Career Development

A variety of seminars, workshops, and other events occur each day at Penn State that are related to enhancing professional development and learning about the many career pathways available to students who are pursuing their Ph.D. degrees in the sciences. At the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, we compile these opportunities into a centralized location so that our students can better identify all of the options that are available. These are sent out in a weekly email newsletter and are added to the Google calendar below.

If you know of any events that should be added to this calendar, would like to be added to the weekly email list, or would like to propose a new event idea, please contact the Huck Graduate Student Advisory Committee (HGSAC) at PSU.HGSAC@gmail.com.

Presenting your work at a scientific meeting is very helpful for making connections that can be useful for getting a postdoctoral fellowship. The Huck Institutes can help get you there. Travel Stipends are made possible by the J. Lloyd and Dorothy Foehr Huck Endowment.

Guidelines: The Huck Institutes Travel Stipend Fund is intended to provide travel support for students in our graduate programs that have an accepted abstract or invitation to speak or present a poster at a domestic or international conference.

NOTE: If traveling internationally, all travelers must complete a Global Safety Network (GSN) enrollment and complete the export form in the GSN. They will then receive a confirmation email from the GSN staff prior to departure that all travel forms are complete (including the export compliance form).

Eligibility: Huck graduate students must be in good academic standing. Students are eligible to receive the award twice during their career at Penn State.

Application requirement: All student applicants must submit a request form. The form will be sent to their respective program chairs for review and approval. If the student is approved then the student will receive an electronic approval.

Amounts: Up to $900 for domestic travel and $1,800 for international travel. All travel must be completed prior to your graduation. All expenses and charges must fall within the Penn State Travel Policy.

An individual development plan (IDP) can help to identify career development goals. The journal Science put together an online Science Careers IDP tool called myIDP.

The Huck Institutes graduate education office hosts yearly group sessions to develop and review goals for the myIDP inventory.

Register for an interactive group session using this form

Internships are a great way to combine your science background with other skills. Several opportunities for part-time internships on or near University Park are available.

Office for Innovation Graduate Internship

This year-long internship is available to students working in labs within the Eberly College of Science. The intern works half-time in their lab and half-time with the office. The position involves working with faculty members on intellectual property development, and on organizing and running meetings with the Technology Advisory Board. Visit the Office for Innovation website to learn more.

This is an opportunity to develop your teaching skills, and have some recognition of this commitment. Some of the requirements of the certificate overlap with those of MCIBS. For example, the certificate requires a TA training course, and all MCIBS students take this their first semester. For information about how to complete the certificate go to the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School web site.

Throughout the year students will have the opportunity to hear and meet with speakers who have used their science background in different ways. Speakers will include intellectual property lawyers and scientists at biotech companies. Click here for a searchable list of career programs, events, and fairs at Penn State.