Career Development Seminars

Career development includes curating your skills, talents, and experiences while exploring what futures are possible for you. To support the career development goals of graduate student and postdoctoral trainees, GPS provides a variety of online, in-person, and hybrid workshops and seminars to our community year-round. 

Note

Looking for a snapshot of all our upcoming GPS events? Visit our Current Events page to see what's next on our calendar!

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Career Exploration Series

Discover some of the many paths available to you as a biomedical trainee with insights from recent graduates from UMN and invited experts from a variety of roles in and out of academia. Topics for the current year include:

  • Session 1: Sep 23, 2025 | 1 - 2pm CT | Science Writing and Communication
  • Session 2: Nov 12, 2025 | 1 - 2pm CT | Clinical Research| Registration coming soon!
  • Session 3:  Jan 15, 2026 | 1 - 2pm CT | Administration| Registration coming soon!
  • Session 4: Mar 26, 2026 | 12 - 1pm CT | Intellectual Property| Registration coming 2026

Career Exploration Seminars are typically offered online via Zoom. All UMN graduate students and postdocs are welcome to attend. 

How to Be a PI Series

Learn from experienced faculty about aspects of being a Principal Investigator (PI) and running your own lab. Topics for the current year include:

  • Session 1: Nov 11, 2025 | 11am - 12pm CT | Building Your Dream Team: Recruiting, Hiring & Onboarding with Dr. Darko Bosnakovski | Read more and register here!
  • Session 2: Jan 22, 2026 | 12 - 1pm CT | Mentoring & Lab Culture with Dr. Jürgen Konczak | Read more and register here!
  • Session 3:  TBD | Spring 2026
  • Session 4: TBD | Spring/Summer 2026

How to be a PI seminars are typically offered online via Zoom. All UMN graduate students and postdocs are welcome to attend. 

“How to Be a P.I.” title graphic with pill-shaped tags: Recruiting, Mentoring, Writing, Budgeting, Strategy, Culture, Vision; UMN block M logo.
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Grant "How-To" Series

Invited speakers from across the University of Minnesota Medical School's centers, programs, and institutes weigh in on different stages of the grant-writing process. Planned topics for the current year include:

  • Session 1: Nov 19, 2025 | 12 - 1pm CT | How to: Create a Novel & Impactful Research Topic with Dr. Wei Chen| Read more and register here!
  • Session 2: Jan 21, 2026 | 12 - 1pm CT | How To: Write a Winning Specific Aims Page and Research Strategy with Dr. Kaylee Schwertfeger | Read more and register here!
  • Session 3:  TBD | Spring 2026

Grant "How-To" seminars are typically offered in hybrid format via Zoom. All UMN graduate students and postdocs are welcome to attend.