PDFA News June 20, 2011

June 20, 2011

PDF Association | PDF Office | PDF Canada

In this issue:

• PDF Research Day Highlights

• PDFA Council Members in Community event

• Career Seminar

• Upcoming PDFA Events !

• Highlights of the Recent Council meeting

PDF Research Day Highlights

The 2011 PDF Research Day was a success! It was great to see many postdocs, graduate students, and others at the event. There were over 70 people in attendance with representation from disciplines across campus. We like to thank all of those involved in making it a successful and fun event.

Thanks to all of the volunteer judges. Their input was extremely valuable and we greatly appreciated them taking the time from their busy schedules to help out at the event. Both judges and the audience were very impressed with the quality of research and presentations. We thank all who submitted and presented their research in the form of speed talk and poster presentation. A big round of applause to our winners: Aman Ullah (Grand Prize), Abofu Alemka (1^st, poster), Patrick Pilarski (1^st, speed talk), Carmen Giltner (2^nd, poster), Daniel Trottier (2^nd, speed talk), Maria Graziano (3^rd, poster), and Qingye Lu (3^rd, speed talk). Many thanks to our valuable sponsors, without their contributions we would not have been able to host such a fantastic event. Key sponsors are the University Hospital Foundation, Office of the VP Research, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Faculty of Science, and Earl’s Kitchen and Bar. As well, we had many generous donations from these local businesses for door prizes: Boston Pizza, d’capo, Dewey’s, Hudsons, Leva and O’Byrnes. We also like to thank the PDF Office for co-hosting this event.

PDF Research Day Collage

PDFA Council Members in Community Event

Two PDFA Council members (Khalid and Mariano) along with a few other U of A postdocs, and professionals have volunteered to be the judges of this year's Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge BioAlberta competition held in the Timm's Center on April 14th.

According to the organizer of the event, "The Sanofi-Aventis Biotech Challenge is a competition for Edmonton area high school students who produce high level science projects. The students submit their research proposals in November and work on their projects between December and March in a University lab."

The volunteer judges of the event were quite impressed with the quality of research and presentation skills of the young and bright local high school students.

If you know of any U of A postdoc/s involved in community events, please feel free to let us (pdfa@ualberta.ca) know. We will be happy to share it among other postdocs through the PDFA Newsletter.

Career Seminar

Not sure if there is life after a postdoc? Then come out to the inaugural PDFA Career Seminar! We are launching this seminar series to invite speakers from industry, government and academia to share their career experiences with postdocs. There will be an informal presentation followed by a conversation style question and answer period.

For the first seminar Dr. Corey Davis will be sharing his unique experiences with us on June 22 from 4:00-5:00pm in the Biological Sciences Building, Microbiology wing, M145. Refreshments will be provided. After the event, you are welcome to join others in the Faculty Club for the PDFA Pub Night.

Upcoming PDFA Events !

The following PDFA organized events are in the pipeline for this summer. Details of these events will be available at an appropriate date.

1.     Career Seminar - June 22
2.     Pub Night at the Faculty Club - June 22
3.     General Membership Meeting (GMM) - TBD
4.     Summer Picnic/BBQ - TBD

If you would like to know more, please feel free to email us (pdfa@ualberta.ca).

Highlights of the Recent Council Meeting

Highlights of the most recent PDFA Council meeting (June 09, 2011):

There was elaborate discussion about what it could mean to be in the PSLA (Post-Secondary Learning Act) as a postdoc. What type of status we (postdocs) would like to seek in the PSLA, and their pros and cons. It was the general consensus that we come up with 8-10 questions regarding different aspects of being in the PSLA. Then pass that to the general postdocs to get their feedback in the matter.
There was a discussion of seeking potential speakers/sponsors for the ongoing PDFA Career Seminar event. Input about the August speaker selection was discussed. Everyone was asked to see if they know someone who can be a potential speaker for the seminar in August.
The annual postdoctoral fellows General Membership Meeting (GMM) is scheduled for the 29th of this Month during lunch time. Food and drinks will be provided. The last date for the RSVP is set to be the 24th to get a better picture of the headcount. Katz Center is considered to be a potential venue for the event.
The annual PDFA BBQ/Picnic event is scheduled (tentative) for August 28th in the Hawrelak park. Logistics of the event is being worked out by the Council members.

If you would like to know more about the PDFA Council meeting and/or topic/s, please feel free to email us (pdfa@ualberta.ca).

PDFA News

Calendar of events
Find events of special interest for Postdocs. Write us an email to include an event you know about!
Add it to your Google Calendar.

PDFA Coffee and Cookies Come to meet other PDFs in our most popular event!

When:
Monthly on Wednesdays
at 2pm (Check the Calendar)
Where:
Triffo Hall. GSA Board meeting room. PDFA Pub Night Come to meet other PDFs for this new event!

When:
Monthly on Wednesdays
at 5pm (alternating every two weeks with Coffee & Cookies, check the Calendar)
Where:
Faculty Club. Downstairs.

Visit our Facebook page and "Like" us!

DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that International Student Services offers support and resources for international students? For PDFs that have come from other countries there is a lot of useful information on the website U of A's International Centre The ISS offers everything from advice to workshops to social events, all designed to help international students make the most of life in Edmonton and their education at the U of A. Check it out!
DID YOU KNOW? is a new feature included in all newsletters to help keep you informed as a PDF at the University of Alberta.

PDFA News
is the eNewsletter of the Postdoctoral Fellows Association at the University of Alberta. It is delivered through the PDF email list.
......................................................
Editor:
Khalid Miah
VP Communications, PDFA
Email: kmiah@ualberta.ca
......................................................
Thank you to all those who contributed info to the latest newsletter...
Cathy Cullingham - President, PDFA
See past issue

PDF Association | PDF Office | PDF Canada

www.ualberta.ca/~pdfa
University of Alberta Postdoctoral Fellows Association

Comments and questions, please email pdfa@ualberta.ca