The Steering Committee is a group of postdoctoral scholars who regularly take part in meetings, events, and interact with the officers of the UMN-PDA. The Steering Committee are the postdoctoral scholars responsible for shaping postdoctoral policy at the University of Minnesota. Officers are voted on annually and can serve up to three years.

Any postdoc can become a member of the Steering Committee simply by notifying the PDA and showing up for meetings (in person or virtually).

Minutes of all Steering Committee meetings are publicly available.

Interested in volunteering with the PDA? Please fill out this form to express your specific interests.

Click here to review the PDA's By-Laws, which include a description of each leadership position's roles and responsibilities.

Communications Committee

Co-Chairs: 

Katherine (Kat) Li, PhD; School of Public Health, Biostatistics & Health Data Science

Heather Cihak, PhD; Department of Mathematics, Center for Educational Programs

Members:

contact pda@umn.edu to join

Policy & Advocacy Committee

Chair: 

Vacant - contact pda@umn.edu to join

International Affairs Chairs: 

Vacant - contact pda@umn.edu to join

Members:

Ankit Sood, PhD; Department of Neuroscience

Social Committee

Chair:

Ryan Abdella, PhD; Department of Biochemistry

Members: 

Megan Freiler, PhD; Department of Ecology

Saarik Kalia, PhD; Department of Physics

Xing He, PhD; Department of Physics

Career Development Committee

Chair:

Jeremiah Morrow, PhD; Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences 

Previous PDA Officers