Postdocs

PAI Participant Overview

The postdoc experience is recognized as an important and critical maturation period to foster success for a new assistant professor entering the academy. Big Ten Academic Alliance universities are committed to increasing their efforts to provide more comprehensive professional training for postdocs.

Big Ten Academic Alliance participants actively engage with discipline-specific mentors from your home campus and other Big Ten Academic Alliance campuses. Through a series of webinars, PAI protégés and mentors cover topics such as:

• Preparation for a faculty role­—grant writing, starting a research program or lab, promotion and tenure process, etc.
• Interview preparation­—preparing for each aspect of the interview process—communication, department interviews, job talks, and the like.

Eligibility

Postdoctoral scholars wishing to participate in PAI must meet the following criteria established by the National Science Foundation:

• Working as a postdoctoral scholar in a  science, technology, engineering, or mathematics discipline at a Big Ten Academic Alliance PAI participating university
• Be a U.S. citizen
• Be an African American, Hispanic American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or other Pacific Islander

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under AGEP-Transformation #1309028 and #1309173. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.