Berkeley Lab – UC Berkeley Postdoc Career Symposium

Registration is now open for the 2026 Postdoc Career Development Symposium taking place on Friday, July 17, 2026, at the UC Berkeley Pauley Ballroom. Click HERE to register on Eventbrite. Registration will close by Monday, July 13, 2026.

The Postdoc Development Career Symposium is FREE for Berkeley Lab Postdocs and UC Berkeley Postdocs, Visiting Scholars, and Visiting Student Researchers.
Shuttle Services will be provided from Berkeley Lab Building 65 to Bancroft & Telegraph (next to CAL Student Union) from 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM.

Career Symposium Agenda

Location: MLK Student Union, UC Berkeley
Date: Friday, July 17
Main Locations:

Session A: West Pauley Ballroom
Session B: East Pauley Ballroom
Session C: Stephens Lounge
Shared Events: West Pauley Ballroom, 3rd Floor Lobby, Patio Outside Pauley Ballroom

Morning Activities (Shared Events)

Time	Event	Location
9:00 AM	Registration Opens	3rd Floor Lobby
	Headshot Appointments	East Pauley Ballroom
10:00 AM	Opening Remarks Speaker to be announced.	West Pauley Ballroom
10:15 AM	Keynote: “AI and the Future of Work” Ali Douraghy, Head of Special Projects, Frontier AI Affairs, Google DeepMind	West Pauley Ballroom
10:15 AM	Collaboration Lounge Stop by our “Collaboration Lounge” throughout the day for drop-in, small-group office hours with career coaches. Bring a quick, timely question (“How should I approach the networking lunch?” “Which session do you think I should attend?”) or get referrals to more resources. Speakers and sponsors may also be available for informal conversations. Coaches available from 10:15-11:15: May Wilson, Assistant Director, Berkeley Career Engagement Daniel Shaw, Associate Director, Berkeley Career Engagement	Stephens Lounge

Break – 11:15–11:30 AM

Concurrent Sessions Block 1 – 11:30–12:30 PM

Session A – West Pauley Ballroom

Company Pitches

Hear brief lightning talks from Career Symposium sponsors about what it’s like to work in their organizations, and the types of opportunities available for postdocs.

Session B – East Pauley Ballroom

“Fundamentals of Academic Job Market Success”

Dr. Daniel Olson-Bang, Director, Graduate School Professional and Career Development, Syracuse University

How to prepare for and stand out in a faculty job search, including preparing application materials for different kinds of faculty positions.

Session C – Stephens Lounge

Collaboration Lounge

Coaches available from 11:30-12:30:

Daniel Shaw, Associate Director, Berkeley Career Engagement

Nicolas Gattig, Communication Coach

Stop by our “Collaboration Lounge” throughout the day for drop-in, small-group office hours with career coaches. Bring a quick, timely question (“How should I approach the networking lunch?” “Which session do you think I should attend?”) or get referrals to more resources.

Speakers and sponsors may also be available for informal conversations.

Lunch – 12:30–1:30 PM

Session A – West Pauley Ballroom

Open Lunch Seating

Session B – East Pauley Ballroom

Themed Lunch Tables

Network informally with other postdocs, postdoc alumni, and Career Symposium sponsors over lunch. Each table will have a facilitator to keep the conversation flowing. No presentations, just an opportunity to connect with others who have shared interests!

Industry Research Careers (Non-biotech) – Sponsored by Lam Research
Engineering & Data Careers – Sponsored by Qnity
National Labs and Government Research – Sponsored by Sandia National Laboratories
Consulting and Business Strategy – Sponsored by Exponent
Biotech Careers
Startups and Entrepreneurship
Navigating Careers as an International Postdoc
Career Paths for Humanities and Social Science PhDs

Concurrent Sessions Block 2 – 1:30 PM–2:30 PM

Session A – West Pauley Ballroom

Workshop: “Job Search Strategy in the Age of AI”

Shirin Frederich, Principal Talent Acquisition Partner 1, Calico

Hector Mendoza, R&D Computational/Experimental Thermal Researcher, Sandia National Lab

Linda Louie, Career Development Program Manager, Berkeley Lab

Rosanne Lurie, Director, QB3-Berkeley Graduate & Postdoc Career Development

May Wilson, Assistant Director for Graduate Student Employer Engagement

How is AI changing job applications, and how should your job search strategy change in response? Get actionable tips from recruiters and other experts.

Session B – East Pauley Ballroom

Panel: “Careers in Biotech”

Ishan Deshpande, Principal Scientist & Group Leader, Genentech

Sara Gushgari-Doyle, Associate Director of Strain Development, ZymoChem

Naresh Sunkara, Founder, Nostalgic Foods

Rishi De-Kayne, Scientist, Arcadia Science

Hear from postdoc alumni who have made the leap to industry about how they got their foot in the door, and what the day-to-day is really like.

Session C – Stephens Lounge

Collaboration Lounge

Coaches available from 1:30-2:30:

Bill Lindstaedt, Career Consultant STEM PhD Career Development

Nicolas Gattig, Communication Coach

Speakers and sponsors may also be available for informal conversations.

Break – 2:30–2:45 PM

Concurrent Sessions Block 3 – 2:45–4:00 PM

Session A – West Pauley Ballroom

Workshop: “Interviewing for Industry Jobs: Strategies for Responding to the Most Common Questions”

Bill Lindstaedt, Career Consultant, STEM PhD Career Development

This interactive workshop will offer a general overview of the principles of effective interviewing that are applicable to any field, as well as resources and further suggestions for preparing for interviews in industry. Speakers and sponsor to be announced.

Session B – East Pauley Ballroom

Panel: “Engineering & Data Careers”

Justin Ondry, Sr. Process Engineer, Lam Research

Terri Lin, Process Engineer, Tesla

Valerie Boctor, Research Data Scientist, Google

Beichen Zhang, Climate Data Scientist, BlackRock

Erwin Lau, Principal Engineer, Exponent.

Hear from postdoc alumni working in engineering and data fields and learn how to prepare for careers like these.

Session C – Stephens Lounge

Collaboration Lounge

Coaches available from 2:45-4:00:

Daniel Olson-Bang, Academic Career Consultant