The Columbia University Individual Development Plan (IDP) Program

The following online sources can help you explore different career paths: 

• Science Careers: STEM-focused blogs
• Beyond the Professoriate: Focuses on non-faculty careers (choose "Columbia University - Postdocs" and log in using your UNI credentials)

If you would like to participate in the Columbia IDP Program to receive a Certificate of Completion, please make sure to complete the following steps. Note: It is not required to do this in order to attend the workshops affiliated with the IDP program.

1. Once you have developed your IDP, please print or save a copy of the completed IDP. (The Print option on your web browser may allow you to save your IDP as a PDF.)
2. Using information from your completed IDP, answer the Columbia IDP Submission Form. This form will not be shared with your PI or Faculty Adviser (unless you specifically request this).
3. Attend at least three IDP seminars, workshops, or networking panels throughout the academic year.

Please consider sharing feedback about your experience in the program by completing the Columbia IDP Program Evaluation Form. The evaluation is strictly anonymous and will be used to assist in understanding the effectiveness of the Columbia IDP Program, and the career and professional development needs of graduate students and Postdocs at Columbia University. 

2023-2024 IDP Program Summary

Managing Your Career - Introduction to IDP: This workshop is designed to help you set and achieve specific career goals. Speaker (on-demand webinar): Anna Womack, PhD

Humble PhD/Postdoc - Overcoming Common Career Challenges: In this virtual workshop, you will learn how to focus on and improve upon what you have control over in the present. You will learn to recognize common mistakes that often derail the career paths of students and postdocs. By recognizing these mistakes, you will learn to maximize your potential and pave a path for a happy and successful career. Speaker: Tom Magaldi, PhD

Making Your Message Clear - Strategies for Delivering Your Research: This 2-hour intensive workshop is designed to attain real results for international postdocs/PhD students in order to produce clear messages when discussing and presenting their research. They will engage in practice activities that promote clear pronunciation of numbers and vocabulary key to their particular research. Speaker: Mallory Fix Lopez, MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and BS in History Education

Career Development Seminar: This is a series of 11 seminars on careers of interest to CUIMC trainees. Sessions will feature invited speakers, each with a Ph.D. in biomedical science. Students and postdocs can drop in for one or more sessions. Career fields covered include biotech and pharmaceutical R&D, consulting, government and nonprofit organization, and more. Speakers: Various professionals across fields

SMART Goal Setting Workshop: The start of a new year often prompts people to re-evaluate and establish goals related to personal and professional development. This workshop can help you establish goals in a way that sets you up for success! Participants will evaluate personal and professional goals, learn the SMART goal formula, and create achievable goals. Speaker: Sam Samel, EdM

Building Career Connections - Networking for Your Job Search: People land jobs through people. In this webinar we’ll explore what that means to you and give you practical tips that you can use now to continue to strengthen and build your career connections. We’ll help you to understand types of networking and their value, how to share your "story," whether to network via social media, and more. Speaker: Sabrina Woods, MA in Holistic Counseling

Building Career Connections - Informational Interviews: Informational interviewing helps to build connections, gain information, and uncover new career possibilities. In this workshop we’ll explore how to find people to talk with, what to write when making “the ask," research to do before the meeting, what to share about yourself, and questions to ask, among other related topics. Speaker: Sabrina Woods, MA in Holistic Counseling

The 2023-2024 program of events was co-sponsored by Columbia Engineering, the Coordinated Doctoral Programs in Biomedical Science at VP&S, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, and the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and Early Career Research.

2022-2023 IDP Program Summary

Professional Development on a Postdoc/PhD's Schedule: Professional development is the process of gaining important skills and experience that will help advance your career. Sometimes this involves developing skills that are not immediately relevant to your research. However, the pressure to publish your research or graduate on time can make professional development appear to be a luxury. Come to this talk to develop methods for pursing professional development opportunities that do not interfere with your academic priorities. In this workshop, Dr. Tom Magaldi will share his perspective and practical ideas about how you can do this in a way that is conducive to your academic goals and schedule.

