Each UIPDA committee focuses on a different aspect of supporting postdocs at the University of Iowa—from international onboarding to policy advocacy, career development, awards, and community-building. See below for me information on these committees and how to get involved.

Committees

Policy and Advocacy

Postdocs are a highly vulnerable population on any campus. As postdocs, we know that our temporary, hybrid appointment status creates gaps and blind spots around the needs of our community.

The Policy and Advocacy Committee is charged with monitoring both national and institutional policy as it relates to the postdoctoral community and advocating for our interests. It initiates and maintains relationships with other institutional agencies involved in policy-making processes that affect the postdoctoral community. To promote coordination, we consult with other UIPDA Committees, UIPDA College Representatives, and campus administrators and partnering units.

 

Current Focuses

  • Assessing community-based challenges: Our postdoc community is very diverse. We all require specific types of support and face unique challenges. Each year, UIPDA selects a postdoc sub-population with which to have listening sessions, form support networks with on campus units, and build resource documents.
  • Improving UI postdoc metrics and tracking: Postdoc onboarding, evaluation, and transition to new positions are not closely tracked on campus. Postdocs are regularly excluded from surveys based on our temporary status.
  • Clarifying and improving postdoc benefits: Using the institutional data reports from the National Postdoc Association, we are looking to identify areas where UI needs to close the postdoc benefits gap. We are looking for postdocs to help us perform a benefits comparison across Big10 universities and the UI peer group (as defined in the Provost's Data Digest).
  • Expanding postdoc infrastructure and training opportunities: UIPDA is strongly recommending the establishment of a funded, centralized postdoc office. Postdocs are a currently unfunded mandate within our administrative home of the Graduate College. We regularly meet with campus leadership (Graduate College personnel, collegiate associate deans for graduate and post-graduate education, and OVPR leaders) to discuss opportunities for expanding postdoc training. Furthermore, our Vice President has a permanent position on the UI Research Council and our Past President Nicole Green served on the Research & Discovery Strategic Development team for the 2022-2027 Strategic Planning Process. Many postdoc leaders volunteer in a campus-wide postdoc working group that formed in Summer 2022.
  • Creating an online postdoc orientation course: UIPDA leaders are coordinating with various campus administrators to finally bring the postdoc orientation back in an online, easily accessible format. Stay tuned!
  • Speakers Bureau: After a wonderful PUI panel, one of our UI postdoc advocates Madeline Shea suggested we create a database of postdocs willing to give talks about research or career development to undergraduate classrooms. This database can be shared with local liberal arts colleges and faculty at PUIs. ***in development, coming soon***

Advocacy Resources

Professional Development

The Professional Development Committee is tasked with conceptualizing and organizing programming meant to enhance the postdoctoral training and professional experience. Our committee coordinates efforts with campus partners to create programs featuring advice from UI experts and to build skills during your postdoctoral experience.

Check the UI calendar for upcoming professional development opportunities.

Events being planned include but are not limited to:

  • Non-Academic Careers Seminar Series
  • Negotiation Bootcamp
  • Grant-Writing Workshop (How to write and revise)

  • Academic Career Seminar Series

     

Looking to start your career planning? Start here...

  • UI Grad Student Success: This team of amazing individuals in the Graduate College are here to help you with Individual Development Plan (IDPs), skills assessments, finding training opportunities, and more! Sign up for their newsletter for regular updates about programming.
  • National Postdoc Association Core Competencies: "The NPA has established six core competencies to offer guidance to individual postdoctoral scholars who must seek out relevant training experiences, in collaboration with mentors, institutions, and other advisors who provide this training. "Competency" has been defined as "an acquired personal skill that is demonstrated in [one's] ability to provide a consistently adequate or high level of performance in a specific job function." [BNET Business dictionary] These competencies are meant to serve primarily as: (1) a basis for self-evaluation by postdoctoral scholars, and (2) a basis for developing training opportunities that can be evaluated by mentors, institutions, and other advisors."
  • Research Development Office: Housed within the Office of the Vice President for Research, RDO is your central hub for seminars around grant writing, data/project management, and enhancing research communication skills. Take advantage of their resource library, regular Pivot funding training sessions, and their networking surveys to facilitate collaborations. Sign up for their newsletter for regular updates about research opportunities and seminars.
  • Obermann Center for Advanced Studies: "The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies (OCAS) serves the research mission of the University of Iowa. The Center is a convening space dedicated to debate and discovery. Our grants for University of Iowa artists and researchers support imaginative collaborations and multi-disciplinary exploration. Our programming connects scholars across campus and engages the larger public in the ambitious, illuminating, and transformative work of the artists and scholars we serve." More information about programming can be found here. Sign up for their newsletter for regular updates about events and upcoming working groups.
  • Also, check out our resource database.

Professional Development Spotlight 

For postdocs interested in undergraduate education and/or mentorship 

Awards

The Awards Committee manages the nomination and review of both the Postdoctoral Travel Awards and the UIPDA Mentoring Award. Postdoctoral Travel Awards are awarded quarterly, and the UIPDA Mentoring Award nominations and winner are selected in the Spring. This award recognizes one outstanding faculty member that goes above and beyond to support an exceptional training environment. Are you interested in volunteering as a reviewer? Please contact the Postdoc Office for more information!

