Senior-Junior Meeting

PODC 2020 features a senior-junior meeting, a valuable mentoring experience providing the opportunity for junior people to engage with senior people in their research area. In this way, junior people are given the chance to talk with senior people, receive advice and support, and get informed about how a senior researcher would cope with situations that may be of interest.

PODC 2020 Senior-Junior meetings will take place in the following four slots:

  • Tuesday, August 4, at 14:00-14:55 CEST [08:00-08:55 EDT] (before talks)
  • Tuesday, August 4, at 19:05 -20:00 CEST [13:05-14:00 EDT] (after talks)
  • Wednesday, August 5, at 14:00 – 14:55 CEST [08:00-08:55 EDT] (before talks)
  • Wednesday, August 5, at 19:05-20:00 CEST [13:05-14:00 EDT] (after talks)

Individuals can sign up via this Google sheet. To do so, please follow the instructions below. Note that there is no strict definition of seniors and juniors but the following might be of help:
Junior = undergrad/grad/postdoc, Senior = permanent job

Instructions for Senior Persons interested in meeting with junior people

  1. Seniors have to click the link above (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UElxqVq0rwaVayO0smmh42fAX7YdSc149j-VYlCrZW8/edit?usp=sharing) to access the excel sheet where they can declare their availability.
  2. There are four tabs in the excel sheet, one for each of the four slots that the Senior-Junior Meeting event will take place (see above).
  3. Seniors should fill in their names in the first column. They have to add their information according to their availability. Specifically, for each of the tabs that correspond to their availability, they have to fill in their name and their email address in the leftmost green cell (column A: Senior Person) of the first empty row. They could add a new (colorful) row if necessary.
  4. Seniors are responsible for logistically coordinating the meeting according to instructions that will be provided after sign-ups close. They are also responsible for choosing conversation topics and initiating a discussion with juniors. Also, it would be good to be prepared with some mentoring advice in case their junior group (four persons) is not so active.
  5. Although the slots are of predetermined duration, a senior may go on as long as s/he desires, if his/her group is highly engaged.

Instructions for Junior Persons

  1. Juniors have to click the link above (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UElxqVq0rwaVayO0smmh42fAX7YdSc149j-VYlCrZW8/edit?usp=sharing) to access the excel sheet where they can declare their desired senior person.
  2. Every junior should fill in his/her name and email address in the same row (i.e. in a free colorful cell of the row) as the senior person s/he would like to talk to.
  3. S/he should not put her/his name in an empty row. If there are no rows with space, s/he should check back later to see if more senior people appear in the sheet.
  4. Juniors should respect the rule that each junior group consists of at most four juniors. So, juniors should not put their name in a row which contains already four names of junior people. If they find a senior person’s group full but are still interested in talking, they should consider emailing him/her.
  5. Juniors should not add columns or delete other people.
  6. During the meeting, juniors should be prepared to ask questions and get valuable mentoring.

We would like to thank Gautam Kamat for valuable feedback. Gautam organized the Senior-Junior Lunch event in STOC 2020, from which this event was inspired.