Welcome to the UC Santa Cruz Postdocs Association webpage!

The USPA is a postdoctoral-led organization that aims to provide career training and resources to postdoctoral scholars here at UC Santa Cruz. Each year the USPA organizes a symposium, and a series of workshops to highlight postdoctoral research, provides postdocs with career planning support, and build a stronger postdoc community.  Our goal is to create a welcoming environment for new postdocs and a supportive group of peers to navigate this pivotal career stage together.

The USPA is part of the larger network of Bay Area Postdocs.

Activities of USPA include:

  • postdoc science and social hour
  • career development workshops
  • annual symposium

Check out our upcoming events and:

Latest from USPA

March 2nd 9:00-11:00a How to Become an Efficient Academic Writer

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The UCSC Postdoc Association (USPA) and the Division of Graduate Studies are happy to announce the upcoming workshop How to Become an Efficient Academic Writer: Integration of Zotero and Research Rabbit to Enhance Academic Writing taking place on Thursday, March 2 from 9:00-11:00 am.
This will be a virtual presentation (via Zoom) presented by Mushtaq Bilal, Ph.D. and will cover the basics of these two powerful tools and how to integrate them for efficient and productive writing.
The event is free and open to all postdocs and graduate students, but registration is required.

Late Postdoc Holiday Party

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Happy late Holidays!

Due to various circumstances, strikes, and storms, the UCSC Postdoc Association (USPA) will be throwing a very late holiday party Thursday 26th of January from 3-5 pm at the Graduate Student Commons Fireside Lounge near Iveta Cafe.

This is the first of many USPA events for the year for Postdocs (“postdoctoral students” according to the New York Times).

There will be drinks, snacks, and games.

Come and meet your fellow postdocs!

Update: Thanks for coming everyone, it was nice seeing you all! Congrats to the three winners of the games, hope you’re enjoying your pomegranates!

USPA Friendsgiving 2022

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USPA (UCSC Postdocs Association) is inviting you to a Friendsgiving feast. Specially crafted for those who can’t make it home this Thanksgiving, this is a potluck so we can all enjoy a variety of tasty food items.
  • When: Thursday the 24th at 4pm
  • Where: Graduate Student Commons (2nd floor, above Iveta cafe)
  • Who: all postdocs and family
  • What: potluck (bring some food or drinks)
Note: Due to the ongoing strike, the Graduate Student Commons might be closed. If that happens, we will inform you about the alternate off-campus location via email.

Postdoctoberfest Party 2022

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Thursday, October 27, 2022 | 5:00–9:00 p.m.
Venus Spirits Distillery, Westside | 200 High Road | Santa Cruz
You’re invited! Let’s celebrate us – postdocs – and the research we do at UCSC! 
Program:

We’d like to keep this event informal and thus encourage everyone to participate in and co-create the program. Everyone will get up to 5 minutes of stage time, and you can use this time any way you like. Options include:

  • Talk: Give a brief presentation about your research project or diversity-minded mentoring experience. Think what would be useful for other postdocs to learn.
  • Slam: Choose a member of the audience to give an improvised presentation from your slides. Ideally, somebody from a completely different field to maximize the surprise factor 🙂
  • Jam: Do you have a knack for poetry? Singing? Dance? Share it with us!

If you prepare slides, please bring them in a platform-independent format, such as PDF or Google slides.

Depending on the mood and time, we’ll close the evening with a panel discussion between several senior postdocs to touch on any questions that especially new postdocs might have.

It’s been a long since we met each other. Looking forward to see y’all!

Goodies:

Food and non-alcoholic drinks will be provided. We’ll have regular, vegetarian, and vegan options. If you have any special dietary concerns beyond that, please let us know in the above RSVP form.