’Agostino, Linda Feighery, Nidhi Gangadhar, and Asma Hatoum have joined returning member Jim Miller to form this year’s PDA Board. Though we have different voices, we remain dedicated to the same mission: to represent the interests of RU postdoctoral associates, fellows, and research associates to the faculty and administration, and to provide social and professional development opportunities to its membership body.

Toward fulfilling its goal of social development, the PDA kicked off the new academic year with a fall BBQ. It was held on a balmy Thursday evening under a sky threatening to rain. Luckily the clouds held all evening and not a single drop fell as postdocs, students, faculty, and staff, along with their families and children, gathered at the Faculty Club. The turnout was excellent; the grill was busy for a full three hours until the last burger was flipped over dying embers. When all was said and done, 300 burgers, 200 hot dogs, six kegs, and twenty-four magna of wine were consumed. This event would not have been such a success without the help of the dedicated volunteers who graciously offered their time and labor. We are planning to hold a similar social event in the spring. Ideas for this event (and volunteers) are always welcome.

The PDA has also focused on career development this fall. Twice a year, the PDA awards partial or full reimbursement for expenses associated with attending conferences and/or workshops. The call for applications lasted through the month of October. Sixteen applicants were considered, from whom seven were awarded $500 to cover conference expenses and two were awarded partial or full coverage for workshops they wished to attend. Preference was given to postdocs who had been employed at Rockefeller for three to five years and who had not yet attended a conference or workshop. Please stay tuned for the next call for applications, which will happen in March 2012.

In an attempt to assess the career guidance needs of the postdoctoral community, the PDA issued a career planning survey this past summer, and 110 postdocs took the time to respond. While three-quarters of respondents wish to obtain a tenure track position in a research-focused organization as their first career choice, it turns out that only 35 percent of postdocs who have left RU in the past year ended up with such a position. Additionally, over half of respondents reported uncertainty about their preferred career choice, thus underscoring the need for additional career guidance/mentorship opportunities. The PDA Board has addressed this issue in past meetings with our president, Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Dr Tessier-Lavigne is very much committed to helping postdocs become aware of the career opportunities available and receive the appropriate career guidance. Follow-up discussions with the administration on how to achieve this have been ongoing and are outlined below.

To begin to address this issue, representatives from the student body, postdoc body, and Biotech Forum met with Associate Dean Emily Harms and Dean Dr. Sid Strickland this past August. Our goal was to discuss and implement ways to help raise postdoc awareness about alternative career options. Several such resources already exist, including the monthly Biotech Forum seminar series at RU, the monthly “Career Pathways” seminar series at Cornell, and the annual Career Symposium hosted on alternate years by New York University and members of the Tri-Institution. Toward developing additional resources, our discussion at the meeting centered upon two main ideas: 1) to create a career website containing a message board with current information on job postings, seminars, and symposia, and 2) to establish a seminar series distinct from the Biotech Forum in which invited professionals talk about various career pathways. The Dean’s office volunteered to host such a seminar series and lead the initiative on the website. In the weeks that followed the meeting, two committees (consisting of student, postdoc, and Biotech Forum representatives) were formed to implement the career development website and seminar series.

To generate ideas for speakers and topics and discuss logistics of the career development seminar series, its committee (Linda Feighery, Asma Hatoum, Maria Maldonado, and Lei Tan) met with Emily Harms this past October. In addition to inviting individual speakers, other ideas discussed included assembling panels of professionals who work in similar fields to lead panel discussions, and putting together workshops that help foster skills that are important for landing a job (i.e. networking and interviewing.) This new seminar/workshop series will begin in January 2012 and will be held once a month, alternating with the Biotech Forum seminars on Wednesday evenings (from 4 to 5 p. m.). The series will remain a work in progress and continue to evolve in accordance with the feedback and needs of the postdoc community. The career website committee will be meeting soon to begin planning the new website.

As the fall semester comes to a close and the holiday season approaches, the PDA is now shifting its focus toward upcoming meetings and academic events in the winter and spring. We are scheduled for another follow-up meeting with our president regarding the issue of postdoc salaries, and we will announce the outcome as soon as any new information becomes available. Our next academic event is the PDA seminar series, which will begin in January 2012. We plan once again to open the floor to speakers from the Tri-Institutional community. This provides an excellent opportunity to practice presenting in front of a friendly audience and to stay connected with the next-door research, all while enjoying pizza. We encourage all to participate. Seminars will be held the last Thursday of each month at noon. Please stay tuned for future announcements and our call for speakers.