Rutgers OPA
Weekly Newsletter | April 12, 2018
Things you should know...
Dear Rutgers Postdoc community,
This newsletter includes reading material, upcoming events, and general announcements. Scroll down for more information.
Check also our website for a collection of previous OPA weekly newsletter.
Career Development Tool for Doctoral Students and Postdocs
The School of Graduate Studies and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs brings to you a new online resource available to all Rutgers graduate students and postdoctoral scholars: Versatile PhD.
Versatile PhD is a digital platform designed to help you learn more about the career opportunities that exist outside the tenure track. This tool demystifies non-academic professions, making it easier to explore a wide range of career paths. Doctoral students and postdocs in the STEM, Biomedical, and Humanities and Social Sciences fields can benefit from this career development tool.
Once you create a free VPhD account, you will have access to many resources, including (but not limited to):
Resumes & Cover Letters: Real resumes and cover letters that got real PhDs their first jobs away from the faculty track, with detailed analysis that describes how they made the non-academic pivot and shows the application and hiring processes step by step.
Personal Narratives: First-person stories by experienced non-academic PhDs, describing how their careers evolved over several years after moving out of the academy, including promotions, advancement, and signature accomplishments.
Panels: Detailed inside information on a wide range of specific PhD-friendly careers provided by PhDs in those careers, along with answers to frequently asked questions from other VPhD members.
With access to Versatile PhD, you can also explore discussion forums, examine the Q&A archives, learn more about local meetup groups, and search job listings.
Once you reach the Versatile PhD login page, create a VPhD member account. If you already have an account, sign in as usual.
Postdocs interested in having access to Versatile PHD, visit our website.
PhD students interested in having access to Versatile PHD, visit the SGS website.
If you have questions related to Versatile PhD, please contact Dr. Ramazan Gungor or Dr. Itzamarie Chevere-Torres.
Reading Material
To get grants and jobs, know where your skills will be valued and how to promote them, says Peter Fiske.
*Career Column Article published in Nature
"Most academic researchers might not be familiar with marketing, but my own long stint in the private sector and my recent return to academia have taught me that a market strategy can be a crucial step in winning grants, building a scientific reputation and advancing your career." Read more.
Persistence, Focus, Inner Beliefs, Flexibility, Network, Critical Thinking, and Passion!
*Article published in Science
"Early on in my career as a headhunter, I became interested in the dozens of qualities that make top scientists stand out. Then, a conversation with one of my contacts shifted my thinking. “Success in the biotech industry, like any pursuit, seems to boil down to no more than about a half-dozen things,” Leo Kim told me more than 2 decades ago. He was the vice president of a biotech company at the time, and I frantically wrote down his words as he piled great advice on top of great advice. After our discussion, I began to think about the topic in a different way. I had been looking for dozens of different factors, but is it really just a handful of core traits that make the difference?" Read more.
Rutgers Postdoctoral Association Events
Tomorrow, Friday, April 13. Join us!
Prepare for Your Next Career Step |Rutgers Postdoctoral Research Symposium | April 13
This year the Rutgers Postdoctoral Association will celebrate its 9th Annual Postdoctoral Symposium!
The event is organized by Rutgers postdoc volunteers, for you!
Take a break from your experiments,
think about your next career step and meet your colleagues!
Everyone is welcome to attend, postdocs and graduate students especially.
The event is free.
The symposium will feature:
- Three career panels: International PhDs in the US: Challenges and Advice, Research Careers and Non-Research Careers.
- Interview and Negotiating Skills for PhDs Workshop
- Research Poster Session (award will be given for the top two posters)
- The Science Art Show (award will be given for the best artwork)
- Keynote address by Dr. Adam Ruben, scientist, writer and comedian
We ask you to please make an effort to attend if you register.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Date:
Friday, April 13, 2018
Location:
Great Hall and Main Auditorium
RWJMS Research Tower (Busch Campus)
675 Hoes Lane West, Piscataway, NJ 08854
Contact rutgerspda@gmail.com for more details and questions.
We are looking for volunteers!
Sponsored by Rutgers Postdoctoral Association, Rutgers Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, Rutgers AUUP-AFT,Rutgers Global, SAPA, Rutgers iJOBS, I-CORPS, & USA Scientific
Scroll down to see and download flyer!