Cultivating Leadership Skills During Your PhD and Postdoc: This seminar focuses on the various ways that leadership skills can be developed during graduate school or a postdoctoral program. The webinar will start with an overview of leadership skills and which ones are important for researchers to develop. Then, it will look at tangible examples for how to develop these skills as you perform your research. This webinar will focus not only on leadership in the context of leading collaborations, people, and projects, but will also cover leadership skills in the context of  inspiring others through your work, effectively engaging others through collaborative projects, effectively communicating to different audiences, being able to build rapport and understanding what motivates people you work with and how to manage the ups and down of research.  This webinar will also cover the importance of being self-aware and how this ties into leadership so that you can engage with others who complement your experiences and background to make your work even more effective.

Creating and Sustaining Your Mentoring Network: Columbia's postdocs and PhD students are invited to join this event that delves into developing a mentoring network. In this reflective workshop, participants will develop a deep understanding of how mentoring can help advance their professional and career goals. The workshop covers how to develop a mentoring network, including identifying one’s areas of mentoring needs, understanding the distinctions among different types of mentoring roles, identifying and approaching potential mentors, setting mentoring relationship expectations, and navigating challenges in mentoring relationships.

Participants will leave the workshop with:

• a prioritized list of their own most important areas of mentoring need
• a map of their own ideal mentoring network
• concrete strategies for developing and sustaining their mentoring network
• a conversation guide to approach potential mentors and initiate initial mentoring conversations

Managing Imposter Fears: No matter where you are in your career trajectory, you may have experienced imposter fears, or the feeling that you are not deserving of your accomplishments. Imposter fears are highly common in professional settings, particularly among high achieving individuals, and can lead to self-doubt, burnout, and/or missed opportunities. However, there are steps you can take to prevent the symptoms of imposter fears from hindering your career development. In this workshop, you will learn about imposter fears and where they can come from, identify situations that may trigger thoughts and feelings related to imposter fears, and learn strategies to help manage experiences of imposter fears.

Panel: Careers in Tech: The Columbia University Individual Development Plan (IDP) program is designed to help participants recognize the importance of managing one’s own career, develop strategies to help with career management, and comprehend the purpose and value of an IDP. Join a panel of UX Designers as they share their journey and discuss industry trends. 

Presenters: 

Alon Grinshpoon, Echo3d
John Kratz, California Digital Library
Ashley Ruba, Meta

Panel: Careers in Patent Law: The Columbia University Individual Development Plan (IDP) program is designed to help participants recognize the importance of managing one’s own career, develop strategies to help with career management, and comprehend the purpose and value of an IDP. Our presenters share their journey and discuss the necessary skills to succeed in this hot and every growing area. 

Presenters: 

Adrienne Cohen, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Benjamin Dach, Loeb & Loeb LLP
Iva Dincheva, WilmerHale LLP

Panel: Careers in Academia: 

The Columbia University Individual Development Plan (IDP) program is designed to help participants recognize the importance of managing one’s own career, develop strategies to help with career management, and comprehend the purpose and value of an IDP. Are you contemplating a career in academia? Meet & greet faculty from various colleges and find out about higher education hiring trends in the U.S. and abroad. 

Presenters: 

Humberto Ballesteros, Hostos Community College - CUNY
Melissa Campbell, University of California San Diego 
Wright Kennedy, University of South Carolina
Abigail MacBain, University of Edinburgh 

Moderator: 

Sherida M. de Leeuw
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
Taub Institute

2021-2022 IDP Program Summary

Self-Assessment Series: The Self-Assessment Series is designed to encourage you become more self-aware of your career interests, skills, and values, and to then help you interpret and apply this information to your career exploration and development. This series of workshops will introduce you to various self-assessment tools, including myIDP, ImaginePhD, and the Strong Interest Inventory (note: we are planning to announce a Winter workshop focused on the Strong Interest Inventory; stay tuned for updates). Attending these workshops will help you determine your unique professional skill set and preferences; how to seek career paths and opportunities that align with your interests, identity and values; and how to build and market your transferable skills.

