Finding and Applying for Academic Positions

Date & Time

Wednesday, 15 May 2024 - 1:00pm to Wednesday, 15 May 2024 - 4:30pm

Location

Online via Zoom

Organizer

Postdoctoral Fellows Office

 

These two panels are jointly hosted by UBC’s Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and Career Centre and Simon Fraser University’s Graduate Studies and Office of the Vice-President, Research and International.

These panels are jointly hosted by UBC’s Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and Career Centre and Simon Fraser University’s Graduate Studies and Office of the Vice-President, Research and International.

1 – 2:30 PM: Pathway to Landing an Academic Position

You began your graduate school journey with the fixed intention of becoming a faculty member (professor, lecturer, etc.). What are the key steps to get there? Learn from a panel of faculty members as they share their tips and experience with landing an academic position. Topics will include:

  • being competitive (ie. is a postdoc your next step?)
  • what you can and can't control (e.g. fit of research)
  • application materials
  • preparing for the interview
  • negotiations for teaching and research positions

Moderator:

Meet Upadhyay, PhD candidate, Materials Engineering UBC

Panelists (click for bio):

Dr. Kiana Amini - Assistant Professor, Materials Engineering, UBC

Dr. Kiana Amini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Engineering at the University of British Columbia, having recently joined in August 2023. Prior to this appointment, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, focusing on the development of organic and organometallic-based redox flow batteries for energy storage applications and aqueous organic-based flow cells for carbon capture applications. Before that, she earned her master's and Ph.D. at the University of Waterloo. During her Ph.D., she worked on the development of metal-based (zinc-cerium) flow cells for energy storage applications. Her lab at UBC is focused on pushing the performance metrics of electrochemical systems to assist our transition to a clean energy future.

Dr. Nesrine Basheer - Assistant Professor of Teaching, Asian Studies, UBC

Dr. Nesrine Basheer is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Asian Studies, UBC. She is an applied linguist and a specialist in teaching Arabic as a foreign language. Her research interests include the teaching and assessment of writing and the multidialectal approach to teaching Arabic. Nesrine has taught Arabic at the American University in Cairo, the United Nations, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Maryland, and more recently, the University of Sydney. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Dr. Theodore D. Cosco - Associate Professor, Gerontology, SFU 

Dr. Cosco is a Chartered Psychologist (British Psychological Society) trained in epidemiology (PhD, University of Cambridge) and demography (Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Oxford). For his contributions to pedagogy, he has been elected to Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and for contributions to psychology Associate Fellowship of the British Psychological Society. Recently, he received the Early Career Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association and European Health Psychology Society, the Young Investigator Colloquium Scholarship from the American Psychosomatic Society, as well as becoming the youngest recipient of the Canadian Association on Gerontology’s Recognition Award for Excellence in Longitudinal Research in Honour of Betty Havens.

At age 12, Dr. Cosco began volunteering at a long-term care facility, starting what would become a life-long passion for mental health and the aging process. Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, Dr. Cosco examines a range of factors that promote healthy aging and resilience across the life course, from digital interventions to physical activity

Dr. Shandin Pete - Assistant Professor of Teaching, Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, UBC

Dr. Shandin Pete is an Assistant Professor in the department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences and Indigenous scholar with expertise in hydrogeology, Indigenous research methodologies and geoscientific ethnography. His work explores Indigenous frameworks for Earth science knowledge.

3 – 4:30 PM: Thriving in Your First Five Years in Academia

You’ve landed a faculty position – now what?

Hear from a panel of faculty members on how to not just survive but thrive in the first few years after securing a faculty position. Panelists will address questions on a range of topics to help you as you make the transition to a faculty role, including:

  • budgeting and finding funding for your research; 
  • recruiting, hiring and supervising grad students, postdocs, and support staff; 
  • finding and working with mentors as a faculty member; and 
  • preparing for tenure applications and the tenure-track process.  

