Opportunities From: Argonne National Laboratory

The Postdoc Research Slam is a competition where contestants are challenged to present a compelling three-minute presentation of their research in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. The competition will be judged by a diverse panel of Argonne staff and leaders.

To enter the slam, postdocs must submit a 3-minute video of their presentation. Volunteers will be assigned no more than 10 videos to review and provide feedback that the postdocs can use to refine their presentation for the final slam competition. In the event that we have more than 14 submissions, reviewers will provide a score that can be used to down-select to a group of finalists who will compete in the live Postdoc Research Slam at the end of July.

The initial review is expected to take place from May 4 - June 12th. This will include viewing your assigned videos, submitting a score sheet and attending a wrap-up meeting to agree upon this year's finalists.

Reviewers will be provided guidance, a spreadsheet with guiding questions and if needed, a score sheet. You do not need to have a STEM background, but strong presentation skills are recommended to provide effective feedback to the postdocs. We may meet once or twice as a group to go over guidance and to discuss the video submissions.

The role of the Postdoc Research Slam Mentor is to work with a postdoc one-on-one to provide feedback and help them prepare for the Postdoc Research Slam, to be held the last week in July. Mentors will be provided resources, guidance and opportunities to connect.

Mentors do not have to be an expert in the postdoc's scientific domain. We are looking for people with good communication and feedback skills who can spot a great talk to a broad audience.

Mentors can expect to support postdocs from June 15th - July 30th. Mentors and postdocs will schedule their own sessions and will be invited to group practice sessions in July to allow postdocs to prepare for the final competition.

See more about the slam at https://my.anl.gov/hrs/postdoc-research-slam.

The Outstanding Postdoctoral Performance Awards are awarded annually to postdocs who have shown leadership and excellence in applied or engineering research and basic research. Nominations are submitted by Argonne staff in the form of an essay communicating the impact and leadership of the nominee's work, as well as demonstration of the lab's core values.

Experienced Argonne research staff and leaders are invited to serve on the review team for the 2026 awards cycle. The deadline for nominations is July 10th, which means the review activities are expected to take place in late July and early August. Reviewers will be provided a packet of nominations that have been scrubbed of identifying information, detailed instructions and scoring rubric. Teams will meet to discuss the rankings and decide on a final ranking. Nominations remain anonymous until awardees are confirmed. We aim to have at least 5 reviewers per nomination.