Graduate Student Professional Development Opportunities
During your graduate training, it is essential to spend time preparing for your career whether it be in academia, industry, government, or non-profit. Below is a curated list of current opportunities that will help you hone the skills you need to land your dream job. Let us know if you would like to add your opportunities to the list.
Career Clubs
The mission of the career clubs is to foster an all-inclusive culture and infrastructure for trainee-led groups that focus on specific career tracks to enhance training and career success.
Science Communication & Policy
The Science Communication & Policy Career Club provides leadership opportunities, hosts workshops to learn new skills, and creates opportunities to gain in-field experience to enhance the communication bridge between researchers, the public, and policy stakeholders.
Academia Career Club
Supports trainees (graduate students and postdocs) that wish to follow an academic career path by spearheading professional development workshops, promoting networking with like-minded peers, and creating a platform for leadership opportunities.
Science With You (SWU)
SWU offers 1 on 1 mentorship for Utah public school students by pairing them with a STEM graduate student mentor from the University of Utah. This mentorship allows students to get advice from scientists working and studying in the same field as their science fair project, inspiring students to pursue their interests in STEM while allowing graduate students the chance to gain mentorship experience and make a positive impact on the Utah community.
BioHive Student Chapter
A student group that hosts activities and workshops on Professional Development, Networking, and Outreach within the field of biotech. Topics may include clinical research, entrepreneurship, and science & technology policy.
Opportunities for Career Development
Internship Program
The internship program will place students who are interested in careers in industry and entrepreneurship in an 8-10 weeks internship at local biotechnology companies.
Interested PhD students can apply to the internship program in the Spring for placements in the Summer. Please reach out to the Biomedical Research Education Office for more information on the application process.
STEM Ambassador Program
The STEM Ambassador Program (STEMAP) is a science communication and public engagement training program established with funding from the National Science Foundation. STEMAP trainees participate in a series of five workshops over a semester to design, implement, and evaluate a public engagement project.
DASL Science Communication
The goal of DASL is to enhance written and oral communication skills of scientists. DASL hosts a three-part workshop series on written communication, verbal communication, and science policy each year. You must apply for the workshop.
Questions? Email rebekah.nicholson@utah.edu
U Career Success
U Career Success is a centralized career development program run by the University of Utah. They offer free headshots, resume reviews, and more.
Graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education
Program coursework includes: Teaching in Higher Education, Cyber Pedagogy, Equitable Teaching in Higher Education, Practicum in Teaching, and electives.
Applications for Fall 2024 coming soon. For questions, please email cte@utah.edu.
Engineering Entrepreneurship Program
Offers engineering students the opportunity for hands-on innovation experience as well as a strong foundation in the business aspects of technology. Courses are also available on a certificate basis for those students completing all certificate requirements.
Applications are accepted at any time during the academic year. Apply here.
Science Communication Fellowship
The Science Communication Fellows Program provides training to scientists and researchers to improve their science communication, especially in an informal science education setting.
SACNAS
SACNAS is an all-inclusive community dedicated to supporting broad representation in STEM fields. We aim to provide a holistic approach to STEM training by organizing opportunities for professional development, cultural programming, resilience training, and a pipeline of support and mentoring within a national network.