We are happy to announce that after an open call was made to postdocs and RAs for a replacement of one of our committee members, Nadim Shohdy and Marlene Oeffinger have joined the ranks of the PDA representatives. Nadim has recently joined the Rice lab after completing his Ph.D. in Microbiology at Columbia. He looks forward to drawing on his experience as a former member of the Columbia Graduate Student Advisory Council to help enhance postdoc life here at Rockefeller. Marlene joins us via Vienna, London, and finally Edinburgh where she completed her Ph.D. studying ribosomes. She joined Mike Rout’s lab three years ago and is driven by a desire to initiate more inter-postdoc communication within Rockefeller as well as between different research institutions in New York.

The New Year is rapidly approaching and the PDA has already begun planning for the Tri-Institutional Career Symposium. This annual event showcases scientists that have chosen a variety of career paths, including academia. We encourage everyone to attend particularly since it will be held at The Rockefeller University this year. Look for an announcement of the date in the next few weeks.

In other news, we are currently working on updating the PDA Web site (http://www.rockefeller.edu/pda) and rewriting the aging bylaws. We encourage everyone to visit the page in the coming months to see the changes. Currently, we have a job opportunities section that is up-to-date and available for perusal. We are committed to tailoring the Web site to postdoc needs, so please let the PDA know if you have any suggestions for content. The bylaws subcommittee will begin meeting after the New Year, when planning for the retreat will begin.

As always, for our ongoing work to keep the administration appraised of postdoc/RA issues, we encourage all of you to e-mail the PDA with any complaints or suggestions about life on campus, however minor.

In the New Year, we will again send out a survey to assess whether the current rental guidelines have had any meaningful effect on the standard of living of postdocs, and we are always interested in hearing about your housing concerns.

Please contact if you have comments or questions.