• Managing Your Career: Introduction to IDP
  • This workshop will help you develop a plan to identify and work towards your overall career goals. Through completion of the myIDP or ImaginePhD assessment, you will gain insight into your current skills, interests, and values. Using this information, the Managing Your Career Workshop will help you identify goals related to building career related knowledge and gaining useful skills to help you reach your career goals.
• Integrating Values & Identity Into Your Career Development
  • In this workshop, you will reflect on your identity and professional values and learn how to integrate them into your career exploration and job search. The presentation will focus on questions you can ask yourself — as well as strategies and resources you can utilize — to determine whether you are pursuing a path or a job that aligns well with your identity and values. Note: This event is relevant to those in STEM, Social Sciences, and Humanities fields.
• How to Evaluate, Build, and Highlight Transferable and Relevant Career Skills
  • This seminar, led by Lauren Celano of Propel Careers, will provide insight on how to evaluate transferable skills and which skills are valued in various careers, including both research and non-research-focused roles. Through this seminar, Propel will highlight common non‐scientific skills that scientists can build while performing research and will demonstrate ways to apply these to desired career paths. Propel will provide guidance on how to package scientific and non‐scientific skills on LinkedIn and resumes, in cover letters, and during interviews. Note: This event is relevant to those in STEM, Social Sciences, and Humanities fields.
• Where Do I Go Next? Strong Interest Inventory Assessment and Workshop
  • When choosing a career path, it is important to consider how your personality and interests might align with certain professions. The Strong Interest Inventory (SII) assessment is a career-planning tool that measures your interests over several categories, such as academic interests, work, and leisure activities, then matches them to various careers and work environments that could be a good fit. Register for the SII workshop to complete the assessment and receive results from a Certified Strong Practitioner that will help you to identify potential career paths.

Career Exploration Seminars and Workshops: The Exploring Careers seminars and workshops are designed to enhance your exploration and knowledge of various career paths. From the Career Development Seminar — which is taught by industry professionals and exposes you to a range of fields (including government and nonprofits, publishing/science reporting, consulting, and equity research/intellectual properties) — to the STEM Strategic Career Planning workshop, which focuses on careers outside of academia available to STEM graduates, these events will equip you with new information about specific career paths to help guide your future career pursuits and decisions. Note: we are planning to announce a Winter event dedicated to career exploration for Humanities and Social Science PhDs; stay tuned for updates.

• Career Development Course
  • Explore various career options, network and learn what a 'day in the life' looks like from industry professionals in a variety of popular PhD fields. This Career Development course, organized by the Office of Graduate Affairs, explores a different career field in each session, with each session run by industry professionals. 
• STEM Strategic Career Planning Part One
  • Graduate students and postdocs often don’t start thinking about their job search until towards the end of their education or training. Due to time constraints, their career planning then often lacks a strategic perspective and sufficient preparation which can result in missed dream-job opportunities. This workshop, led by Josh Henkin of STEM Career Services, starts by introducing a strategic approach to building career skills and planning for career success as early as possible during academic training to enhance and build a professional reputation. Attendees will be introduced to career assessments they can immediately utilize to identify their professional skills, interests, and values. Attendees will also learn about strategies and tools to use in their search for novel careers, as well as techniques to pinpoint career passions to guide career decisions.
• PhD Pathways: Career Exploration - STEM Careers
  • Are you considering your post-PhD or post-Postdoc job prospects, but feeling unsure of your options? Join GSAS Compass, the Office of Graduate Career Development, for a STEM-specific career exploration workshop that will introduce self-assessment tools, career planning strategies, and job search resources to help you research and explore a range of career paths and feel more prepared for life after Columbia. These sessions are appropriate for PhD students or Postdocs in any stage of their program or training. 
• PhD Pathways: Career Exploration - Social Sciences & Humanities
  • Are you considering your post-PhD or post-Postdoc job prospects, but feeling unsure of your options? Join GSAS Compass, the Office of Graduate Career Development, for a Humanities and Social Sciences-specific career exploration workshop that will introduce self-assessment tools, career planning strategies, and job search resources to help you research and explore a range of career paths and feel more prepared for life after Columbia. These sessions are appropriate for PhD students or Postdocs in any stage of their program or training. 

