Texas rodeo competition

Today I leave for Houston, to attend the seventh annual meeting – hootenanny, as they say in Texas – of the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA), so there will be no international scientist profiled this week. I will, however, do my best to pick up some Texas slang.

The NPA is a professional, nonprofit organization whose goal is to enhance the quality of the postdoctoral experience in the United States. Scientists from all over the world come here for research fellowships, and the NPA advocates on behalf of non-U.S. postdoctoral fellows as well. Two international officers lead the group’s efforts to support international postdocs. For example, through the NPA, non-U.S. postdocs receive discounted legal fees for visa and immigration issues.

I’m attending this meeting for personal development (I serve on the board of directors), and there won’t be any lectures specifically geared towards international issues; however, people involved in these issues will be attending, including Sam Castañeda, director of the visiting scholar and postdoctoral affairs program at the University of California in Berkeley. Castaneda is also involved with NAFSA: Association of International Educators. We’ve howdied, but we ain’t shook yet. (This is Texas slang for “We met briefly but have not been formally introduced or had a meaningful conversation.”)

I hope to speak with him at the meeting and learn more about the international postdoc experience. What would you like me to ask him about?

I’ll leave y’all with a bit of unrelated Texas wisdom: There are three kinds of people – the ones who learn by reading, the few who learn by observation, and the rest who have to touch the fire to see for themselves if it’s really hot.