Next UWPA Happy Hour

Friday, November 20th

Time: 5 PM until whenever

Location: College Inn Pub - located in the basement of the College Inn (stairs are in the back) on the corner of 40th and University Way (aka the Ave).

All postdocs, friends and family (over the age of 21) are welcome. Make sure you bring you ID for age verification, even if you don't plan to drink alcohol. We'll start at 5 PM but feel free to stop by later. Look for the UWPA Happy Hour sign on our table. If we're not in the front - check the back.

5th Annual UWPA Postdoctoral Research Symposium

This years symposium was held on Friday November 6 in Kane Hall 225 (Walker-Ames Room) and featured Dr. Christine Rousseau as the keynote speaker. Dr. Rousseau spoke about her circuitous training from grad school at Berkeley to postdocs at both UW and the Fred Hutchinson CRC to her current position as a Program Officer in HIV Prevention in the Global Health Program of the Gates Foundation.

Also featured were six short talks by UW postdocs, presentation of the Mentor of the Year Award to Valerie Kelly (Rehabilitation Medicine), followed by a wine and cheese reception and poster session.

We want to congratulate our Speaker and Poster winners that were chosen by symposium attendees.

Best Speaker Award: Sujata Pradham (Rehabilitation Medicine)

Best Poster Award: Andrea Landis (Behavioral Nursing and Health Systems)

National Postdoc Appreciation Day

National Postdoc Appreciation Day was Thursday, September 24th.  In honor of this day the UWPA and the OPA hosted a free Appreciation Breakfast.  Then on Friday the UWPA met for its monthly happy hour.  Hopefully all postdocs felt appreciated last week.  If not - come complain about it at our next happy hour (see above).

Canoeing/Kayaking with the UWPA

A group of postdocs met at the UW Waterfront Activities Center on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in September for an afternoon of canoeing on Lake Washington.  Join us for our next family outing.

UWPA SUMMER PICNIC

The UWPA met for its annual picnic at Ravenna Park on Sun Aug 16^th.  It was a beautiful day in a serene setting. Unfortunately, no one remembered a camera so you'll just have to trust us that everyone had a great time with great food and company.  Thanks to Michael for his grilling prowess and Eric, Brenna, Fres and Catherine for organizing it!

THEO CHOCOLATE TOUR

Members of the UWPA met for a private tour of the Theo Chocolate Factory in the Fremont Neighborhood to learn about chocolate making and for lots of samples.  Pictures soon to follow...

UWPA TOWN HALL MEETING

The UWPA met for its annual town hall meeting to nominate and selected new officers on April 27, 2009:

Co-Chairs:  Catherine Konopka and Brenna Kelley-Clarke

Treasurer:  Catherine Konopka

Secretary: Fres Ramos

Web-Master: Frank Fleischer

Social Committee Chair: Brian Theodore

Social Committee Member: Eric Larson

Congratulations!  Looking forward to a great year ahead.

FOURTH ANNUAL UWPA RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM

The 2008 UWPA Postdoctoral Research Symposium was held November 14, 2008 at the HUB. Tom Gething, Director, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, and keynote speaker, Dr. Sara Curran, led off the symposium with an inspirational message for postdocs.

Pictured above is Dr. Tom Gething during the keynote address.

Following the keynote address, Kate Comtois (Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences) was awarded the 2008 UWPA Mentorship Award for many outstanding characteristics including excellent mentorship, encouraging postdoc to look for a balance between work and personal life, and advocating for a congenial work environment that makes it easy for her postdocs to thrive and be productive. 

We heard fabulous presentation from postdoctoral fellows on topics ranging from genes that determine self-recognition in bacteria to how to weigh the smallest particle, the neutrino. 

Postdoctoral Speakers

About Prevention Against Obesity, Dr. Ruimao Zheng from Pharmacology, School of Medicine

Effect of Controlling Response Bias on the Detection Performance of Infants and Adults, Dr. Angela Garinis from Speech and Hearing Sciences

MultiTalker: An Artificially Intelligent Tutoring System for Helping Student Groups in a 3D Virtual Environment, Dr. Baba Kofi A. Weusijans from LIFE Sceinces of Learning Center, College of Education

Genetic Determinants of Self-recognition in the Bacterium Proteus mirabilis, Dr. Karine Gibbs from the Department of Microbiology

Weighing the Neutrino, Dr. Brent A. VanDevender from Physics - CENPA

Ethnic Invisibility: A Comparison of First and Third-person Measures of Race and Ethnic Identities in Washington State, Dr. Tony Perez from the Department of Sociology

A reception for speakers and attendees followed from 5-7pm. The best speaker award, based on audience vote for presentor best able to present their topic to a broad audience, was given to Karine A. Gibbs.

Thanks to all for a very successful symposium!! 

TOWN HALL MEETING ON POSTDOC SALARIES AND BENEFITS

The Town Hall Meeting on Postdoc Salaries and Benefits was held on September 15, 2008. Thanks to all of you who attended and gave us feedback about your concerns. 

Here is some helpful information presented in the Town Hall Meeting:

The UWPA successfully developed and submitted a proposal to establish an Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) on May 20, 2005. This proposal was reviewed by Craig Hogan, Vice Provost for Research and Elizabeth Feetham, Acting Dean of the Graduate School. Thank you to all of the postdocs and faculty who contributed to this effort!

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