Your 2016-17 FSPA officers are, from left: Kanika Sachdev, Wesley Gohn, Sebastian Aderhold, Rui An, Monica Nunes, Jessica Esquivel. Photo: Reidar Hahn
The Fermilab Students and Postdoc Association (FSPA) saw a change of guard earlier this month. As one of the elected officers, allow me to say on behalf of FSPA how pleased we are to be able to serve the early-career scientist community for 2016-17.
The newly elected FSPA officers are: Monica Nunes, a graduate student from Campinas State University working on LArIAT, but you might remember her as an expert grill master at the Brazilian barbecue at Kuhn Barn earlier this year; Rui An, a graduate student from IIT working on MicroBooNE; Jessica Esquivel, a graduate student from Syracuse University working on MicroBooNE and LArIAT; Wes Gohn, a postdoc from University of Kentucky working on Muon g-2; and Kanika Sachdev (that’s me!), a Fermilab postdoc working on NOvA and the short-baseline neutrino program.
Sebastian Aderhold, who served as an FSPA officer from 2015-2016, will stay on as an officer for the coming year to provide continuity and help smooth the transition for the FSPA leadership.
As your FSPA officers, we facilitate communication between the upper management and the student and postdoc body at Fermilab. We also strive to create a friendly and thriving community of young researchers by organizing social events. This year, we’re excited to build upon the excellent work of the previous officers and expand on the role that FSPA serves. We’re keen to organize events and workshop focused on career development. At a university, students and postdocs often get to participate in career development events, and we hope to make more of such opportunities available at the lab as well.
But of course, since it’s October, we’re busying ourselves organizing the Halloween Party on Oct. 28 at 6:30 pm at Kuhn Barn. This is a family-friendly event, and all are welcome to attend! Those attending are highly encouraged to come in costume.
If you have any questions or comments for us, please feel free to drop us a line at fspa_officers@fnal.gov
Kanika Sachdev is a Fermilab postdoc working on the NOvA experiment.