Past Workshops

Professional Skills Development Workshops

Workshop Title: Connecting with Success: A Workshop on Networking

Date/Time: June 23, 2022, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. ET

Midhat FarooqMeghan Anzelc

As Head of Data and Analytics, a global and firm-wide role, Dr. Meghan Anzelc is responsible for building and implementing a strategy and roadmap to advance thedata and analytics capabilities at Spencer Stuart. She works with colleagues across the firm to understand their challenges and the potential opportunities for data and analytics to have a positive impact on the organization and on Spencer Stuart’s products and services for the firm’s clients.

Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, Dr. Anzelc held a number of leadership roles in data and analytics in the insurance industry, most recently serving as chief analytics officer for AXIS Capital. Dr. Anzelc holds a Master’s and PhD in Physics from Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s in Physics from Loyola University Chicago.

Midhat Farooq is a seniors careers program manager at the American Physical Society. Within this role, she develops career and professional development programs and resources for students and early career physicists. Midhat's favorite part of her role is interacting with students and staying connected to the physics community.

Midhat holds a PhD in physics from the University of Michigan, where her research focused on building an optical magnetometer for a particle physics experiment.

Abstract: Building a network that spans employment sectors is essential to finding a job. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about the importance of networking, classify different types of connections, formulate goals for networking, and identify potential contacts to cultivate their networks. Attendees will also practice how to initiate a networking conversation and conduct an informational interview, and participants will walk away with concrete next steps to build their own networking plan.


Workshop Title: Career Paths in Physics: Effective Strategies for Non-Academic Physics Careers

Date/Time: June 16, 2022, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. ET

Crystal BaileyDr. Crystal Bailey is the head of career programs at the American Physical Society (APS) in College Park, MD. Crystal works on several projects which are geared towards marketing physics and physics career information to high school students, undergraduates, graduate students and physics professionals. Some of her principal projects include the career events and workshops at APS annual and division meetings, the APS Job Board and Job Fairs, the APS Careers Website, and the recently launched Success in Industry Careers Webinar series. Through efforts like the APS PIPELINE project, Crystal also works to promote the integration of meaningful workforce development into undergraduate physics education, and to broaden awareness of, and interest in, non-academic physics careers. Before coming to the APS, Dr. Bailey did research in nuclear physics at Indiana University, Bloomington in the area of few-body systems. In 2008 she received the Konopinski Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching from the IU Physics Department. She graduated with her PhD from IU in 2009.

Abstract: Physics students graduate with a huge array of transferable skills, which are extremely useful to employers (particularly in the private sector, which is the largest employment base of physicists at all degree levels). However, the key to successfully connecting with these opportunities lies in how well graduates are able to communicate their skills and abilities to potential employers. In this workshop, we will learn about some of the many opportunities that exist besides the “familiar” academic path, and explore how to effectively represent your skills, knowledge, and strengths to employers in those non-academic fields.


Workshop Title: Advocacy to Bring Cultural Change

Date/Time: June 9, 2022, 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. ET

Callie Pruitt 2021 photoCallie Pruett is a seasoned advocacy manager, policy professional, and political strategist with a decade of experience in campaign design, as well as nonprofit lobbying, policy, advocacy, and strategy.

Callie is the senior advisor to the Ruben Ramirez for Congress campaign in the TX-15th Congressional District - the only district expected to be competitive in Texas in the 2022 campaign cycle. She is the executive director of Appalachians for Appalachia—an independent, research-focused advocacy nonprofit. She is the Co-Host of the wildly successful podcast Appodlachia. Finally, she is the founder and principal of Politicary, her own political consultancy.

Callie is the former senior strategist for grassroots advocacy for the American Physical Society (APS). She is also the former lead strategist and manager of the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction in partnership with Princeton University and the Carnegie Corporation.

Callie has a degree in the sociology of social inequality from Appalachian State University, and her graduate work is in human rights from Southern Methodist University.

Callie is a mom to three special needs animals: Hubble, Geordi, and Frankie. She is a certified static line parachutist with the Liberty Jump Team and has jumped the D Day 75th Anniversary in Normandy, France, and is one of the only civilian women to ever jump National Airborne Day at Fort Benning. Callie has also served as a refugee family mentor through International Rescue Committee’s refugee mentor program.

Abstract: What does it mean to be an advocate? How can you be seen, heard, and taken seriously without losing your internal compass or cutting out parts of what makes you who you are? From advocating for yourself to advocating for issues, we'll explore the fundamental principles of advocacy that we can incorporate into our own lives. In this session, we will dive into the power of storytelling, tapping into your authentic self, and how to establish yourself as a leader in your community.
 

Workshop Title: So You Have a Great Idea – What Next?

Date/Time: May 25, 2022 at 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. ET

RankinPatricia Rankin is the Chair of the Arizona State University Physics Department. Previously she was a Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder. She received her BSc and PhD from Imperial College London and after starting her career in experimental particle physics, shifted her focus to how to encourage broader participation in the sciences. She was the principal investigator for CU Boulder’s NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant. She is especially interested in enabling effective team approaches to the complex grand challenge problems (like climate change) that need a multidisciplinary approach and researchers with broad perspectives. She is working to promote better mentoring and to encourage scientists to develop broad competencies by adding skills such as negotiation to their traditional discipline-based learning. She has held a variety of administrative roles including being a program officer at the US National Science Foundation, and the Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences and Associate Vice Chancellor for Research positions at CU Boulder. She recently chaired the American Physical Society’s (APS) Committee on the Status of Women in Physics and is currently an “at large” member of the executive committee of the Four Corners Section of the APS.

Abstract: Persuading people to support your research is key to helping you stand out from the crowd and get the opportunities you need to move forward in your career. Making the best case you can for funding in a written proposal requires a variety of skills ranging from an ability to communicate your ideas and plans to accomplish the work clearly and convincingly, through a willingness to compromise to match available resources. This workshop will discuss common pitfalls to avoid in proposal writing and how to make your proposal stronger by taking advantage of your network to read and comment on your proposal before submission. We will discuss ways to look for weaknesses in your approach (like procrastination) and brainstorm ways to improve your proposal writing in general.
 

Workshop Title: Strategic Negotiation Skills for Women

Date/Time: December 9, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. ET

Kristen Burson

Kristen Burson is an Assistant professor at Hamilton College. She is an experimental condensed matter physicist whose research group focuses on studies of organic photovoltaics and the atomic structure of 2D glasses using surface science techniques. Burson has also served on the American Physical Society committee for the status of women in physics (CSWP). Burson earned her bachelor's degree from Gustavus Adolphus College and her PhD in physics from the University of Maryland-College Park. She conducted her postdoctoral research at the Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Plank Society in Berlin, Germany through an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship award.

Abstract

This interactive seminar will help physics graduate students develop and practice professional skills that people need to effectively perform research and thrive in physics, including how to:

  • Negotiate a job offer
  • Interact positively on teams with a mentor of advisor
  • Think tactically
  • Develop alliances
  • Achieve professional goals

Participants will engage with case studies to practice strategic negotiation skills. The broad goal of these seminars is to help women in physics develop these skills, as these are critically important skills for underrepresented groups. As such, women students are especially encouraged to attend, as the workshop will highlight issues women face more frequently. However, the workshop should be useful to all and is open to all students.

The activities within AGL are open to individuals who do not identify as cisgender men. We encourage participation of cisgender women, gender non-binary individuals, and transgender individuals. 

Heising-Simons Foundation