Launch your career at Seed Central events

Students and postdoctoral researchers can make career connections and build their networks at events hosted by Seed Central, and the next one is coming up at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at the ARC Ballroom on the UC Davis campus. The guest speaker will be Mohsen Mesgaran, an associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences whose research uses biological and technical approaches to manage weeds with fewer chemicals.

Seed Central is a public-private partnership between the university and the seed and agricultural biotechnology industries. “Its purpose is to facilitate communication and research collaboration between industry and campus scientists,” said François Korn, the founder and managing director of the website SeedQuest, which organizes the events.

New to the Seed Central events is the Talents Corner, where students and postdocs can gather to learn about internships and jobs in industry, find company brochures and learn about still more events. Even more important, they can offer their own resumes to the industry representatives who will be there to make exactly those contacts.

Korn added the Talents Corner to the monthly sessions after Matthew Gilbert, an associate professor in the department, noted that students often feel awkward. “Networking events are daunting for most students, and even postdocs, who find it very difficult to approach people they don’t know,” Korn said. “With the Talents Corner, we can say to students, ‘Industry attendees will approach you and strike up a conversation, so you don’t have to.’”

Students and postdocs also can display their research posters, another tactic that invites conversation. A monthly raffle provides students the chance to dine with representatives from companies such as Bayer and BASF, among the Seed Central sponsors.

“We launched the Talents Corner at the March networking event, and our meeting attracted twice the usual number of students and postdocs,” Korn said.

New event features postdocs

Korn also has created a yearly event specifically for postdocs, called Postdoc Panorama. There, postdocs can present their research directly to people in industry through lightning talks and a poster session.

“We launched this event because postdocs tend to keep their noses to the grindstone and stay below the radar of most companies,” Korn said. “Yet for seed and ag biotech companies, today’s postdocs are tomorrow’s valuable new employees or future research partners in academia.

“Postdoc Panorama raises the visibility of postdoctoral researchers and the projects they’re working on.”

More networking opportunities, plus free food!

Seed Central’s monthly, in-person networking events are held on the second Thursday of every month on campus, bringing together industry researchers and managers with campus scientists and students. Events are free, and food and beverages are served. Find details here.

Register here for the May 9 Seed Central networking event, which starts at 4:30 p.m. in the UC Davis ARC Ballroom.

Speakers at future networking events include Department of Plant Sciences former chair Gail Taylor, Seed Biotechnology Center Director Allen van Deynze, and department faculty Richard Michelmore, Blake Meyers, Xiaofei Zhang and Bárbara Blanco-Ulate. More events include visits to companies such as Bayer Vegetable Seeds, East-West Seed Co., KraftHeinz and Corteva.

Other Seed Central events, both in-person and online, allow students and postdocs at universities across the country to meet with companies including Syngenta, HM.Clause, GreenVenus the Morning Star Co., and more. The next online event is May 22, and the series will continue through summer, fall and winter. Get the schedule here.

To present at the next Postdoc Panorama, set for February 2025, contact François Korn at fkorn@seedcentral.org.