Postdoctoral Travel Award

  • Cycle 1: Travel occurring July 1 -- September 30. Due: September 3, 2025, at 5pm. Application will open for submissions on Monday, June 30, at 8am.
  • Cycle 2: Travel occurring October 1 -- December 31. Due: December 2, 2025, at 5pm. Application will open for submissions on Monday, October 7, at 8am.
  • Cycle 3: Travel occurring January 1 -- March 31. Due: March 3, 2026, at 5pm. Application will open for submissions on Monday, January 6, at 8am.
  • Cycle 4: Travel occurring April 1 -- June 30. Due: March 31, 2026, at 5pm. Application will open for submissions on Monday, March 10, at 8am.

Information, Review Criteria, and Instructions

The UIPDA awards funding to assist postdoctoral scholars and fellows in presenting their research at non-local professional conferences, meetings, symposia, and other academic gatherings. The funds are provided by the Graduate College and allocated by the UIPDA Executive Committee and Council of College Representatives to deserving applicants. A maximum of $250 will be awarded for conferences attended virtually, $500 will be awarded for travel within North America and $750 for travel to Alaska, Hawaii, or international destinations.

  • Applications for virtual conferences will be reviewed and considered for funding using similar criteria as regular travel award applications. Appropriate expenses for virtually attended conferences are abstract submissions fees and registration fees. For in person conferences, abstract feels, registration, travel, and lodging fees are appropriate expenses. To apply, go here. 

To be eligible:

1. Applicant must be in a paid postdoctoral scholar (FP01), fellow (FP02), or non-NRSA (FP03) status at the University of Iowa at the time of application, conference, and reimbursement. The travel award will be paid out in a lump sum through the University Billing Office. It may be considered taxable income and taxes may be withheld. If your travel has already been reimbursed IN FULL by your department, grant, PI, etc., you are not eligible for this award.

2. Applicant must have proof of abstract acceptance (including what type of presentation: poster or oral). Proof of expenses incurred or estimates of expected expenses are required. Before applicants receive the award, proof of expenses incurred will be requested if they were not already provided.

Travel awards are awarded primarily based on need and merit. A minimum of three UIPDA college representatives, executive board members, or committee members will score travel award applications based on the following eligibility and criteria.

Review Criteria:
1. Clear, concise, and complete application

2. Appropriate expenses necessitating funding

  • Preference for individuals who have sought/acquired other funding sources
  • Preference for individuals who did not receive a UIPDA travel award in the previous cycle (Spring 2021)

3. Preference for first-time presentation as a Postdoc

  • Preference for oral vs. poster presentation
  • Preference for poster presentation vs. only conference attendance (non-presenting)

4. Benefit of conference to career

  • Similarity between conference and research focus
  • Relevance of conference to career goals

Three UIPDA college representatives, executive board members, or committee members will review applications and score the various criteria categories on a scale of 1-5 (1=lowest, 5=highest). The average of the total scores will be taken and that will be the score of the application. The reviewers will meet after all applications have been scored. The highest applications will be awarded. If too many applications have a high score, then a fourth member of the UIPDA leadership team will score the applications.

Outstanding Mentoring Award

The University of Iowa Postdoctoral Association invites nominations for the Outstanding Postdoctoral Mentor Award. This award recognizes one University of Iowa Faculty Member who serves as an effective mentor and advocates for postdocs. Successful nominees are mentors that contribute to the personal and professional growth of their mentees by providing intellectual leadership and a supportive environment that fosters creative and independent thinking. 

Recipients will receive a plaque of recognition and be formally recognized during the awards ceremony.

Faculty Member Nomination Criteria

The recipient of this award is a faculty member who has shown excellence and effectiveness in activities such as:

  • Addressing mutually agreed upon expectations and goals
  • Focusing on maintaining relationships of trust and mutual respect with postdocs
  • Displaying sensitivity to a postdoc's academic, scientific, and professional goals
  • Ensuring ethical standards of research
  • Providing training that enhances postdocs' professional and scientific career
  • Promoting attendance to professional conferences
  • Encouraging multiple career options that are accessible to postdocs
  • Guiding postdocs towards intellectual and professional independence

Nominations will be made by postdoctoral scholars and fellows. To nominate, fill out an application form describing your mentor's intellectual guidance, advising, advocacy, and professional development assistance. Click on the link below to start your application.

Outstanding Mentor Award Application form 

The deadline for nominations for this award for 2025 will be posted at a later date.

Congratulations to our previous Outstanding Mentors

MentorAffiliationYear
Dr. Diana JalalCCOM, Internal Medicine2024
Dr. Aislinn WilliamsCCOM, Psychiatry2023
Dr. Alejandro P Comellas FreymondCCOM, Internal Medicine2022
Dr. Allison JaynesCLAS, Physics & Astronomy2021
Dr. William KurthCLAS, Physics & Astronomy2020

 

Please email the UIPDA with questions.

Social Programming & Outreach

The Social Programming & Outreach committee seeks to build connections within our postdoc community and with the larger UI community. This includes traditional in person social networking events, but we are also seeking to better utilize online spaces for these interactions.

All postdocs are welcome! We want to have an engaged, active community of postdocs at the University of Iowa. As a postdocs, you may be the only postdoc in your lab or department. Let UIPDA help you meet your fellow postdocs and our campus advocates. 

Events being planned include but are not limited to:

  • Monthly postdoc social networking events
  • Family friendly social events for postdocs
  • National Postdoc Appreciation Week events
  • Lunches at CCOM's Science Thursdays

Need help getting connected on campus, community-based resources, or to a professional network?

Check the University calendar for other upcoming events