GW Celebrates Postdocs on Appreciation Day

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George Washington University observed Post Doc Appreciation Day last week, the annual recognition of postdoctoral fellows engaged in projects across the campus.

"Postdocs play a critical role in the academic community," John Lach, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, told a gathering in Science and Engineering Hall Thursday morning, thanking the postdocs for dedicating their lives to advancing knowledge in their fields of expertise. "We are so fortunate that you have brought your talents from all over the world here to GW."

Lach said that GW was committed to the work they do to "contribute to the university's distinction and distinguishability among all universities around the world."

At GW and other universities, postdocs are scientists and scholars who, often behind the scenes, contribute to high-impact research and serve as mentors to undergraduate and graduate student researchers.

The day-long event's keynote speaker, Robert H. Miller, interim vice provost for research, School of Medicine and Health Science vice dean and Vivian Gill Distinguished Research professor, offered as inspiration to the postdocs their very presence at GW, the largest research institution in the nation's capital.

"You will be identified with GW through your career and to be identified with an institution that is growing is actually critically important," Miller said.

In discussing his journey as a scientist, Miller noted that careers often aren't "a straight trajectory." A world renown neuroscientist, Miller started out with a Ph.D. in zoology before making the leap to neurodevelopment.

"You make a choice to go down a pathway, that pathway may close, but ostensibly another pathway opens up," Miller said.

In addition to being bold and exploring new pathways, Miller encouraged the postdocs to build a strong lifelong network with other postdoctoral fellows , not just for support but to explore new and different ideas, even if they don't agree with them. Spend time outside of the lab, he suggested, and connect with the larger world for insights to the problems they are working on. He underscored the importance of being able to communicate what they do to a larger audience, which he said, takes practice.

"Take advantage of where you are. Be bold," Miller said. "It's never going to come to you. You've got to go get it."

In addressing the postdocs on the issue of "What Comes Next? Life and Career Choices After Your Postdoc," Peter Loge, director of the School of Media and Public Affairs, explained that one of the reasons he got the position is because he was the guy who knew what was going to happen next.

As they think about what comes next in their careers, Loge said they should remember two things: "You are not your research; and life is both long and wide."

Like Miller, Loge's career has taken many twists and turns. He thought of becoming a filmmaker. Then politics. Next was "a rhetorical scholar." A foreign policy expert. A congressional staffer. "Then I wind up here," Loge said. "[Life] is a wide thing."

He suggested the postdocs consider a series of questions:

"What do you want to do every day? You want to interact with other people? Do you want to be on the outside or the inside. Do you want to write? Do you want to think? Do you want to listen? What is it about [what you do] that gets you up in the morning?"

"It is really easy in academia, the postdoc world, in a tenure track-job-chasing world to live in a narrower and narrower world that's scarier and scarier," Loge said. "It's also worth thinking about who you want to be in that world. Anything can happen."

Postdoc Appreciation Day was capped by lightning talks, where postdoctoral fellows were judged for their descriptions of their research projects. They had five minutes and three static slides to explain their complex research in a way that could be understood by lay audiences. First place went to Greta Martin, who is studying environmental health. Her research compares the impact of green spaces and parks on health and climate regulations on wealthy and less-privileged neighborhoods.

"I would definitely say that the participation among postdocs was the strongest this year," said Suresh Subramaniam, vice provost for graduate and postdoctoral affairs. "It's pleasing to see the community coming together more."