2025 Chicagoland STEM Postdoc Readiness Initiative
Northwestern University, the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), and the University of Chicago (UChicago) are excited to announce that registration is now open for the fifth annual Chicagoland STEM Postdoc Readiness Initiative! We are writing to ask you to share this opportunity with your STEM grad students and postdocs.
About the Initiative
The programming will be held virtually on Friday, November 7, 2025. Sessions will include:
- “Demystifying the Postdoc Search: From Finding a Position to Negotiating an Offer to Making the Most of Your Postdoc Experience”
- Overviews of the postdoc programs at Northwestern, UIC, and UChicago
- “AI and Your Job Search”
- “Ask a Postdoc” panel discussion
This is a collaborative initiative among the three largest research universities in the Chicago area (UChicago, UIC, and Northwestern). Our goals are to explain the postdoctoral recruitment and hiring process and empower prospective postdocs to make career decisions that reflect their individual goals and needs.
This virtual event is open to all, but will be most useful for:
- Advanced PhD students (i.e. those who have passed their qualifying exam or are post-candidacy by the time the event takes place)
- Recent PhD graduates (i.e. those who have received their doctoral degree within the past 4-5 years)
- Early-career postdoctoral scholars (i.e. those who have no more than 2-3 years of postdoctoral experience)
Registration
Registration is now open. The deadline to register is Friday, October 31.
Questions
To learn more about the initiative and participating schools, please visit our website. If you have questions, please email chicago.postdoc.recruit@gmail.com. Thank you for your help in spreading the word!