Rutgers iJOBS Events
iJOBS Workshop: Communicating Risk Regarding Science and Health - Lead Toxicity and Public Policy
It is critical for scientists to learn how to communicating risk regarding public health issues and other scientific concerns to various audiences including the public, policy makers and peers. Lead poisoning in water and paint is an ongoing public health crisis that needs to be addressed. At this workshop, we will first hear from experts on lead testing and clean water as well as the effects of lead poisoning on human development. We will then learn how risk is perceived by different audiences and how scientists and experts are perceived by the public. An interactive case study will engage all attendees to practice their communication skills.
Register here.
Location:
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
675 Hoes Lane West
Research Tower, Deans Conference Room 123
Piscataway, NJ 08854
iJOBS offers transportation. Limited spaces are available. Registration is required.
Have questions about this iJOBS event? Contact Rutgers iJOBS Program Directors:
Janet Alder; janet.alder@rutgers.edu
Susan Engelhardt; engels@soe.rutgers.edu
Doreen Badheka; badhekdk@gsbs.rutgers.edu
Wednesday, Apr 18, 2018, 04:00 PM
675 Hoes Lane West, Piscataway Township, NJ, USA
iJOBS is co-sponsoring the GRO Biopharma Conference | April 25
GRO-Biotech is connecting the strong intellectual capital of New York’s top graduate research institutions with the growing biotechnology and pharmaceutical presence int he tristate area. GRO Biopharma conference features speakers from leading Pharma companies, a Venture Capital panel, a Biotech startup panel and Networking sessions. This is a student organized event and our iJOBS students are helping plan the day. See attached flyer for details of speakers.
When: April 25 from 2-7pm at NYU Langone Health
Register by April 1 by clicking here.
Location:
NYU Langone Health, Farkas Auditorium
550 1st Avenue
New York, NY
About GRO-Biotech
Founded in 2015, GRO-Biotech is a coalition of graduate biotechnology organizations from the top life sciences programs in NYC (NYU, Cornell, Mount Sinai, CUNY Hunter, Columbia, Rockefeller, Sloan Kettering, and Albert Einstein) with a reach of over 500 graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral researchers, and clinicians.
Our mission is to provide our members with opportunities to learn about areas of drug development, healthcare, business, and life sciences entrepreneurship that they might not otherwise encounter in a traditional science training program.
Wednesday, Apr 25, 2018, 02:00 PM
550 1st Avenue, NY, New York, USA
Other Events
Versatile PhD | Ask Me Anything Event with PhD Career Experts | 3-days event, April 17-19
Join Dr. Fatima Williams and Dr. Thi Nguyen for three days of Q&A about how to find the right career path for you. Life scientists, humanists, social scientists, graduate students, postdocs in all disciplines are invited to ask questions and get personal support during this three-day career coaching session.
Unlike past events on the VPhD website, the AMAs will go live in their own dedicated forum. Once over, AMAs will remain available for reading and review by anyone.
As with all VPhD events, our AMAs are free and open to any VPhD member. Join Versatile PhD now if you haven’t already. You can do so by visiting the appropriate Rutgers website (Scroll up to see information on how to crate a Versatile PhD account)
You have a couple ways to follow the discussion:
– Check the forum every so often. If you stay signed in, just refresh the page.
– Via email. You can activate per-post notifications right now with one click. You can also use the Notifications link in the MyVPhD menu button.
You cannot start a topic or reply to one via email. Please come to the site to do so.
Speakers:
Dr. Williams (Cultural Anthropology, 2011) and Dr. Nguyen (Neuroscience, 2010) help PhDs plan and launch successful careers – Nguyen as a graduate career advisor and associate dean at Washington University in St. Louis, and Williams as speaker and career coach to PhDs.
Dr. Williams, a Rutgers Alumna, facilitated the iJOBS Resume & Cover letter workshop last January 23, 2018. She is the founder and CEO of Beyond the Tenure Track.
