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President Brian Sandoval: This is Sagebrushers, the podcast of the �Ƽ��Ӱ�ԭ��. Welcome back, Wolf Pack Family. I'm your host, University President Brian Sandoval. Embedded on our campus are about 70 postdoctoral scholars dedicated to advancing our mission as a top research university. Today, we will explore what a postdoc is, how they contribute to research, and the other important work they engage in, such as mentorship and teaching.

So let's get started. Today's guests are both postdoctoral scholars on campus. Satish Manandhar and Angie Lenard also help lead the Postdoctoral Association. Both are engaged in significant research here at the University. Today's podcast is being recorded in the @One Center podcast studio in the Mathewson IGT Knowledge Center. Dr. Manandhar and Dr. Lenard. And if I may, refer to you as Angie and Satish?

Dr. Angie Lenard: Yeah. 

Dr. Satish Manandhar: Yeah. 

Sandoval: Great. Welcome to Sagebrushers. I'm excited to share with our listeners more about your work and experiences on campus.

Lenard: Thank you so much for having us.

Manandhar: Yeah, thank you so much.

Sandoval: No, I'm very excited about this episode. So, let's kick off and let's define for our listeners. What is a postdoc?

Lenard: Yeah, absolutely. So, a postdoc is any employee who's at the university who holds a Ph.D. and is working in a temporary position at the �Ƽ��Ӱ�ԭ��. We have postdocs that are both research postdocs as well as instructional postdocs. So, they've essentially completed their doctorate degree and are looking for additional training opportunities in those areas and take on these temporary positions to further their career goals.

Sandoval: Satish, anything you wanted to add?

Manandhar: Yeah, postdocs are like a bridge between graduate students and faculty. So, we do work, our research, usually on very small projects, which is, comparatively, shorter for a graduate student, but it's doable for 1 or 2 years if you have some kind of a project then yeah, definitely postdocs would do such kind of research.

Sandoval: And I think it's an important distinction. And again, for our listeners, you are not graduate students. You are doctors, and you're working on research and also, teaching in some instances, correct?

Lenard: Yeah. So, there are instructional-only postdocs. They make about 10% of the postdoc community on campus. So, the majority of the postdocs here at UNR are doing research, but there are some that teach full-time, for the university. But yeah, we do teaching informally, too. There's a lot of mentorship involved. So, I have, you know, specific undergraduate students that I'm the primary research mentor for.

But there's also a lot of opportunities for me to, you know, dip my hands into a research project over here for a Ph.D. student or a research project here for a master's student. And so, we get a lot of informal experience mentoring, too.

Sandoval: Wonderful. And Satish, do you mentor students as well?

Manandhar: Yes, I do mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students. So, my research requires some manpower because I'm making models. So, I always tend to look for undergraduate students who can help me to build my models and experiment.

Sandoval: And we'll get into the specifics of each of your research and I’m excited to do that as well. But postdocs often work behind the scenes making the research happen, you know, particularly on this campus. So, please help us learn more about how the postdocs contribute to the campus community and our research mission.

Lenard: Yeah. So, as Satish kind of mentioned, a lot of postdocs are brought to the university specifically to work on research projects that have existing grants in place. So, for example, I was hired in the biology department because my, faculty advisor, he had a grant already with specific research objectives. And so, my role as a Ph.D. scientist was they come in and just kind of get that project started and fulfilled.

And so we do a lot of research, you know, specifically to kind of meet those grant objectives. And push things forward that, you know, might not be, the most appropriate projects for, like a graduate student, for example, or for an undergraduate.

Sandoval: And, Satish.

Manandhar: Yeah, I, agree with Angie about that. Yeah. We are specifically working on a project that has, like a dedicated timeline, usually between one to two years. So, yeah. And then we are already trained as a graduate students so we can get the work running as soon as we join. So, we don't need, like, much training as you would need for a graduate student. So yeah. So, we are actively involving in research and also we are getting research output in terms of publications. Yeah.

