The Graduate Students and Postdocs in Science organization will hold its second annual Science Career Symposium Dec. 3 at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center. The free event will feature speakers and panelists who have applied their doctoral degrees in science and engineering towards careers outside of the university setting.
Presentations and panels start at 9 a.m. and will focus on four career areas: government, science writing and licensing, science education, and the private sector. Organizations represented include the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Coca-Cola Co., Science magazine, the National Institutes of Health Office of Science Education, Bain and Co. Consultants, In-Q-tel and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
“As positions in academia become increasingly scarce for new Ph.D.s, more and more people are looking at alternative careers to which they can apply their degree,” said Keriayn Smith, GSPS executive chair and postdoctoral associate in biochemistry and molecular biology. “Our goal is to provide some insights into other career possibilities that can be pursued after graduate school or a postdoctoral fellowship, especially if academia is not a first choice.”
Created in early 2009, the GSPS provides a forum for graduate students and postdoctoral associates at UGA to prepare for science and engineering careers through professional development and networking opportunities.
The new organization already has more than 150 members from 30 departments and six colleges. In addition to the symposium, the GSPS organizes an annual research day and hosts forums to address topics ranging from balancing family and career goals to finding postdoctoral fellowships.
Symposium sponsors include the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute, the Graduate School, the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases and the departments of biochemistry and molecular biology, microbiology, infectious diseases, plant pathology and cell biology.
