On September 24, the UCSF Graduate Division and Office of Postdoctoral Affairs join postdocs in celebrating the first annual National Postdoc Appreciation Day and urge the entire campus to let your postdocs know you really do appreciate the invaluable work they do!  The UCSF Postdoctoral Scholars Association (PSA) has organized a free barbeque with music and other activities for the celebration on the Mission Bay campus, on the Koret Quad, 4:00-8:00 p.m. UCSF Postdoc Dorothy Jones-Davis reflected today on her own impression of being a postdoc and why this day is important as follows:

“Science is a rewarding career, but individual rewards in science often prove to be illusive. Each day, as scientists, we wake up and think of the day’s experiments and set off to prove our hypotheses. On the best of days, we obtain a key result, make a notable discovery, and move forward in our area of scientific discovery, but day after day, we are also challenged, as hypotheses are disproven, theories pass away, and experiments fail.  The small rewards of a positive result, a great lab meeting presentation, a funded grant application, or a noted poster at a large scientific meeting, make up our compensation. These small gains in such a large arena of scientific discovery are truly what we live for and strive to achieve. Yet, as Postdocs, we tirelessly wear the hat of many roles: quasi-independent researcher, trainee, mentor, mentee, and productive member of society. We struggle to find our place in the world, constantly rethinking the age-old question, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” Yet, as a grownup, we are thrust into the world to figure out how to be the best scientist, nay, the best person we can be. We work hard, and harder, and harder still. In our “downtime,” we try to (in the words of Gandhi) “be the change we want to see in the world.” Many of us volunteer to make a better Postdoctoral experience for the masses in the Postdoctoral Scholars’ Association (PSA). Others of us teach at local high schools and universities. Yet others raise money for benevolent causes; we run marathons, walk in AIDS walks, raise awareness about global warning and global involvement. We volunteer in soup kitchens, we serve on campus committees. Some of us manage to maintain hobbies: We dance, sing, play musical instruments, and perform in bands. And after a long hard day at work, many of us return home to our second (primary) job as mommy or daddy (MaD) scientist. In all of these things we do, we are not always noticed. Yet, from now on, on September 24th of each year, UCSF has ensured that we will be. Please join us in celebrating the contributions of Postdoctoral Scholars at UCSF, for our first annual Postdoc Appreciation Day.  For all that we do.”

Postdoc Appreciation Day events at UCSF are co-sponsored by the PSA, Campus Life Services, PorMab, Li-Cor Biosciences, and the UCSF Graduate Division/Postdoctoral Affairs Office.