Moderator:

Dr. Canan Gunes – Postdoctoral Fellow, Education, Simon Fraser University 

Panelists (click for bio)

Dr. Christina Atanasova, Associate Dean of Research and PhD Program and Professor, Finance, SFU

Dr. Christina Atanasova serves as the Associate Dean of Research and PhD Program at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, where she holds the position of Professor of Finance. She is a Visiting Professor at the Center for Policy Design at the Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University, Japan, and the Philip Hochstein ICBA Research Fellow. With an MSc in Finance from the University of York and a PhD in Finance from Leeds University Business School, she began her tenure at SFU in 2007, following a tenure-track position at the University of York (2004-2007). Her research contributions in finance are reflected in publications in leading academic journals, while her teaching experience spans undergraduate and graduate programs across Canada, the UK, New Zealand, and France, where she has also supervised numerous PhD students to successful completion.

Dr. Kaylee Byers, Assistant Professor, Health Sciences, SFU

Dr. Kaylee Byers is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, a Senior Scientist with the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society, and the Deputy Director of the British Columbia node of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative. Kaylee's research investigates the connections among human-animal-and environmental health to support programs that lead to early detection, prevention and management of emerging health issues. She is also passionate about science communication, hosting Genome BC's podcast Nice Genes! and co-organizes Nerd Nite Vancouver, a quarterly science seminar series.

Dr. Theodore D. Cosco, Associate Professor, Gerontology, SFU 

Dr. Cosco is a Chartered Psychologist (British Psychological Society) trained in epidemiology (PhD, University of Cambridge) and demography (Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Oxford). For his contributions to pedagogy, he has been elected to Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and for contributions to psychology Associate Fellowship of the British Psychological Society. Recently, he received the Early Career Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association and European Health Psychology Society, the Young Investigator Colloquium Scholarship from the American Psychosomatic Society, as well as becoming the youngest recipient of the Canadian Association on Gerontology’s Recognition Award for Excellence in Longitudinal Research in Honour of Betty Havens.

At age 12, Dr. Cosco began volunteering at a long-term care facility, starting what would become a life-long passion for mental health and the aging process. Using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, Dr. Cosco examines a range of factors that promote healthy aging and resilience across the life course, from digital interventions to physical activity

Dr. Natalie Zeytuni, Assistant Professor, Anatomy and Cell Biology, McGill University

Dr. Natalie Zeytuni completed her MSc and PhD at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, where she focused on the structure-function relationships of bacterial biomineralization systems. She pursued postdoctoral training at the University of British Columbia, studying bacterial virulence systems and membrane transporters. Currently, Dr. Zeytuni is as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at McGill University. Her research continues to explore bacterial pathogenicity and transmembrane transporters, employing advanced structural biology techniques such as CryoEM and X-ray crystallography.

Registration

Registration in this program is required, and is now open. Those successfully registered will receive an email in advance of the program start date.

Accessibility

If you have a disability, medical condition, or accessibility concern that may affect your full participation in the event, please email postdoctoral.fellows@ubc.ca in advance of the event.

PDFO EVENT COMMUNITY AGREEMENT

The PDFO has created a community agreement for our events in order to foster an inclusive, welcoming, and respectful environment in which all event attendees feel safe and supported.

By participating in a PDFO event, we commit ourselves to:

  • Treating one another with kindness, courtesy and respect in all interactions;
  • Engaging in gracious, active listening and valuing others’ opinions;
  • Not dominating discussions so that others can share during the session;
  • Ensuring that any potentially confidential or sensitive information shared as part of the session is not shared outside of the session;
  • Actively participating in the session; and
  • In online sessions, when possible and if comfortable sharing audio and/or video to create a greater sense of community and participation.

DELIVERY FORMAT

This session will be delivered online via Zoom. The following suggestions may help to improve the online experience:

  • Use headphones to reduce noise and avoid feedback between your mic and speaker.
  • Ensure that you are in a quiet location so that the audio does not get polluted with unwanted noise.
  • Keep your microphone on mute unless you are speaking during the session.
  • In case of technical problems, time for plugin downloads, etc., please attempt to log into the Zoom meeting 10-15 minutes before the start. You will be placed in the waiting room until the official start time.

 

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