Skill-Building Workshops: The Skill Building workshops are designed to aid you in developing a range of soft skills that will benefit you throughout your career. Attending these sessions will allow you to reflect on and hone your skills as an advocate in the workplace and as a successful negotiator, and will also help you build skills necessary to maintain boundaries, self-care, and emotional wellness alongside the job search process. Note: we are planning to announce Winter and Spring Skill Building events focused on salary negotiations and balancing your job search with self-care, as well as a speed mentoring event.

• Fostering Advocacy to Support Culture Change
  • Often unspoken rules and power dynamics act as derailers within professional settings such as labs, lab group meetings, departments, conferences, or networking events. These derailers can cause anxiety and plant the seeds of doubt within our minds that reinforce imposter syndrome. Stress inducing situations like these impact our problem-solving abilities and erode our confidence. Research has shown that toxic environments or environments that lack support impact the individual’s ability to bring their full self to their work, resulting in a lack of commitment and motivation. Faced with the persistence of these stressors and tensions in our daily life, how do we create an environment that provides psychological safety and supports a growth mindset? In this workshop we will use case study models as scenarios to understand how you can develop tools to be an influential advocate(s) towards creating a psychological safety environment.
• Flourishing During Job Searches
  • In this 90-minute interactive workshop led by Brandy Simula, PhD, participants will develop individualized strategies for flourishing during job searches, including for traditional faculty positions as well as diverse careers in and beyond the academy. The workshop will cover how to develop and hold effective boundaries around intellectual and emotional job search labor, strategic management of the job search process, and how to balance a job search with research and teaching, personal and family commitments, and self-care. Participants will leave the workshop with a personalized plan for combating job search-related stress and uncertainty, a map of their job search support network, and strategies for navigating the job market during a global health pandemic and the resulting economic downturn.

Career Planning Workshops & Resources: The Career Planning tools and workshops are designed to help you put your career-related knowledge and skills into practice. These components of the IDP program will encourage you to be intentional as you set and work toward career goals and will equip you with concrete tools and strategies that facilitate successful career planning.

• Important Worksheets: Career planning worksheet & PI mentor worksheet
• STEM Strategic Career Planning Part Two: Designing Your Career and Your Skills to Match
  • Building on knowledge gained from attending “The Universe of Careers Outside of Academia Available to STEM Graduates,” trainees will have an opportunity to identify, test, and validate skills gaps for desirable careers. This workshop, led by Josh Henkin of STEM Career Services, will introduce principles of Design Thinking and apply them to career exploration and development. Attendees will participate in exercises designed to help them become competitive candidates by broadening their perspectives on career choices, understanding which skills are needed to get the jobs they seek, and learning how to develop those skills during their academic training. By attending this workshop and applying the techniques discussed, attendees will be able to increase the likelihood of being a top candidate for the positions they seek upon completion of their academic training.
• SMART Goal-Setting Workshop
  • The start of a new year often prompts people to re-evaluate and establish goals related to personal and professional development. This workshop can help you establish goals in a way that sets you up for success! Join us for a goal-setting workshop in which participants will evaluate personal and professional goals, learn the SMART goal formula, and create achievable goals.

Spring 2022 Career Panels: These panels are a great way to learn what a 'day in the life' looks like for PhDs in various career sectors and provide an opportunity to network with the panelists.

• Higher Education Administration
  • Join us for a career panel focused on careers in higher education administration! Attendees will have the chance to hear from administrators in a broad range of roles across Columbia. 

Featured panelists:

• Rachel Bernard – Director of Graduate Career Development at Columbia's Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
• Chiara Bertipaglia – Director of Scientific Programs at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute
• Roger Lefort – Assistant Director for Research Integrity and Research Compliance and Training at Columbia 
• Kwame Osei-Sarfo – Director, Bridge to the PhD Program in STEM at Columbia Engineering
• Ericka Peterson – Executive Director of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at Columbia

• Careers in Consulting
  • The March Panel will be held on Consulting Careers. Attendees will have the chance to hear and learn from panelists in a range of consulting roles.

Featured panelists:

• Seoeun Lee, PhD – Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
• Zach Lamport, PhD – Scientific Consultant at Exponent
• Ola Jacunski, PhD – Freelance Consultant 

• Careers in Academia
  • Join us for a career panel focused on careers in academia! Attendees will have the chance to hear and learn from faculty panelists from a range of disciplines.