Seminar | “That wasn’t in my plan?” Change, Choices, and My Evolving Scientific Career" | April 17
*On Behalf of Dr. Janet Alder:
Seminar by Beth Ann Murphy hosted by NeuroConnections (scroll to see attached flyer)
Beth Ann Murphy is a scientist with experience in the pharmaceutical and life sciences biotech sectors. Most recently she was a Senior Scientist at Celvive Inc., a biotech start-up that spun out of Rutgers University. At Celvive she led research operations and worked closely with the company’s funders to develop a scientifically valid and commercially viable business plan. She created the research strategy needed to advance the company’s primary asset from an academic research finding to a commercialized therapeutic entry; She brought a functional lab on-line, performed Celvive’s very first experiment, led the “Lean Start Up” entrepreneurial team and was the primary author of the company’s commercialization plan. Prior to joining Celvive, Dr. Murphy spent 25 years as a research scientist at Merck & Co. where she gained an extensive and holistic experience in all aspects of drug discovery and development. Over this tenure, she had a distinguished career, contributing the success of innumerable drug discovery programs.
When & Where:
Room V14 Research Tower: April 17th, 2018: 12-1:00pm
Regular OPA Events
Welcome & Information Session | Friday, April 27 | Registration Required
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs offers Welcome and Information Sessions to help orient new and current postdocs. If you are a postdoc who is new to Rutgers, or just curious about the resources that are available to you, we strongly encourage you to register for an upcoming one-hour session.
Next session will be, April 27. Please register today as space is limited.
Time: 9–10 a.m. or 11 a.m.–noon
Where: Office of Postdoctoral Affairs with Dr. Itzamarie Chevere-Torres located at Busch Campus, Nelson Biology Laboratories, Room D354. Registration is required.
For more information about sessions at Newark, contact Dr. Doreen Badheka badhekdk@gsbs.rutgers.edu on Newark Campus: Medical Science Building, Room H645.
Friday, Apr 27, 2018, 09:00 AM
604 Allison Road, Piscataway Township, NJ, United States
Drop-in Coffee Hour | Friday, April 6 (Weather Permitting)
If you are a postdoc interested in learning more about how to make the most of your time at Rutgers, prepare for life after Rutgers, or just want to share some coffee or tea in a safe space, come by and visit.
Location:
Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, Nelson Biology Laboratories, Room D354.
Registration is not required.
Friday, Apr 6, 2018, 02:00 PM
604 Allison Road, Piscataway Township, NJ, United States
Individual Career Advising Sessions
If you're a postdoc looking for perspective on how to navigate your career path or career transition, contact Itzamarie Chevere-Torres to schedule an appointment.
For Newark postdocs, contact Doreen Badheka to schedule an appointment. Individual career counseling sessions for Newark postdocs will be at the Medical Science Building, Room H645.
Fellowship Advising Sessions for Postdocs
Do you want additional feedback or guidance on your grant or fellowship proposal? Do you want to learn about grants and fellowships to support your postdoctoral training at Rutgers?
Schedule an appointment with Ben Arenger, Senior Fellowship Adviser, for an individual fellowship advising session.
Ben is available every Tuesday at our office by appointment only.
Would you like to be our featured postdoc of the month?
Rutgers is proud to be home to a vibrant and growing community of over 600 postdocs! Would you like to highlight your research or your career goals on our website?
Contact us opa@oq.rutgers.edu
Is your faculty mentor exceptional?
Do you have a faculty mentor who has made a real difference in your life? We'd love to hear from you. Contact us opa@oq.rutgers.edu
Business Concepts for Life Scientists| Free Online Course
About This Course
The purpose of the Business Concepts for Life Scientists course is to enhance PhD scientists’ understanding of foundational business concepts. This business coursework is unique because it is designed to prepare scientists for career transitions into both academic and non-academic settings. The course comprises a series of three modules - Business Strategy, Finance and Business Development.
This course is designed for graduate students, postdocs and junior faculty who wish to gain a basic understanding of business fundamentals. The goal is to impact participants' career readiness by helping prepare scientists who want to start their own labs, and inform scientists who want to go into industry.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Explain key terms used in the business and financial management of scientific enterprises.
- Apply foundational concepts to your own research planning.
- Develop increased confidence in using business terminology during interviews or networking events.
- Identify knowledge areas within business for further study.
Read more.
