March 2022

Meeting Minutes

April 5, 2022

SURPAS Council Meeting Agenda

Wednesday March 30th, 2022 11:30am-1:00pm 

Location: Zoom

Quorum:  12

  • Acknowledgment statement, inc group norms/mutual respect (2’) 
  • Welcome, Zoom etiquette (2’) 
  • Introductions and approval of minutes (5’)

3 new postdocs introduced

  • Acknowledgement statement, Introductions and approval of minutes (10’)

Minutes approved by Arianna and Tim

  • Updates 
    • COVID-19 updates
    • Stanford email access to postdocs leaving Stanford
    • C-ACIS
      • Karun Kumar Rao

Mask mandate is lifted, however masks are still recommended. 

Stanford email access is extended to 2 years. One caveat is you cannot send out email, just receive. Gives an opportunity to get forwarding email. No access to Stanford google drive. Can have PI sponsor your email access. You can pay an “affiliate fee” for $750 can have access forever as a Stanford affiliate. 

Tim: technically we’re “students” so shouldn’t we get an alumni email address? We brought this up at Alumni office and they said postdocs will not get “alumni” status. We are not “students” because we don’t pay student fees. 

C-ACIS Updates:

Video Safety and security systems standards, where should security cameras be placed on campus. University wants a clear policy to determine when cameras are appropriate ect… Email Karun is want a copy of the policy. Locations: public, outside research buildings, not in residential areas, main purpose is thefts. Does not support for facial recognition technology. However, is law enforcement subpoenas then outside university scope. 

Eamon: what’s the current status of cameras on campus? Karun says we don’t have the data for how many are currently on campus. This is one reason they want to implement these policies. Now data is stored by department-department basis. 

Vivek: cameras close to where some people sit in work setting and is not great. Karun is not sure how camera placement works in public space and may cover department assets. He suggests to talk to the Department about that and if that doesn’t help to let him know to contact higher-ups.

  • SURPAS committee – JEDI committee
    • Diversity Postdoctoral Seminar Series
      • Santiago Correa
      • Michael Lawson

Have annual, day long event with a underrepresented background or expertise in DEI. They give a talk and have small group discussions. Trainee-nominated for the speaker. Funded by a DIF grant from VPGE and Steve Lee, assistant dean of diversity, H& S Dean’s office. Past speakers include Michael Penn and Prof Raychelle Burks. This year have Prof Sherilynn Black, associate Vice Provost for Faculty advancement at Duke University. This will be Thursday April 21, keynote speaker at 11am. 

Targeting 2 areas; Undergrad to grad school and postdoc to faculty and increasing diversity and support in these transitions. There are limited options to prepare postdocs for interviews and looking for ways to give postdocs a more realistic experience. Aims of the Diverse Ambassadors program is to recruit senior postdocs from diverse backgrounds to deliver research seminar at partner institutions. Partner institutions will then have a focus on local primarily undergraduate institutions. Current target partners are San Jose State, SF State, Foothill college and College of San Mateo. 

Chinyere: How do you select the postdocs? Now just soliciting interest through intake google form. Then they’ll be back in touch. For undergraduates can sponsor 3-5 undergraduates for travel here for the DPSS. Idea to send Stanord postdocs to the institution programs. 

Is there a group of faculty coming to listen to talks? Trying to get this going now. Currently in the works at San Jose where talking to faculty. Need to first know who the speakers are then will approach the appropriate departments.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScRC5ILA2K4CW6jKEuDO7XrXsI33lMozRy0Mx3D0CkL2nOKlA/viewform

  • Guest speaker – How to and questions to ask during your interview for an industry job
    • Ali Khaledi Nasab

Ali was a postdoc at Stanford and recently transitioned to industry. Started as a physicists, then computational, then neuroscientist related to Parkinsons disease. Had previously talked to 23 and me. Now senior data scientist. Faculty job did not sound appealing. Can deliver something in a clinic in 2-3 years. Not so much just trying to publish the next paper. Recommends if been in a postdoc for 2-3 years then is a good time to reach out. Ali is happy to talk and can reach out to him. Important to consider things that are important to you (ex. Family, vacation time ect..). Do a good amount of research, look at everyone you’re going to talk too and their backgrounds. Need to have people to like you in the company. Know your value and start the negotiations at the first call. Don’t take an offer less that $130-140K. Some companies also give you stock options, know what this means and whether the numbers are good. More structured time allocation for work hours. Have a BATNA (what is the best alternative that your have?). ZOPA (Zone of potential agreement), what is the number that would want? Ali is happy to meet in private about numbers and ranges. 

Tim: Maybe part of reason for lack of diversity in academia is the pay and hours. How did you make the shift to industry? A lot of the big discoveries happen in Industry, not as much money for science in academia. Money is also important. How do you get to know the people before hand in an interview? Look at Lindken as a tip, ask to have a convo about the company. Talked to VPs at different companies, just off the record. Make friends online. Can look at the Stanford connections at the company of interest. 

Rohini: At what stage do you bring up VISA status/ need a sponsorship? Can ask a recruiter at the very beginning. Can also reach out to people on Lindkn in that company and ask them. Can ask at the beginning.  What is the best process to apply to jobs? The best thing is to have a reference. Can create job alerts. Best to establish a connection. Sent out a few applications and spent a lot of time on each of them. 

  • Council Member Elections/Renewals
    • Vimala Bharadwaj

Vimala voted in for re-election- 12 yes

  • Upcoming events
    • April Happy Hour- April 20th- 5pm in Alway Courtyard with DYP
    • April OPA/SURPAS Meeting
    • April Council Meeting: Thursday April 28th 11:30am- Sophie Klepner from OPA will be here