News and Upcoming Events
Hike: San Bruno Mountain on January 11
Dear Hikers,
BLPA is excited to invite you to our first hike of 2025. On Saturday, January 11, 2025, we will climb the San Bruno Mountain south of San Francisco via the Summit Loop Trail and Ridge Trail. This hike is 9.5 miles (15.3 km) long with steep inclines with about 1600 feet (500 m) of elevation gain (for comparison, this total elevation gain is about double the elevation from Downtown Berkeley to the Advanced Light Source). The hike takes on average 4 h 30 min to complete. During nice weather, the trail offers amazing views of San Francisco, Daly City, and the Bay Area.
For sign up and more details, see our announcement email.
Join the Action: Shape the Future with BLPA
Are you ready to make an impact? Love career fairs, engaging seminars, or fun social events? Help bring them to life and become a leader in our postdoc community!
Why join?
- Build leadership skills and gain valuable experience
- Score free swag and make lasting friendships
- Be part of the vibrant team shaping postdoc life at LBL
Get involved today!
Explore: postdoc.lbl.gov/about-us/committees
Express interest here or Contact us at postdoc@lbl.gov
Stay tuned for BLPA Board elections—your next opportunity to lead!
A walk down Christmas Tree Lane – December 20
Dear Postdocs,
BLPA is excited to invite you to a walk-through of the astonishing Christmas Tree Lane, Alameda on Friday, December 20, 2024. Since 1938, the inhabitants of Thompson Avenue in Alameda have been decorating their houses with lights, figures from fairy tales and other ornaments. This street shines bright in the dark and gathers a lot of people from the Bay. Let’s join and see the American-style Christmas decorations. The expected time to walk through the street is 1 hour including taking photos. Later, with those willing, we will go for dinner at a nearby restaurant.
More details and a link to the registration form are given in the BLPA announcement email.
Slack Fun Space
We have launched a new Slack “fun space” for all LBNL and affiliated postdocs.
We have dedicated spaces to chat about housing, healthcare, taxes, COVID-19 & vaccination, hobbies & events, food, movies & tv, childcare, sell or buy stuff and even to post photos of your pets! Sign up here and join the conversation.
Past events
Hiking: San Bruno Mountain
On Saturday, January 11, 2025, a group of LBNL postdocs and friends hiked to the San Bruno Mountain south of San Francisco. Our first hike...
Read More "Hiking: San Bruno Mountain"
Carrier Transition Talk: Sarah Gleeson
BLPA is excited to share the recording of our recent career transition talk featuring Sarah Gleeson, who successfully moved from postdoc to a researcher role in...
Read More "Carrier Transition Talk: Sarah Gleeson"
Career Transition Talk – Sabari Ghosh
BLPA is excited to share the recording of our recent career transition talk featuring Sabari Ghosh, who successfully moved from postdoc to a scientist role in...
Read More "Career Transition Talk – Sabari Ghosh"
Carrier Transition Talk: Elle Barnes
BLPA hosts a career transition talk series featuring our postdoc alumni's transition from postdoc positions to prestigious roles in industry, academia, national labs, and beyond....
Read More "Carrier Transition Talk: Elle Barnes"
Career Transition Talk: Rishabh Guha
The recording of the talk can be found here.
Read More "Career Transition Talk: Rishabh Guha"
Hiking: Montara Mountain, Black Diamond Mines and Mount Sizer
In May, the BLPA hiking group was extraordinarily active. On May 4, which was one of the last rainy days this spring, we climbed Montara...
Read More "Hiking: Montara Mountain, Black Diamond Mines and Mount Sizer"
Fostering Collaboration between National Labs – Panel discussion
On May 20, BLPA, in conjunction with the Argonne Postdoc Society and Livermore Lab Postdoc Association, hosted a panel discussion with representatives of all three...
Read More "Fostering Collaboration between National Labs – Panel discussion"
Hiking: Murietta Falls
On Saturday, April 27, BLPA hikers embarked on a challenging journey towards the Murietta Falls, the highest waterfall in the Bay Area, located in the...
Read More "Hiking: Murietta Falls"
Resources
BLPA Board
BLPA is made up of volunteers – and we are always looking to grow! Are you interested? Do you want to know about the inner workings of BLPA and contribute to the postdoc community, building a larger network? Please contact us (postdoc (at) lbl.gov) or sign up to check out one of our many committees!
Â
Bernard Field
Co-chair
Archana Yadav
Co-chair
Kshitiz Gupta
Coordinator, Social Committee
Soumyadeep Ghosh
Coordinator–Outreach Committee & Treasurer
Trisha Kishore Bhagde
Coordinator, Lab-Industry Networking Connection (LINC) Committee
Kas Andrle
Secretary & Board Member
Ivo Markovic
Board Member
BLPA Committees
We are always on the lookout for new events that could be fun and that we can bring to the postdoc community together as well as enthusiastic individuals interested in serving the postdoc community. If you have any ideas for events, please let us know by email to postdoc@lbl.gov or by dropping a line to a board member you know. If you’d like to volunteer with BLPA, please fill out this form.
Social Committee
Social Committee puts together a wide variety of events to enrich the postdocs’ personal lives and support networking among postdocs in a social context. We organize social events and outdoor activities including movie nights, game nights, hikes, pub nights, meet & greet events as well as a labmate program for new postdocs and we are happy to include new ideas. Join us to support social interactions among postdocs at Berkeley Lab.
Outreach Committee
Outreach Committee focuses on self development and diversity & inclusion activities including brown bag seminars (postdoc-to-postdoc, science café, cultural lunch) as well as coffee with postdocs blogs, outreach events and workshops. We also enhance communication between the BLPA Board and nation-wide postdoc community and foster networking and collaborative communication across divisions. Join us in preparing seminars, workshops, blog posts, newsletters while improving your science communication and public speaking skills.
Lab-Industry Networking Connection (LINC) Committee
LINC committee organizes tech talks, company site visits, networking events and career fairs to educate postdocs about careers beyond academia and facilitate effective networking between postdocs and industry partners. Join us if you are interested in expanding your professional network and exploring opportunities beyond academia while improving your communication, networking, leadership, time and project management skills.
