Postdoctoral support a priority for new dean of The Graduate School

Being a postdoctoral researcher is hard. It can be an isolating experience, because it's challenging to find a sense of community.

New Graduate School Dean Terrence Deak, right, is making a special effort to support postdoctoral researchers at Binghamton University. Image Credit: Raissa Bellucci '24.

Simply put, a postdoc is between the completion of doctoral studies and full-time employment in industry or academia, in the hopes of receiving additional training to prepare them for their desired career. It can take anywhere from a few months to several years.

For the first time, Binghamton University celebrated National Postdoc Appreciation Week, which falls in mid-September. The new dean of the Graduate School, Terrence Deak, hosted a breakfast for the approximately 50 postdocs at Binghamton, as well as their faculty mentors.

"This was an opportunity for them to network and meet people outside of their specific area of training," Deak said.

He said the event, attended by President Harvey Stenger and Provost Donald Hall, was a success, and it was encouraging to see people from different fields connecting with each other.

Postdoctoral researcher Fenghua Guo, who is conducting research regarding lithium batteries, attended the breakfast.

"It was great," Guo said. "Not only getting to know other postdocs, but also having the chance to talk to junior faculty members who were postdocs not too long ago and listening to their thoughts on how a postdoc experience helped them."

Going forward, with a concerted effort to offer support to postdocs in his tenure, Deak has many events planned, including mentorship training workshops and seminars that will be available to graduate students, postdocs and faculty members.

"It's really about trying to put the final polish on postdocs' background and experience to help them become the faculty and industry professionals of the future," Deak said.

One of the challenges has been developing a listserv for postdocs on campus, since Binghamton has not had a centralized plan for supporting postdocs in the past. All new postdocs can now reach out directly to the Graduate School to gain access to resources and support for their career and professional development.

The market for recruiting postdocs to a university is stiff, but Deak envisions Binghamton becoming a premier spot for postdoctoral scholars in the future.

Graduate Council members are examining Graduate School postdoc policies to ensure that they are meeting modern needs. They are also in discussions about developing a new excellence award for postdoctoral research and scholarship. The Graduate School is making an effort to support postdocs in their pursuit of independent fellowships.

Why should someone become a postdoctoral researcher at Binghamton University?

"There are many reasons to come here," Deak said. "First of all, we are large enough to have a great research infrastructure, but we're also small enough for them to get outstanding mentorship. I believe the quality of mentorship that we can provide is at least on par with if not far better than what you would get at a larger institution."

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