Welcome

The annual Ph.D. Career Conference at UC San Diego (UCSD) highlights pragmatic career opportunities for current UCSD doctoral students represented by the successful careers of Ph.D.s in different fields who found their niche in academia and beyond.

Why Attend?

 

“Going on the Market” during the current dire economic circumstances presents daunting challenges and uncharted territory for Ph.D.s.  If you are a 1st or 8th+-year doctoral student interested in an academic career, one beyond academia, or are unsure which career path is right for you, join us to learn from the experts (individuals doing what you aspire to do) about the true breadth of career options available to Ph.D.s.

President’s Message

Dear Fellow Doctoral Students,

On behalf of the Graduate Student Association, welcome to the second annual Ph.D. Career Conference website.  This event continues this year in response to student concerns about post-graduate career paths expressed in the first Graduate and Professional Student Experience and Satisfaction Survey (GPSES), now completed over four years ago.

Students like yourselves let us know through that survey that while many of you will pursue non-academic careers, a relatively small effort to inform students of the options available at that time left them wanting for guidance. We hope to satisfy those desires through this conference.

With faculty hiring freezes all over the world, and stimulus funding inflating the number of post-doctoral opportunities, the run for career academic positions is longer and harsher than ever.  For those of us who choose that path, there will be panels of faculty and post-docs to tell their tales and techniques for finishing that race. We aim to provide you with knowledge: of the opportunities before you and how to prime yourself to keep those opportunities open while completing your Ph.D. so that you can choose the right path.  In the next few hours, comments from our speakers: Graduate Studies Dean Kim Barrett, Professor Seth Cohen ("Beyond the Ivory Tower") various professional panelists, and our keynote performance by Dr. Tim Lee will help prepare you for this journey and help reveal the numerous choices your education gives you.

Best of luck to you all,

Alexander Nevil Tronchin-James
President, Graduate Student Association at UC San Diego