Upcoming Events | Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

"Welcome" Mini-Orientation Sessions for New Postdoctoral Scholars on Campus

Honors, Scholars & Fellows House, Room 3008, noon (12 pm) on Monday, April 27, 2026

REGISTRATION is NOW OPEN

All new postdoctoral scholars on campus are invited to the next upcoming new postdoctoral scholar "Welcome." The "Welcome" format of orientation serves to give new postdocs the basics of the full required orientation program in the spans of an hour over the lunch period. It is designed for scholars that initiate their training during the year rather than in synchrony with the start of the school year in August. You can converse with Human Resources representatives about initiating your employee benefits within the 60-day onboarding window, learn about support for global engagements, join the leadership team of our postdoctoral association (PDA), and hear about opportunities for fellowships, travel awards, and professional development activities.

Debi, Director of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

Agenda:

General PD Opportunities, Expectations, and Professional Development (Fadool)

International Engagements (Schaad/Lawson)

Program in Instructional Excellence (Kelly)

Human Resources - Health Insurance and Retirement Benefits (Hoffman)

Join the PDA!! (Carr)

NIH Chemosensory Training Grant Program (CTP) will be hosting a recruitment event for postdoctoral scholar training opportunities starting in 2027.

A Celebration of Neuroscience & Chemical Senses Recruitment Symposium - April 20-21, 2026

UPDATE - Schedule of Speakers can be found HERE - VPR_Chemosensory Symposium FINAL Schedule.pdf -

Day 1 - All Events are in KIN Life Science Building - KIN 2057, with Poster Session and Dinner in the first floor Atrium

Day 2 - All Events are in Psychology Building - 211A

All talks are open to all members of the FSU community and will highlight current FSU postdocs, FSU Alumni, and invited postdocs that we hope will be future trainees in our Chemosensory Community. Professional Development Lecture by NIH Training Director at 4:30 pm on Day 1. Preregistration is not required for any lectures. For the Poster Session and Dinner, please RSVP to Dr. Roberto Vincis.

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Postdoctoral Spring Event

May 8, 2026

Registration is NOW open until May 4, 2026 - Faculty, Staff, Graduate Students, and Undergraduate Researchers - are welcome to also attend event.

"Flyer Spring Event"

Government funding for scientific research is at a crossroads and facing challenges unlike any experienced before. Federal policies enacted over the last year will have lasting impacts and could forever change the way academic research is supported and conducted in the U.S. Wendy Naus, Executive Director of the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) in Washington, DC, will discuss the current landscape for federal science funding and policy and ways the academic research community can respond. We hope you can join us for an impactful session to include both our national guest keynote speaker (Title of lecture = "The State of Federal Science Funding: Rising to the Challenge"), along with informative panel discussion by local faculty members. The spring event is a professional development symposium for postdoctoral scholars where senior PhD candidates and faculty are welcome to attend and participate.

3-Part Grants Workshop

REGISTRATION is now CLOSED - Deadline to register by Feb 17, 2026

The OPDA is partnering with OGFA and the Office of Research to host three interconnected workshops to assist postdoctoral scholars and graduate trainees with the preparation of extramural applications for grants. Not familiar with how to prepare a competitive fellowship or grant application packet with your mentor to support your independent research? This workshop is for you!

Scholars and trainees that participate in all three sessions and submit their proposal to an extramural agency are eligible to receive an intramural grant award that is used to support training-related expenses of their research project ($1000 graduate trainees, $1,500 postdoctoral scholars). These scholarships are generously provided by the Office of Research lead my new VP for Research, Dr. Stacy Patterson. Trainees must attend all 3 workshop components and submit the extramural application to be eligible.

Part I - Introduction to Extramural Grant Mechanisms and Grantsmanship = February 25-26th, 2026

Abstracts Due - April 15, 2026

Part II - Specitic Aims in Peer Writing Groups = May 13-14th, 2026 and June 3-4th, 2026

Full Proposal Due - August 10, 2026

Part III - Mock Study Sections = Sept 17-18th, 2026 and October 1-2nd, 2026

Applications will be reviewed, critiqued and scored by reviewers in a simulated mock study section. You will prearrange a 5-member faculty panel that are experts in your research area to serve as grant reviewers of your full application or research plan. Your research mentor will chair this session and you will record their profession critiques to modify your application internally before you submit it externally to the funding agency.

The agenda for the Grants Workshop is now available. All preregistrants should receive an email correspondence regarding the format of the workshop. Please bring your ID card to the workshop for checkin. Remember that you need to attend all three components to be eligible for intramural scholarship at the end of the program. Day 1 option is more weighted to humanities and Day 2 option is more weighted to STEM, however, both days have speakers that are exceptionally eperienced and successful in grant preparation. You may elect to attend select lectures on each day according to your research/teaching schedule and your anticipated interest in a particular funding agency or research discipline (i.e. mix and match), but you must be present for a "full days worth" of the Part I workshop.

As slides become available by the Speakers, we will hyperlink the slide set to the speaker's name.