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N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative

Professional Development Opportunities

Events and Conferences
Internships and Fellowships
Other Opportunities
Additional Resources

Events and Conferences

2025 N.C. PSI BRIDGE Symposium

N.C. PSI is hosting its 2nd annual BRIDGE Symposium.  Graduate students and postdocs from any department are encouraged to apply. Industry leaders, NC Extension representatives and faculty across the university will be in attendance. This year’s Symposium includes TWO categories of presentations. Prizes will be awarded to the top presenting teams in both categories ($16,000 for 1st place; $800 for 2nd place).

Register by: December 19, 2024
Symposium: February 20, 2025

Learn more and register
BRIDGE Symposium participants standing at the front of a room

Inflection Award

Inflection is the first Award Program dedicated to finding the top young scientists of tomorrow and connecting them with the highest impact opportunities to make their mark on climate change. The award offers a fully funded trip to an exclusive research and networking event in Paris and is open to all current or recently graduated Ph.D. students.

Early Application Deadline: November 1, 2024
Late Application Deadline: December 1, 2024
Event Date: Early March 2025

Learn more and apply 

NC State’e Make-A-Thon

Make-A-Thon is NC State’s sustainability innovation competition. Collaborating in cross-disciplinary teams, students work to create the best solution to a sustainability challenge. Whether it’s about water, waste, energy, transportation or food — that’s up to each team to decide. At the end of the competition, students will pitch their ideas to judges from campus and local companies. And, yes, there are prizes: $4,000 for first place, $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place.

Registration Deadline: January 16, 2025
Event Date: January 23-26, 2025

Learn more and register 

UPSC Early Career Plant Scientist Symposium

Are you getting close to the end of your PhD or have recently completed it? Are you looking to continue in academia and want to shape your future postdoctoral project? Young scientists are invited to participate in this upcoming symposium at Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC).

Date: March 26-27, 2025
Location: Sweden

Learn more and register 

NC State Career Fairs

NC State University offers a number of major career fairs and events across all colleges and disciplines. All NC State career fairs are open to current NC State students and alumni. Most of our career fairs are also open to the public. 

Explore Upcoming Career Fairs 

3rd Annual NC Commodity Conference Graduate Student Poster Competition

Have a graduate student project that impacts agriculture in North Carolina and beyond? This is a great opportunity for graduate students with projects in agriculture (not limited to corn, small grains, cotton, or soybean projects) to engage with NC farmers and agricultural leaders to share the results of your research and get valuable applied feedback on projects moving forward!!
 
Where: Sheraton Imperial Hotel, Durham, NC 27703
When: January 9-10, 2025

Registration Deadline: Friday, January 3, 2025

Learn more and register

Upcoming PSI Events

All PSI Events
Dec 10

Tuesday

N.C. PSI Holiday Party
Feb 20

Thursday2:00 PM

2025 N.C. PSI BRIDGE Symposium

Conferences

35th Annual NC Commodity Conference

January 8-10, 2025
Durham, NC

Read more 

Evoke Ag 2025

February 18-19, 2025
Brisbane, Queensland

Learn more and register 

World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit

March 11-12, 2025
San Francisco, CA

Learn more and register 

Company of Biologists 100 Year Conference

March 24-27, 2025
Liverpool, UK

Learn more and register 

Global Congress on Plant Biology and Biotechnology

March 27-29, 2025
Singapore & Online

Learn more and register 

IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference

April 22-25, 2025
London, UK

Learn more and register 

BioAgTech World

April 23-25, 2025
Delhi, India

Learn more and register 

PNNL’s Predictive Phenomics Conference

April 29-May 1, 2025
Richland, WA

Learn more and register 

Plant Biology 2025

July 26-30, 2025
Milwaukee, WI

Learn more and register 

Centennial Campus Events

Mark your calendars and experience the excitement around Centennial.

Internships and Fellowships

GRAD-AID for Ag: Graduate Training in Translational Convergent Research

The GRAD-AID for Ag program is an interdisciplinary graduate training initiative focused on addressing the global challenges of climate change and food security through innovations in sustainable agriculture. The program brings together students from diverse fields—basic plant biology, applied plant biology, and artificial intelligence (AI)—to develop data-driven solutions that accelerate the transition from lab discoveries to real-world agricultural applications. Open to prospective Ph. D. students and current Ph.D. students in their 1st–3rd year.
Application Deadline: January 17, 2025

Learn more and apply
Faculty and student in lab

NSF I-Corps Program

The I-Corps Program at NC State offers a NSF training program aimed at helping scientists and engineers extend their ideas, research and inventions into the marketplace. This program consists of a four-session course focused on entrepreneurship and exploring the commercial viability of innovations.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Program Dates Vary 
*If accepted, your team will be placed in the next available cohort.
Learn more and apply

Learn more and apply 
Man in a research lab

SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program

Offers STEM students who are currently pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D. a full scholarship, internships, annual stipends, and guaranteed employment with the Department of Defense.

Applications Deadline: December 1 at 5:00 p.m. EST
The SMART Program accepts applications annually from August 1 to December 1.

Learn more and apply 
Oak Ridge National Labs

Student Opportunities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Enhance your expertise and collaborate with many of the nation’s leading science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) experts as you complete your research. Opportunities are available for current undergraduate and graduate students to participate as members of research teams at ORNL. All internships come with a stipend.

Learn more 

NC State LanchPad

NC State Innovation and Entrepreneurship has developed an incubator program to support early-stage undergraduate and graduate student startups.

Learn more and apply

Other Opportunities

N.C. PSI Educational Outreach Opportunities

There are many ways to get involved with the N.C. PSI’s Educational Programs for K-12 students. Whether its developing activities from your research, talking with students about career paths, or getting hands-on in the demo lab, the possibilities are endless. Click the link below to learn about some of the ways you can help out!

Learn More and Volunteer
N.C. PSI graduate students teach high school students how to perform experiments in the Demo Lab.
N.C. PSI graduate students teach high school students in the CAALS 3D program how to perform experiments in the Demo Lab.

Resources

Career resources

The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) Job Board

International and domestic postdoctoral, faculty, research, field technician positions and more are listed for those interested in plant science careers.

Visit 

Plantae’s Career Center

Search for jobs, internships and mentorships in the US and abroad across a variety of industries and types of institutions.

Visit 

Ag Career Job Board

Search by sector, specialty and career type for job opportunities in every stage of the food system.

Visit 

National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Job Board

Job opportunities in ag engineering and all other engineering disciplines.

Visit 

NC State Career Development Center

Take advantage of university career resources available to all NC State students

Explore 

N.C. PSI Certificate Programs

N.C. PSI offers two certificate programs, one for Ag Data Science and the other for Regulatory Science in Agriculture.

Discover