Featured panelists:

• Holly Hunsberger, PhD – Assistant Professor, Foundational Sciences and Humanities, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
• Irvin Hunt, PhD – Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
• Edward Twomey, PhD – Assistant Professor, Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Johns Hopkins Medicine

2020-2021 IDP Program Summary

• Managing Your Career: Introduction to IDP
  • This workshop will help you develop a plan to identify and work towards your overall career goals. Through completion of the myIDP or ImaginePhD assessment, you will gain insight into your current skills, interests, and values. Using this information, the Managing Your Career Workshop will help you identify goals related to building career related knowledge and gaining useful skills to help you reach your career goals.
• Career Development Seminar
  • The seminar course is designed to help students and postdocs navigate the world after the PhD, with a focus on Biomedical PhDs. The Fall 2020 course explores various career sectors that are common for PhDs.
• STEM Strategic Careers Planning Workshops
  • The two-part STEM Strategic Careers Planning Workshop Series will take place on October 27th and 29th. The workshops will cover careers outside of academia, and how to harness skills as a STEM graduate to land those careers.
  • Speaker: Josh Henkin, PhD
  • Workshop 1: The Universe of Careers Outside of Academia Available to STEM Graduates
    • This workshop starts by introducing a strategic approach to building career skills and planning for career success as early as possible during academic training to enhance and build a professional reputation
  • Workshop 2: Designing Your Career and Skills to Match
    • This workshop will introduce principles of Design Thinking and apply them to career exploration and development. Attendees will participate in exercises designed to help them become competitive candidates by broadening their perspectives on career choices, understanding which skills are needed to get the jobs they seek, and learning how to develop those skills during their academic training.

• Difficult Conversations
  • In this two-part series, you will examine how conversations become difficult when the stakes are high, emotions escalate and you fear damage to relationship or other negative consequences. You will explore how to decide whether or not to engage in a difficult conversation, how to look for a beneficial purpose to frame a conversation more helpfully, as well as how to stop falling into the trap of avoiding difficult conversations that really matter.
  • Instructor: Jessica Notini
• Job Talks Series
  • A series of 3 informal job talks offering insight into career paths in Medical Communications, Government and Tech Ventures.
• Career Panels
  • February 2021: Industry Career Panel
    • Panelists:

      •  Tomer Granot, PhD Immunologist, Immunai

      • Neha Raghavan, PhD Senior Scientist, Merck

      • Jeff Strong, PhD Scientist I, AIR Worldwide

      • Jami Jackson Mulgrave, PhD Research Scientist, FacebookResearch Scientist, Facebook

• • March 2021: Consulting career panel
    • Panelists:
      • Onur Cakmak, PhD: Consultant, Life Sciences Strategy at IQVIA
      • Andrea Westervelt, PhD: Associate Consultant, McKinsey & Company
      • Troels Rahbek-Clemmensen, PhD: Consultant, Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
  • April 2021: Academia career panel
    • Panelists:
      • Shreya Saxena, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
        University of Florida
      •  Nur Zeinomar, PhD MPH, Instructor of Medicine
        Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
      • Pierre Billon, PhD, Assistant Professor
        Genetics & Development
        University of Calgary
      • Aubrey Gabel, Assistant Professor
        Dept. of French and Romance Philology
        Columbia University

2019-2020 IDP Program Summary

The 2019 program commenced with a Managing Your Career: Introduction to IDP, followed by What Can You Be with a PhD? conference, a SciPhD: Preparing for Professional Careers course, a Job Talk series and three career panels:

