Berkeley Lab Postdoc Association

The Berkeley Lab Postdoc Association is an organization run by and for about 1000 postdocs and early career scientists working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. We organize many activities to strengthen our ties to the Lab, to each other and to the (Berkeley) Bay Area. Our goal is to facilitate social interactions, scientific exchanges, seminars and general orientation.
 
Berkeley Lab Postdoc Association

Berkeley Lab Postdoc Association

News and Upcoming Events

BLPA Picnic

Time/Venue: Saturday, June 3rd @12 PM/Live Oak Park

BLPA is planning another picnic in Live Oak Park, North Berkeley on June 3rd starting at noon. We’ll be providing some free soft drinks, water, and a cooler as well as games and a soccer ball. There’s also a volleyball and basketball area that we can use and on-street parking is available nearby.  Feel free to bring additional food, drinks, games and music and also remember to bring a blanket to sit on and layers depending on weather conditions. If you’d like to come, please sign up here (you don’t have to make a firm commitment, it’s just so we can estimate roughly how much food to prepare). Hope to see you there!

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Dinner & Pub night

When/Where: Friday, June 9th @6.30 PM/Cornerstone’s

This month’s BLPA dinner & pub night will be taking place this Friday at 6.30 PM at Cornerstone’s (2367 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94704). Come for food and fun with your fellow postdocs and make awesome new friends (older than 21). Hope to see you there!

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Volunteering: Postdoc Career Fair 2023

When & Where: Every Wednesday, 5 pm via Zoom

The Postdoc Career Fair organizing committee is seeking volunteers for the 2023 Postdoc Career Fair! Volunteers are needed to help correspond with companies, create communication materials, and organize the virutal/in-person components of the Career Fair.

If you are interested in joining the team, the BLPA is hosting a weekly standing meeting for career fair organizers on every Wednesday @5 pm (Click here to add event to your calendar)

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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.

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Past events

Hiking: Muir Woods

On Sunday 9th April, several postdocs went for a hike in the Muir Woods National parks, near Marin County, California. It is part of the...
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Bouldering

On Saturday March 25th, many postdocs went to the Pacific Pipe to practice bouldering, a style of rock climbing. The event was well attended and...
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Hiking: Inspiration Point

On Saturday March 18th, several postdocs went for a hike in the Inspiration Point to Wildcat Peak, near Kensington. The hike was fun and hiking...
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Hiking: Tennessee valley and Muir beach

On Saturday February 11st, several postdocs went for a hike in the Tennessee Valley to Muir Beach via Coastal Trail, near Mill valley. The hike...
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Bouldering

On Saturday January 28th, many postdocs went to the Pacific Pipe gym to practice bouldering, a style of rock climbing. The event was well attended...
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Hiking: Coyote Hills Regional Park

On Saturday January 21st, several postdocs went for a hike in the Coyote Hills Regional Park, near Fremont. The hike was fun and it was...
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Hiking: Christmas Holidays Lights

On Friday December 16th, LBNL postdocs met in the evening for an urban walk in west Berkeley to have a look at the funny and...
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Hot Chocolate Event

What is it better than gathering with friends for a hot chocolate before the Christmas holidays? On Wednesday December 14th, postdocs met onsite at 50C...
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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!

 

Alexander Pattison
Co-chair

Molecular Foundry

Weronika Wolszczak

Co-chair

Materials Science Division

Kshitiz Gupta, Committee Coordinator
Social

The Joint BioEnergy Institute

Rajiv Ramanujam Prabhakar, Committee Coordinator
Outreach

Chemical Sciences Division


Raul Flores, Committee Coordinator
Lab-Industry Networking Connection (LINC)

Materials Sciences Division

David Halat
Secretary

Materials Sciences Division

Fatima H. Garcia
Treasurer

Nuclear Science Division

Emil Rofors
Board Member

Nuclear Science Division

Moniruzzaman Shaikh
Board Member

Chemical Sciences Division

Jonelle Basso
Board Member

Joint Genome Institute

Trisha Kishore Bhagde
Board Member

Energy Storage & Distributed Resources

Soumyadeep Ghosh, Webmaster
Board Member

Chemical Sciences Division

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.