Apr 09, 2025

Postdoctoral training series assists scholars seeking fellowships

Three free sessions cover funding mechanisms, strategies for crafting effective proposals, and feedback to strengthen current fellowship applications.

Emily Van Syoc, second-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Research Service Award (NRSA) postdoctoral fellow, knows from experience how overwhelming it can be to navigate federal funding mechanisms and fellowship proposal processes. That’s why she is leading the three-part Postdoctoral Fellowships Training Series, which helps early career scientists identify their strengths, learn tips and tricks, and find fellowship options available to them.

“This series of three workshops was created to inform doctoral students and postdocs about what options are out there, how to navigate the funding landscape and how to craft a successful proposal,” Van Syoc said. “Each session covers a different topic aimed at helping the attendees learn strategies that they can use from one fellowship proposal to the next.”

Attendees from the first session learned the basics of what fellowships and funding mechanisms are, as well as a general overview of the types of strategies that will be taught throughout the rest of the series. Dr. Karen Kemirembe, assistant director of foundation relations, also spoke to fellowships at private foundations and how they differ from traditional fellowships.

"The workshop was incredibly insightful and offered practical advice for navigating the application process,” said Amenda Rizk, doctoral candidate in Timothy C. Meredith’s, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, lab. “Hearing directly from someone with firsthand experience was especially valuable as I prepare to embark on the same journey.”

Vyankatesh Zambare, doctoral candidate in Professor of Biology Charles Anderson’s lab, also attended the first session. “The postdoctoral fellowship training workshop was very insightful,” he said. “I learned various fellowship resources which I was not aware of earlier and also an overview of tactics to approach a successful fellowship application. It is nice to have these resources at our disposal and professional help to set us up for success.”

The second session will offer a deep dive into strategies that attendees can learn when going into the proposal process.

“Though the series is built specifically around the NIH F32 postdoctoral fellowship — a three-year fellowship in the biomedical health domain funded by NIH — I want to encourage all of the life sciences postdocs to take these strategies and use them for a variety of proposals,” Van Syoc added.

At the session, which is more interactive than the first, she will present real-world examples of successful and not-so-successful proposals, panel review feedback and how to anticipate reviewer feedback and strategize accordingly.

“I broke this session down, from my own experience, into three categories: yourself as the candidate, how you work with your mentor, and the training environment or institution,” Van Syoc said. “The attendees will learn how to strategize each of those areas for a successful review process.”

This second training session of the series will take place on Monday, April 14, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the third-floor commons area of the Millenium Science Complex at Penn State University Park. Registration is required and attendance at the first session is not required.

The last session in the series, titled “Bring Your Own Fellowship,” is scheduled for May 5 from 2 to 4 p.m. Attendees can bring in any ideas to be crafted into proposals or proposal drafts at any stage to have reviewed for feedback.

“Attendees can also work to strategize future funding plans,” said Van Syoc, who has been at Penn State for six years. She said this series has already shown her that there is a lot of interest among he postdoc community in learning what the fellowship process is like from direct experience.

“It is fairly difficult to navigate where the funding mechanisms are and how to apply for fellowships,” she said. “Gaining funding is more competitive and there is a hunger from the trainees to learn what makes them stand out and how to push forward in the process. I am successful in writing fellowships because of the mentorships I have had through my advisors in the Huck Institutes. This is something that I wanted to pay forward, and through the fantastic synergy of Huck and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, we were able to put together this program.”

“Postdoctoral scholars are key drivers of collaboration and innovation at the Huck Institutes,” said Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor and director of the Huck Institutes. “These budding researcher scientists are primed to both apply their knowledge to new questions and expand their skills and research into new fields. We are excited to have this opportunity to provide them with highly practical and relevant professional development experiences like this series of workshops.”

Van Syoc works directly with Seth Bordenstein, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Endowed Chair in Microbiome Sciences, professor of biology and entomology, and director of the One Health Microbiome Center. The series could not be possible without the help of the Huck Institutes, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, the Office of Foundation Relations and the One Health Microbiome Center.

Register for the Postdoctoral Fellowships Training Series on the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs website. Refreshments will be served at in-person sessions.