The Rutgers Science Explorer (RSE), also known as the "Science Bus", is a 40-foot long Blue Byrd bus that is dedicated to visit middle schools around the state of New Jersey during the academic year. We present students with real-life problems allowing them to explore career opportunities in STEM. By taking the role of scientists and engineers while working on a variety of hands-on activities, students learn key concepts from the school curriculum and get expose to research practices. Rutgers graduate students in the STEM disciplines design and lead the activities on board of the RSE. This unique interaction between scientists and students is a unique opportunity to foster community engagement and scientific literacy in communities located within a 50 miles radius of Rutgers New Brunswick Main Campus.
Read more.
Support the Rutgers Science Explorer program TODAY!
*On behalf of Emmanuel Serrano-Perez, Rutgers Science Explorer, Program Coordinator:
Dear all,
We would like to invite you to support the Rutgers Science Explorer (RSE) program TODAY! As you may know our program has been serving middle schools around New Jersey for the last 11 years and over 40,000 students has participated of career explorations in STEM disciplines on board of the Science bus.
While the mobile lab is a great way to expose children to STEM disciplines at their schools, we want to also offer career explorations experiences at our home location on campus. We have renovated a space where students and their teachers will be able to come visit us at our “RSE Station”. Our goal is to raise $6,000 to outfit our newly renovated room with state of the art technology and give children the ultimate STEM experience.
Would you consider helping us to meet our goal?
Your support will have a real impact in the learning experience of New Jersey middle school students.
Please, click here to make your donation now. Become a sponsor to increase scientific literacy and provide the opportunity of STEM careers to New Jersey students.
Thank you for your time and contribution. If you have a family member, friend or colleague who would be interested in supporting our cause, feel free to forward them this message.
Sincerely,
The RSE Team
Rutgers Science Explorer
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Notice of Intent to Publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement for BRAIN Initiative Advanced Postdoctoral Career Transition Award to Promote Diversity
*On behalf of Dr. Paul Copeland:
The NINDS, with other NIH Institutes and Centers participating in the BRAIN Initiative, intends to publish "BRAIN Initiative Advanced Postdoctoral Career Transition Award to Promote Diversity (K99/R00)." The program is designed to increase biomedical research workforce diversity and foster a strong cohort of new, highly skilled and well trained, NIH-supported, independent investigators from diverse backgrounds (including nationally underrepresented groups) working in research areas supported by the BRAIN Initiative, as highlighted in BRAIN 2025: A Scientific Vision. It is designed to facilitate a timely transition of outstanding postdoctoral researchers with a research and/or clinical doctorate degree from mentored, postdoctoral research positions to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions.
This Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful mentoring teams and responsive projects. The FOA is expected to be published in April 2018 with an expected application due date in June 2018. This FOA will utilize the K99/R00 funding activity. Details of the planned FOA are provided below.
https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=302738
CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship in Translational Cancer Research
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is currently accepting applications for the CPRIT TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship in Translational Cancer Research. We are recruiting eight new postdoctoral fellows to our program this year and as partners in education, we would love to disseminate some information about this fellowship to your graduate students and post docs to help them find the next steps in their scientific careers.
This three-year fellowship provides basic, translational, and clinical training and aims to further develop talented PhD or MD/PhDs into successful clinical/translational research scientists. Applications are reviewed quarterly with remaining 2018 due dates of June 30, September 30, and December 31.
Additional information regarding eligibility, application process, and our program is found at www.mdanderson.org/CPRITTRIUMPH. Please contact Dr. Kari Brewer Savannah, Program Manager, with any questions at ksavannah@mdanderson.org
Program Description:
The Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) TRIUMPH Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is a post-doctoral program providing unique training in clinical and translational research. The immediate goal of our program is to recruit talented, productive, well-trained PhDs and train them through didactic course work as well as clinical rotations and a unique mentorship to pursue clinical and/or translational research. A long-term goal of this program is to produce scientists who can be paired with suitable physician scientists to co-PI a research laboratory.
This is a three-year training program. First year postdoctoral fellows participate in a series of didactic clinical course work offered at the MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School (GSBS), MD Anderson Cancer Center, or the UTHealth McGovern School of Medicine and strategically matched clinical rotations, while pursuing research in a basic or translational research laboratory. Second and third year fellows are co-mentored by a basic science/translational scientist mentor and a physician/clinical scientist mentor on clinical/translational research projects.
The TRIUMPH postdoc will obtain a certificate upon successful completion of the program. The expectation for our post-docs is that by the end of their 3-year training, they will have first authored at least 2 papers in high impact journals. Our multidisciplinary training program will award a certificate upon completion.
