Here’s to UF’s Postdocs!

Posted: September 11, 2024

The University of Florida’s Postdoctoral Appreciation Week 2024 runs September 14-20 to celebrate the grit, determination, ingenuity, and hard work of UF’s postdocs.

But just what is a postdoc, you ask?

Postdocs are the often unsung, behind-the-scenes heroes of academia — intrepid souls who, after earning their doctoral degrees, continue training as researchers to hone skills and gain experience that will ready them for careers as faculty members in academia.

Most postdoctoral associates work at higher education institutions or in industry; others, in government or at nonprofits. Postdoctoral positions are prevalent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but they are growing more common in the humanities and social sciences too.

Either under a principal investigator or as part of a team, postdocs conduct research on a project of their own making or one set up by others, and then publish their findings. They also mentor younger researchers and engage in other aspects of academic enterprise, such as teaching and grant writing.

Postdocs are on the front line and cutting edge of academic research in higher education, for they are the minds, hearts, and hands who busily devote their attention and energy full-time and single-mindedly to discovery and invention in the lab and out in the field. Without them, progress in higher education and much of human endeavor would never happen.

And that’s precisely why UF is celebrating them during Postdoctoral Appreciation Week 2024.

Click these links to learn more online…

• UF Postdoctoral Appreciation Week 2024 Calendar of Events
• UF Office of Postdoctoral Affairs