• Managing Your Career: Introduction to IDP
  • This workshop will help you develop a plan to identify and work towards your overall career goals. Through completion of the myIDP or ImaginePhD assessment, you will gain insight into your current skills, interests, and values. Using this information, the Managing Your Career Workshop will help you identify goals related to building career related knowledge and gaining useful skills to help you reach your career goals.
• What Can You Be with a PhD?
  • What Can You Be with a PhD? (WCUB) is the largest PhD career symposium in the country. The symposium has over 25 different career path sessions and professional development workshops featuring 90 speakers over the course of two days.
• SciPhD: Preparing for Professional Careers
  • Being competitive and successful as a professional scientist, regardless of whether in an industry or academic setting requires mastery of scientific, business and social skills. Running an effective laboratory operation is like running a small business, and can benefit from apply­ing best practices that have been developed by industry. In “Preparing for Professional Careers”, we will look at how scientific/technical skills combined with business skills and social skills make up the three identities that define a personal brand. The same competencies that industry requires in order to be successful are equally important in developing and co-existing in a high-performing team in academic settings.
• Job Talks Series
  • A series of 3 informal job talks offering insight into career paths in patent law, science diplomacy, and consulting.
• Career Panels
  • February 2020: Startups career panel
    • Panelists:
      • Jennifer Perusini, PhD: Co-founder and CEO at Neurovation Labs, Inc
      • Eric Vieira, PhD: Director of Strategic Collaborations at Columbia Engineering
      • Camille Delebecque, PhD: Co-founder and CEO of Afineur, Biotech Entrepreneur
      • Yukie Takabatake, PhD: Principal Scientist, Yesse Technologies, Inc.
  • April 2020: Industry career panel
    • Panelists:
      • Jennifer Chambers, PhD: Senior Scientist II, Education and Outreach at Schrodinger
      • Elena Dukhovlinova, PhD: Senior Scientist, CAR T manufacturing at Janssen
      • Vesna Tosic, PhD: Investor Relations at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc
      • Steven Vasquez-Grinnell, PhD: Research Investigator, Translational Bioinformatics at Bristol-Myers Squibb
      • Jesse Brann, PhD: Senior Scientist at Firmenich
• • June 2020: Academia career panel
    • Panelists:
      • Aditya Dutta, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal & Food Sciences, University of Delaware
      • Eugene Wu, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Computer Science, Columbia University
      • Jenny Robinson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Kansas - School of Engineering
      • Mariam Aly, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Columbia University
      • Vianney Gimenez-Pinto, Ph.D.: Assistant Professor of Physics and Chemistry in the Department of Science, Technology and Mathematics , Lincoln University

2018 IDP Program Summary

The following text may be used in NIH grant progress reports for trainees participating in the 2018 Columbia University IDP program:

The Columbia University Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate Program at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the School of Nursing and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences co-sponsor an annual program to assist NIH-funded graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with the implementation of Individual Development Plans (IDPs).

The 2018 program commenced with a Managing Your Career: Introduction to IDP, followed by a Leadership Series, a Business Concepts for Scientists course, a Lab Dynamics: Essential Skills for Scientists, Managers, and Leaders workshop and three career panels:

• October 2018: Leadership Series. This series was designed to help postdocs build skills relevant for a leadership role, whether that be in industry, academia, or another area! Topics covered in this series included understanding your own personality preferences through the MBTI, identifying and working with various interpersonal styles, getting results through effective delegation, how to have difficult conversations and deliver effective feedback, and how to persuade others.
• November 2018: Business Concepts for Scientists: This course, developed by UCSF, iBiology, and Washington University, is designed to enhance PhD scientists’ understanding of foundational business concepts. This business coursework is unique because it is designed to prepare scientists for career transitions into both academic and non-academic settings. The course topics include business strategy, business development, strategic collaborations, strategy toolkits, and finance.
• January 2019: Lab Dynamics: Essential Skills for Scientists, Managers, and Leaders. Dr. Carl Cohen from Science Management Associates offered his Lab Dynamics: Essential Skills for Scientists, Managers, and Leaders workshop as part of the IDP series. This workshop focused on developing critical skill sets scientists interested in positions in academia or industry. This full day workshop was comprised of two sessions: Difficult Conversations in the Research Workplace: Fundamentals of Negotiation and Leading Scientific Teams and Project Meetings
   

Following the IDP seminar series, a monthly career panel and networking reception will allow trainees to learn about a variety of career opportunities both within and beyond academia. Postdoctoral researchers may also join peer mentoring groups to discuss their IDPs, career goals, and career exploration activities, and to receive support and feedback from their peers.

