Greetings, Postdocs! Since beginning our roles this year, we (the 2024 officers) have collaborated to establish a set of goals for the upcoming year. These were selected to further improve experiences for post-docs across the laboratory and follow up on our individual platforms. This year, we want to ensure that you are all given opportunities to interact with your fellow postdocs, develop professionally, and share any concerns you may have related to your postdoc position. Given those goals, we have developed the following list of priorities. If you’re interested in advancing these goals by serving on a PSA committee or want to get involved in another way, please reach out to Allen, our Engagement Officer.
- Career Development: We will continue annual career development events like the Postdoctoral Research and Career Symposium and National Postdoc Appreciation Week, as well as coordinate with the Postdoctoral program office to introduce informal events for postdocs to connect, discuss, and practice career development skills. Please check the career development survey that was sent out on Monday, February 19th from the Postdoc Program Office.
- Social: To continue building connections among Argonne postdocs, we plan to introduce additional social opportunities. In addition to the weekly fitness socials, we will introduce weekly social lunches, Members-at-Large hosted coffee events, and larger events (think pizza, bowling, etc!). Starting Friday, February 23rd, you can join one of the PSA officers every Friday for lunch from 12-1 pm in the cafeteria for casual conversation. To keep up-to-date with upcoming events, check our online calendar.
- DEIA: Further improving diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) within the postdoc community at Argonne is crucial. We are actively seeking collaboration with other Employee Resource Groups and divisional DEIA groups to understand how PSA can become more engaged in DEIA efforts on campus.
- Transportation: We know getting to, from, and around campus is a challenge for many postdocs. We aim to leverage the PSA’s reach to identify possible solutions to this challenge and engage with leadership to enact these solutions.
- Engagement: To strengthen lines of communication between postdocs at the laboratory, we’ve appointed Members-at-Large for 11 divisions, who will serve as liaisons between the PSA board and their divisions. Members-at-Large will work to promote PSA events in their divisions and communicate any issues they hear from postdocs to the board. We will start featuring Members-at-Large in the weekly PSA newsletter so that the broader community can learn who their point person is.
- Climate Survey: While we believe focusing on these priorities will benefit postdocs across the laboratory, each postdoc faces unique challenges these may not address. To help better understand postdocs’ needs, we will update and carry out a new Climate Survey. Our goal with this comprehensive survey is to get real data about what postdocs want, ultimately allowing officers to know what initiatives to prioritize.
As the year progresses, we are sure additional topics will arise. To share your views, please feel free to join our monthly PSA board meetings which occur the third Monday of every month from 1-2 pm.
Thanks again for your trust in us!
Your 2024 PSA Officers (Cailin, Sixbert, Wilkie, Evelyna, and Allen)