(The deadline for Postdoc Bootcamp applications was August 11.  Nominations no longer accepted.)

Each year, UCSF’s Graduate Division invites advanced graduate students from around the country to attend "Postdoc Bootcamp," a 2-day intensive workshop designed to empower historically underrepresented students to find, secure, and get the most out of a postdoctoral position.

Bootcamp starts with an overview of what postdoctoral training entails and how it has become an essential stepping-stone toward an academic career.  Through career advancement workshops, engaging speakers, and faculty and scholar panels, aspiring postdocs will learn:

• how to do the groundwork to find the right mentor — not only in terms of research focus — but also in terms of factors like the PI’s mentoring style; whether the atmosphere in the lab is conducive to collaboration and learning; and how the position will advance the postdoc’s career and life goals
• how to present themselves to potential mentors in a way that will maximize their chances at getting the postdoc position they want
• how to make the most out of their time as postdocs, ensuring that they are treated fairly and that their postdoc training is a springboard into a successful career
• how to find and use the tools and resources that will help them to fund their training and research, including grants and fellowships especially targeted at underrepresented groups in the sciences

Postdoc Bootcamp is just one facet of UCSF’s commitment to nurturing diversity at the highest levels of academia.  Postdoc Bootcamp is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate program (AGEP), which is designed to increase the number of African American, Hispanic, and Native American students earning PhDs in science, mathematics, and engineering and pursuing an academic career. Participation in Postdoc Bootcamp is free for participants, including travel expenses to and from San Francisco, meals, and course materials.

The 2009 Postdoc Bootcamp will take place at UCSF September 21-22.  Nominations for Bootcamp will be accepted through August 11.  Please email Jeannine Cuevas, postdoc affairs assistant (jeannine.cuevas@ucsf.edu) to request nomination forms or for further information.