2017 IDP Program Summary

The following text may be used in NIH grant progress reports for trainees participating in the 2017 Columbia University IDP program:

The Columbia University Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate Program at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the School of Nursing and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences co-sponsor an annual program to assist NIH-funded graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with the implementation of Individual Development Plans (IDPs).

The 2017 program commenced with a webinar, followed by a day-long workshop on IDPs, and four career panels:

• September 2017: Importance of career management, how to conduct a self-assessment, the significance of an IDP, best practices for developing an IDP, goal setting, and how to discuss an IDP with a mentor (led by Rory Flinn, Director of Graduate Student Professional Development at Worcester Polytechnic Institute)

• October 2017: Defining differences between academic science and the "Business of Science", exploring career opportunities; identifying industry values and requirements, building and marketing your personal brand, experiencing advanced communications, salary negotiation, networking, interview preparation, faculty mentor career discussions (led by SciPhD)

Program participants provide elements of their IDPs to their Graduate School or the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs to ensure compliance, and are strongly encouraged to share portions of their IDPs with their faculty mentors.

Following the IDP seminar series, a monthly career panel and networking reception will allow trainees to learn about a variety of career opportunities both within and beyond academia. Postdoctoral researchers may also join peer mentoring groups to discuss their IDPs, career goals, and career exploration activities, and to receive support and feedback from their peers.

2016 IDP Program Summary

The following text may be used in NIH grant progress reports for trainees participating in the 2016 Columbia University IDP program:

The Columbia University Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate Program at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences co-sponsor an annual program to assist NIH-funded graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with the implementation of Individual Development Plans (IDPs).

The 2016 program commenced with a three-part seminar series on IDPs:

• September 2016: Importance of career management, how to conduct a self-assessment, the significance of an IDP, best practices for developing an IDP, goal setting, and how to discuss an IDP with a mentor (led by Rory Flinn, Columbia University)
• September 2016: Differences between academia and industry, networking, informational interviews, and strategies for an effective job search (led by Dave Jensen, Founder and Managing Director for CTI Executive Search and writer for "Tooling Up" column for the journal Science)
• September/October 2016: Transferable skills, career exploration, career options for PhDs, and personal branding (led by Victoria Blodgett, Assistant Dean, Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs at University of Connecticut)

Program participants provide elements of their IDPs to their Graduate School or the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs to ensure compliance, and are strongly encouraged to share portions of their IDPs with their faculty mentors.

Following the IDP seminar series, a monthly career panel and networking reception will allow trainees to learn about a variety of career opportunities both within and beyond academia. Postdoctoral researchers may also join peer mentoring groups to discuss their IDPs, career goals, and career exploration activities, and to receive support and feedback from their peers.

2015 IDP Program Summary

The following text may be used in NIH grant progress reports for trainees that had previously participated in the 2015 Columbia University IDP program:

The Columbia University Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate Program at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Sciences co-sponsor an annual program to assist NIH-funded graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with the implementation of Individual Development Plans (IDPs).

The 2015 program commenced with a three-part seminar series on IDPs:

• October 2015: The importance of career management, how to conduct a self-assessment, the significance of an IDP, and best practices for developing an IDP (led by Philip Clifford, University of Illinois at Chicago)
• October 2015: Putting one's science to work, career exploration, networking, informational interviews, and identifying career mentors (led by Peter Fiske, CEO Pax Water Technologies, Inc.)
• November 2015: formulating goals and implementing an IDP (led by Keith Micoli, NYU School of Medicine)

In addition, an optional workshop assisted trainees in the completion of an IDP. Program participants provide elements of their IDPs to their Graduate School or the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs to ensure compliance, and are encouraged to share portions of their IDPs with their faculty mentors.

Following the IDP seminar series, a monthly career panel and networking reception will allow trainees to learn about a variety of career opportunities both within and beyond academia. Postdoctoral researchers may also join peer mentoring groups to discuss their IDPs, career goals, and career exploration activities, and to receive support and feedback from their peers.

2014 IDP Program Summary

The following text may be used in NIH grant progress reports for trainees that had previously participated in the 2014 Columbia University IDP program:

In 2014 The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University co-sponsored an annual program to assist NIH-funded graduate students and postdoctoral researchers with the implementation of Individual Development Plans (IDPs).