Scroll down to see flyers.
Applications for Phase 2 of iJOBS are Now Open!
*On behalf of Dr. Janet Alder:
Brief description of Phase 2: The career panels, site visits and workshops that constitute Phase 1 will continue next Fall and we hope you will participate in them actively. If you are also interested in getting more involved in iJOBS to pursue shadowing and coursework in your area of interest, we have opened Phase 2 applications for grad students, postdocs, and alumni of Rutgers, Princeton, Stevens, Rowan, and NJIT.
Phase 2 applications require at least 12 hours of Phase 1 activities, a personal statement, permission from your PI, and a letter of recommendation from your PI or another faculty member. Grad students must be in good academic standing and have completed the proposition qualifier by Fall 2018 to apply. Postdocs and alumni may apply at any stage
Applications are due by May 4 and admissions decisions will be made by June 4. Phase 2 for 2018 will start in September.
Please scroll down to see the attached application, FAQ and follow instructions carefully.
INSPIRE Postdoctoral Fellowships | Rolling Admission begin April 1st
*On behalf of Dr. Martha Soto and the INSPIRE Biomedical Science Education Postdoctoral Training Program:
Dear Colleagues:
We appreciate your help reaching senior graduate students and beginning postdoctoral fellows who combine excellence in research with a strong interest in education, who may wish to apply for the 2018-2019 INSPIRE Postdoctoral Fellowships, funded by a prestigious IRACDA grant from the NIH to Rutgers-RWJMS. We begin reviewing applications April 1st, on a rolling basis, until we fill our spots for Fall 2018.
INSPIRE Fellows can be supported for up to three years at the NIH stipend level, they receive health insurance, travel funds, and educational supply funds. Fellows spend 70% of their time conducting research at a Rutgers lab, and 30% in educational and career development training. Our program thus addresses two goals: to prepare recent Ph.D. recipients for careers as educators and biomedical scientists, and to increase the interest of undergraduates underrepresented in science in undergraduate research and careers in biomedical sciences.
INSPIRE has a successful record in addressing its two goals:
Placement of Fellows in academic tenure-track positions: 70% of Fellows who received training and exited INSPIRE obtained tenure-track academic positions, 22% at MSIs (institutions with a demonstrated commitment to educating students from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical research).
Support of undergraduates at our partner schools: INSPIRE Fellows and associated faculty have expanded educational and biomedical research training opportunities for undergraduates at our three partner institutions, New Jersey City University, NJCU, William Patterson University, WPU and Medgar Evers College – CUNY. Fellows and their mentors have developed and revised courses, offered summer research opportunities, and research collaborations/exchanges between Rutgers and the partner schools. Fellows also mentor undergraduates on how to apply for summer research programs and to graduate school programs.
Application deadline for 2018-2019 INSPIRE Fellowship: Rolling admissions begin April 1st with May 2018 interviews. Application forms and further information are available on our website at: http://rwjms.umdnj.edu/research/postdoc/inspire/apply.html
Eligibility: U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents only. Postdoctoral fellows with 0-1 years of postdoctoral training will receive preference.
Please direct questions about the Program or the application process to our wonderful Program Support Coordinator, Dr. Jianping Xu at: jx120@rwjms.rutgers.edu
We thank you for forwarding this message and attached pdf flyer to interested students and postdocs.
Martha Soto, Ph.D., PI and Co-Director
Gary Brewer, Ph.D., Co-PI and Co-Director
INSPIRE* Postdoctoral Training Program
*INSPIRE (IRACDA New Jersey/New York for Science Partnerships in Research and Education)
Website: http://rwjms.umdnj.edu/research/postdoc/inspire/index.html
Scroll down to see flyer.
Rutgers Universitywide, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA)
Reporting to the University-wide Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and committed to advancing the University’s mission to conduct cutting-edge research and advanced training, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs supports postdoctoral researchers and their faculty mentors by providing a central hub for professional development, knowledge sharing, and community building opportunities.
Location:
Nelson Biology Laboratories
Suite D350
604 Allison Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Email: opa@oq.rutgers.edu
Website: https://postdocs.rutgers.edu/
Location: 604 Allison Road, Piscataway Township, NJ, USA
Phone: 848-445-1800