Annual Postdoctoral Research Exhibition: An Exercise in Science Communication
Since 2008, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs on campus has organized and coordinated the Postdoctoral Research Exhibition on campus. This event, a showcase of research conducted by postdocs at the University, is an opportunity for postdocs to present their research in poster format and be judged by their fellow postdoc peers.
“The research exhibition is a showcase of the research being done by postdocs across University Park, but also an exercise of science communication,” said Pallavi Eswara, program coordinator in the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. “Postdoc presenters are presenting their research to people outside their expertise and have to learn to communicate their science effectively.”
Postdocs help Eswara to organize and judge the event. This year, 27 postdocs judged the work of 32 postdoc presenters. For the last four years, the exhibition has given prizes for the top-performing postdocs at the exhibition. The first place winner this year took home $500, the second-place winners received $300, and the third-place winners $100.
Two of the three third-place winners, Sarah Rajtmajer and Marta Tomaszkiewic, are from the Eberly College of Science.
Rajtmejer presented her research, titled “An Evolutionary Game Model for the Spread of Noncooperative Behavior on Social Networks and Associated Longitudinal Effects on Global Network Topology.”
“It was wonderful to see what other postdocs are doing throughout the University, and to have the opportunity to share my work as well,” said Rajtmajer. “I had some thoughtful conversations with postdocs and faculty from various departments about the relationship between my research and their own fields of interest.”
Tomaszkiewic’s research poster was titled “Comparative Analysis of the Hominine Y Chromosome Genomes.”
“It was a very enriching experience sharing my research with my peers at Penn State and explaining my everyday work to postdocs from different fields,” she said.
Eswara has worked hard to build events like this in her work with the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, to provide a sense of community and also professional career-building events for postdocs. She is succeeding, according to Rajtmajer and Tomaszkiewic.
“The Postdoc Exhibition gives a sense of community to postdocs at the University as well as an opportunity to engage with faculty and administrators,” said Rajtmajer.
“In the end, science is an interdisciplinary field and we need people from different scientific areas to be familiar about all the studies being performed at Penn State to build new connections, collaborations, and social networks,” said Tomaszkiewic.