The 2014 program featured a three-part seminar series on IDPs:

• August 2014: The importance of career management, how to conduct a self-assessment, the significance of an IDP, and best practices for developing an IDP (led by Cynthia Fuhrmann, University of Massachusetts Medical School)
• September 2014: Career exploration, formulating career goals, and implementing an IDP (led by Keith Micoli, NYU School of Medicine)
• September 2014: The importance of networking, effective networking strategies, the value of informational interviews, and how to conduct an informational interview (led by Melanie Sinche, Harvard University)

In addition, an optional workshop was held to assist trainees in the completion of an IDP. Program participants provided elements of their IDPs to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs to ensure compliance, and were encouraged to share portions of their IDPs with their faculty mentors.

Following the IDP seminar series, six career panel sessions were held to allow trainees the opportunity to learn about a variety of career opportunities both within and beyond academia. Postdoctoral researchers also had the opportunity to join peer mentoring groups to discuss their IDPs, career goals, and career exploration activities, and to receive support and feedback from their peers.

This program is a collaboration between Columbia Engineering, the Coordinated Doctoral Programs in Biomedical Sciences at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and Early Career Research.

Contact information for graduate students:

• Columbia Engineering (Alexis Moore, MPA): [email protected]
• Coordinated Doctoral Programs in Biomedical Sciences at VP&S (Yinghui Mao, PhD): [email protected]
• Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Rachel Bernard, PhD): [email protected]

Contact information for Postdoctoral researchers, scholars, and scientists:

• Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and Early Career Research (Rosa Chavarro, MA): [email protected]

For general inquiries, please contact the Columbia University IDP Committee at:

• [email protected]

The Columbia University IDP Program is open to all graduate students and Postdoctoral researchers, scholars, and scientists who are interested in learning more about themselves and taking charge of their career goals.

The program was initially designed for NIH-funded PhD students in the third and fourth year of training and Postdocs in the first two years of training. However, the program serves all graduate students and Postdocs, including NIH-funded or NSF-funded individuals.

Over the past several years there has been an increasing focus from grant funding agencies on assessing and improving graduate student and postdoctoral training. One leading example has been provided by the NIH, which commissioned a working group to specifically look at the current state of the biomedical workforce and the current training model. The working group generated a widely-read report which concluded that significant improvements were needed in biomedical graduate and postdoctoral training in order for biomedical research careers to remain a desirable career path in the future. The working group formulated a series of recommendations aimed at addressing areas needing significant and immediate attention. Many of these recommendations were adopted by the NIH in an implementation strategy to be fully in place by 2015. One of the specific changes was a call for all NIH-funded graduate students and Postdocs, regardless of funding mechanism, to develop and utilize Individual Development Plans (IDPs).

See: Revised Policy: Descriptions on the Use of Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Researchers Required in Annual Progress Reports beginning October 1, 2014 

On March 22, 2024, the NSF announced important updates to the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 24-1) taking effect May 20, 2024. In accordance with Section 10313 (42 U.S.C. § 18993) of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, for each NSF award that provides substantial support to postdoctoral scholars and graduate students, each individual must have an Individual Development Plan, which is updated annually, that maps the educational goals, career exploration, and professional development of the individual. NSF defines “substantial support” as an individual that has received one person month or more during the annual reporting period under the NSF award. See also Chapter VII.D.1.b (iv) below for certification requirements.

See: Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 24-1)

You can create an IDP that is relevant to your discipline by clicking the links below and following the prompts.

ImaginePhD to access the free online self-assessment, career planning, and exploration tool for Humanities and Social Sciences Postdocs and PhDs.

MyIDP to access the free online self-assessment, career planning, and exploration tool for STEM Postdocs and PhDs.

ChemIDP to access the free career planning tool for Chemical Scientists. 

An IDP is a recommended tool for all graduate students and Postdocs interested in career exploration and planning. 

However, IDPs may be required for graduate students and Postdocs depending on their funding source. If you are a recipient of NSF or NIH funding, please check with your PI, Faculty Adviser, or Director of Financial Aid to determine if your funding requires you to file an IDP annually.