Relive the highlights from 2023 with us.
The Postdoctoral Society of Argonne (PSA) held the annual postdoctoral research and career symposium on November 9th, 2023. This in-person event had a great turnout where 173 postdoctoral researchers registered to attend the event. Out of the attending postdoctoral researchers, 80 presented their research via poster presentations from divisions around the lab.
The symposium highlighted research performed at Argonne as well as at partnering institutions and allowed participants to network with representatives from industry and research institutions, giving them the opportunity to understand different career paths relationships.
2023 PSA president, Claire Chang, opened the event and the welcome remarks were given by Laboratory Director Paul K. Kearns. Dr. Kearns conveyed to the postdoctoral participants the crucial role they play in the Argonne community and our capacity to make pivotal discoveries, pursue pioneering leadership, and advance science on a large scale. He emphasized that the success of postdocs is intertwined with the success of the laboratory, encouraging them to focus on their careers and explore the numerous ways they can apply their skills.
The Keynote Speaker was Dr. Dava Keavney, program manager at the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Keavney began with a brief introduction to the DOE’s research priorities, followed by sharing her own career journey as a researcher. She detailed her career, starting as a postdoc at Argonne, and then transitioning between roles in universities, national labs, and government positions. She also shared valuable lessons she learned throughout her career: “career paths only make sense in retrospect,” “your science could have impacts you don’t anticipate,” “your science will not speak for itself,” and “your psychological safety is as important as your physical safety.” The talk concluded with a lively question and answer session, covering pivotal skills for early-career scientists, opportunities for research policy fellowships, and science communication skills.
Postdocs had the chance to interact and network during a networking lunch with 12 different companies, national labs, and universities: Argonne National Lab, Corvid Technologies, Exponent, Ecolab, Great Lakes Crystal Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Idaho National Laboratory, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, KLA, Kurt J. Lesker, and Northwestern University.
An in-person career panel featured some Argonne alumni working in DOE/National Labs, “traditional” academia, and “nontraditional” PhD level science careers. Career panelists were:
- Professor Tobin Marks, Northwestern University
- Ilke Arslan, Argonne National Laboratory
- Ming Du, Argonne National Laboratory
- Professor Christos D. Malliakas, Northwestern University
- Pallab Barai, Argonne National Laboratory
- Vivian S. Sullivan, Argonne National Laboratory
The panel focused on diverse career paths in an academic and national laboratory setting, and how to navigate through challenges and instability as postdoctoral researchers. The panelists shared their experiences in career development, highlighted the most valuable aspects when hiring early-career scientists, and emphasized the importance of maintaining passion and flexibility in career development.
Ming discussed his journey from an Argonne postdoc to industry and then back to Argonne as a computational scientist. He stressed the importance of adjusting your expectations based on your workplace. Pallab shared his experience of securing a staff scientist position as a postdoc at Argonne. He emphasized the need to communicate your goals to others so that they can assist you when opportunities arise. Vivian offered advice on building scientific skills from her perspective as a funding program manager. Ilke, Tobin, and Christos provided guidance on being a long-term scientist: don’t be afraid of career transitions, follow your passion, and foster collaborations with people from different backgrounds. Additionally, all the panelists shared their experiences of overcoming failures in their careers, highlighting the importance of learning from mistakes, being persistent, and finding the positives in challenging situations.
Poster presentations at the symposium gave participants the opportunity to showcase their research to a broad audience and provided an opportunity to practice valuable communication skills. Presentations were judged for overall appearance and quality, topic organization, and clarity. Additionally, the question answer (Q&A) component of presentation was evaluated based on the presenter’s expressed knowledgeability and communication skills. This year, nine individuals were selected to receive awards for outstanding presentations. The works also demonstrate the wide diversity of research conducted by Argonne postdocs and visiting postdocs/graduate students:
- Joshua Christopher,TAPS Transportation and Power Systems, Impacts of Hydrogen-Natural Gas Fuel Blends on Fuel-Air Stratification and Flame Properties in a Microturbine Combustor
- Kevin Brown, MCS Mathematics and Computer Science, The Kronos Project: Hybrid Discrete Event Simulations
- Tyler Eastmond,XSD X-Ray Science Division, Development of Electrical Resistivity Measurements at Extreme Conditions in a Paris-Edinburgh Press
- Tugba Isik, XSD X-Ray Science Division, Cryogenic Focused Ion Beam (cryo-PFIB) Supported X-ray Microscopy for Discoveries in Multi-Dimensional Biological Systems
- Akilesh Venkatesh, CSE Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Resonant Elastic X-Ray Scattering from Intense Ultrafast Pulses
- Danielle Hutchison, CSE Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Synthesis of Single Crystal Lithium Neptunates from Aqueous Lithium Hydroxide Solutions Under Mild Hydrothermal Conditions
- Jessica Catherine Jones, MSD Materials Science Division, Site-Selective Atomic Layer Deposition on TiO2 Surfaces
- Tupendra Kumar Oli, HEP High Energy Physics, Investigation of the Use of SVM Models and Devices in Future HEP Experiments
- Archit Kumar Vasan, ALCF Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, Scalable Lead Prediction with Transformers Using HPC Resources
The Annual Postdoctoral Research and Career Symposium would not be possible without the support of our sponsors and participating companies. Postdoc volunteers who served on the 2023 committee include:
- Symposium organizing committee co-chairs Julia Neumann (CSE) and Cailin Buchanan (MSD)
- Invited speakers and panels led by Oleksandr Narykov (DSL) with team members Srutarshi Banerjee (XSD), Sagar Bhatt (AMD), Shana Havenridge (CSE), Tugba Isik (XSD), and Mustafa Unal (MSD)
- Marketing and publications led by Tyler Haddock (CSE) with team members Nwamaka Okafor (LCF), and Caroline Williams (MSE)
- Technical programs led by Chandrachur Bhattacharya (HEP) and Sajag Poudel (ESI) with team members Ayorinde Ajiboye (AMD), Tai-Yuan Huang (ESI), and Robert Underwood (MCS)
- Companies outreach and networking led by Michael Dziekan (AMD), with team members Frederick Agyapong-Fordjour (MSD), Chiara Bissolotti (HEP), Farah Ferdaus (MCS), Luke Johnson (TPS), Sixbert Muhoza (AMD), Oli Tupendra (HEP), and Katerina Vriza (NST)
- Community engagement led by Joshua Christopher (TPS), with team members Nicole Byrne (CSE), and Kumar Neeraj (MSD)
And of course, nothing would be possible without the help from:
- Tina Henne, Postdoctoral Program Lead
- Kathy Eggers, Executive Secretary
- Lynnean Celmer, Event planner
The Postdoctoral Society of Argonne issues a call for abstracts for the 2024 symposium being held November 21st, 2024.
All abstracts must be submitted by September 2nd. To submit your abstract, please see the abstract template and send your abstract, in this format, to [email protected]. Please additionally include your name and division in the email. Everyone should receive a confirmation email by late September. Further information and dates are included in the registration packet. Abstracts should highlight original research, quality improvement projects, evidence-based practice, or programmatic innovations.
Please note that Argonne researchers MUST submit both the abstract and presentation to PANDA for approval before presenting at the event.
We look forward to receiving many abstracts representing the broad variety of exciting research performed at Argonne!
Shana Havenridge & Songrui Hou
2024 Postdoc Research and Career Symposium Organizing Committee Co-Chairs