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Join the UCSC STEM Postdoc Association!
Are you seeking a community at Santa Cruz or just looking to get more involved? Don’t wait until you “get that paper into Science” or “get that job offer’. The USPA can help with those things and more!
The UCSC STEM Postdoc Association (USPA) is UCSC’s grassroots postdoc association that was built by postdocs in 2015 to offer career development and community-building activities to the underserved postdoc community at UCSC. Over the past five years, we have built up a solid network of internal and external funding sources, which pay for our workshops, social events, and annual symposium. Our only limiting resource is postdocs like you!
While the USPA was originally built to serve the community outwardly, the association has had a large positive effect on its own members. Through accessing valuable institutional knowledge and networking opportunities, our postdoc representatives have been awarded prestigious fellowships and received competitive industry offers while serving on the board. Thus, although it may seem like volunteering for the USPA would limit your time for research, the outcome is in fact the opposite for most people.
If interested, please come to our next board meeting via Zoom at 3pm next Thursday, November 5th, 2020. We will be discussing plans for our socially-distanced upcoming year and we will be deciding roles for the next USPA board of representatives, which includes the following positions: Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Symposium Co-chairs (2), and Social Event Coordinator.
Quick survey about 2020-21 events
A new academic year is upon us, but with COVID, things can’t exactly be “business as usual”. The UCSC STEM Postdoc Association (USPA), UCSC’s grassroots postdoc association, regularly hosts a range of workshops, social events, and symposia for our postdoc community. As not all of these events are equally amenable to virtual formats, we would appreciate your feedback about what events you would like to attend and/or participate in over the current academic year.
Please complete this quick 6-question survey to help us decide what events to offer virtually in the 2020-21 academic year.
Thanks for your input!
Distanced social outing to Natural Bridges
The USPA invites you to a socially-distanced social outing Thursday October 15 afternoon-evening! We will be tide-pooling at Natural Bridges and then eating dinner at the park/on the beach.
To be there at low tide, we will arrive at the park at 3:30 pm (low tide is at 3:58). After an hour or so of exploring the tide pools, beach, and park, we will order dinner to eat at the beach (sunset is at 6:31).
If you are interested in joining us, please fill out this form. We’ll be meeting at the entrance to the park on West Cliff and Swanton Blvd.
If you need to drive and park, there is free street parking along Swanton Blvd (at least the east side of the street; the left has been opening and closing randomly).
So nice to meet the new postdocs and see some wildlife! Thanks for coming to our socially-distanced social event today @jahoey13 @FraserLaser1 @SumanKBera @jess7son @AlliNCramer @MeteoretteFinds @glodewijk_sci and others pic.twitter.com/XEtWELZ4Vk
— UCSC STEM Postdocs Association (@UCSCPostdocs) October 16, 2020
Support USPA for Giving Day 2020!
Wednesday Sept 30th is Giving Day! Help us fund the annual UCSC STEM Postdoc Association (USPA) Symposium! See our Giving Day page.
Your donation will help immensely to further the strengths and reputation of the Santa Cruz STEM research community by enabling the USPA to continue offering our annual symposium.