Our annual NACS workshops and seminars are presented by Gaelle Kolb, NACS Grants Development Specialist. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Gaelle: gkolb@umd.edu
Fall Workshops – Getting Ready for Funding Opportunities
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program – Resources and Writing Sessions
Graduate students who intend to submit to the GRFP are invited to get together as a group and work on the GRFP. The group meets over four Friday afternoons for some protected writing time. The session would be devoted to asking questions, sharing writing, writing itself, revising the statements etc.
National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowships (NDSEG) Info Session – First- and second-year graduate students
Graduate students should consider this fellowship:
1. If they applied for an NSF GRFP (mostly the same eligibility criteria: 1st and 2nd-year graduate students with no more than TWO years of full-time graduate studies overall)
2. If they have high GREs and GPAs
3. If they wish to secure three full years of support
4. If they are a U.S. citizen/national (permanent residents are NOT eligible)
Demystifying the NIH and Its Grant Mechanisms
Our first workshop will help NACS students and early stage postdocs better understand the National Institutes of Health and identify funding mechanisms appropriate to their career level. More attention will be given to the Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award – F31 and existing resources for students.
Using SciENcv to Develop NIH Biosketches
Have you ever wondered how simpler it would be if you were just clicks away from creating tailored bioskteches? Learn how to use SciENcv (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/) to develop your NIH (and NSF, faculty job application, and more soon) biosketch.
Before the workshop, you can initiate your sciENcv account either using your eRA Commons credentials, which are also used to submit an NIH grant/fellowship (register here: http://ora.umd.edu/esubmissions/nih to initiate your eRA Commons) or using your Gmail account.
For the workshop, bring your laptop and a recently updated CV to start developing your sciENcv profile. We will discuss personal statements and contributions to science, which are essential sections of the NIH biosketch.
Winter Workshops – Honing Your Communication Skills
In January 2016, a pilot workshop funded by the NACS program was held over two weeks. The feedback and observation of this workshop served as the foundation for a grant submitted to the Burroughs Wellcome Fund as a thorough and intensive program entitled Developing Leadership Communication or DeLeCom.
Spring Workshops – Career Exploration and Readiness
Networking and LinkedIn
Did you know that you are ONE connection closer than you thought to getting a job or meeting a person of interest to your career goals? Come and learn how to use LinkedIn to its fullest potential, build an effective profile, and prepare for your next networking opportunity.
Transferable Skills
So you think you need transferable skills, but what exactly are they? Come and discuss how you could hone or gain transferable skills during your graduate studies.
Diverse Careers
How can you integrate your skills into a range of occupations in various sectors? Learn about a variety of positions, that include research, administration/management, intellectual property, informatics, validation/safety/QC, writing/publishing, communication, sales/marketing, clinical trials, consulting and teaching. Sectors include academia, industry, government, contract research organizations, non-profit and scientific societies and entrepreneurship.
Mentoring and Becoming a Mentor
Mentoring is regarded as an integral part of research. Using four core elements in mentoring, trainees will look at recognizing and building mentoring relationships and skills in the research setting. In a snapshot, we look at responsibilities of mentees towards planning their career and sharing their concerns with their mentors, in addition to discussing responsibilities of mentors towards having their mentees’ best interest at heart and exposing them to people and opportunities to help them develop professionally.
Summer Workshops – Effective Job Search Material
CV & Resume
Discussion will focus on major differences between these two documents, how to develop the best CV or resume, and offer quick feedback on materials.
Faculty Job Search
Information about documents to prepare for a faculty job search: CV, Teaching Philosophy and Research Statement. We will look at what exactly those entail and how you can make the most compelling case for your candidacy.
Government Job Search
Developing your job material for a position in the government is far different from what you would think. We will explain the major resources that you could use in order to find a job in the government and we will help you develop your job search material.