Sandoval: So, you both finished your Ph.D.s at other institutions. So, how does it work? Does the researcher find you? Do you find the researcher? How did you come to the University of Nevada?

Lenard: Yeah. So, I was looking for postdoc positions because I knew I wanted to go into an academic faculty job. And in my field, that is just standard these days to do at least one or two postdocs. There are specific, fellowships for postdocs that you can apply to. Some of the famous ones are through the National Science Foundation.

Or there's others that some institutions have. So, they have specific like presidential fellowships at certain institutions. And so, you can apply those, to those to do your independent research. But there are also some, like I said, where projects are already established. And so, I just happened to find this project that really spoke to me in the biology department with my current advisor. And so, I ended up applying and ended up here.

Sandoval: And how about you, Satish?

Manandhar: So, after my Ph.D., I was also looking for a postdoc. So I, I looked into internet, the website job boards, and I found, a professor at UNR who is working on large-scale testing. So, my expertise in my Ph.D. was also related to large-scale testing. So, I thought like, this would be a very good opportunity to broaden my research and also to learn, like, new techniques or new methods. So, that's how I got interested in coming to UNR, specifically for doing large-scale testing.

Sandoval: And we're going to get into the specificity of each of your research, but I'm just curious, how many Ph.D.s do postdocs? Is that basically the next step or it's field dependent?

Lenard: So, like I said, in my field, which is the life sciences, it's pretty typical these days to have to do a postdoc in between getting a faculty position, if that's the career path you're going after. But there's other Ph.D.s who will enter straight into industry, or go into other, you know, institutions that they don't necessarily need to do a postdoc.

It really is just the luck of the job market. I think these days, depending on how much extra training you need before you can land that faculty position, if that's the career going for. But I know that other, maybe Satish you can talk about engineering, because I think it's not as common in that field.

Manandhar: Yeah. In engineering, it is not common to do a postdoc. Most people go directly to do industry jobs because they are much higher paying. And like most of the engineering like knowledge is, is used like to do to build projects, to build something. So, it's not very common to do postdoc for, for engineering, but in my case I wanted to be become an academic. So, this would be like a training for me, especially in the U.S. Like I want to know the academic system. So that's why I'm into a postdoc here.

Sandoval: So, I'll stay with you, Satish. Will you talk a little bit more about your research?

Manandhar: Okay. So, my major is in civil engineering, and I specialized in geotechnical engineering. So, in geotechnical engineering, we look at the behavior of geo materials to build like roads, bridges, buildings especially the foundation of buildings. That is my area of expertise. And then specifically what I'm currently focusing on is the effects of earthquakes on buildings and the ground.

So, since the western U.S. and Nevada is seismically active, we need to develop different methods, so that we can build structures that can withstand earthquakes. And at UNR, I'm doing a large-scale shake table testing. So, we have a big soil box, the biggest in the U.S. And I'm making a soil model inside the box.

The box is 15-feet high and 21.5-feet wide. It is very big. So, I'm making, I already made the soil model, and I already performed two tests. So, what I'm looking at is the response of soil to earthquakes, because most of our structures, they are built on top of soil. S,o we need to have a clear understanding of how the soil, respond to earthquakes to build resilient structures on top of it.

So, this project is funded by the Department of Energy. And also I work in collaboration with the Los Alamos National Laboratory. And like I said, I already did two tests using more than 200 earthquakes that I've shaken my model. So, I am planning to have some important results that can inform engineering design and analysis.

Sandoval: Now that's amazing. And, you know, we're blessed on this campus to have some of the best shake tables or facilities in the country. Is that correct?

Manandhar: Yes. We have, one big shake table and also there are five different check tables. So, I think it's the biggest in the U.S.

Sandoval: Wow. You could say that again. The biggest in the U.S. Right. So, Angie, let's talk about your research.

Lenard: Sure. So, I am in the biology department and I'm specifically an ecologist and evolutionary biologist. And my main research focus is about how organisms, specifically insects, are responding to human-modified environments. So, I focus, on my Ph.D. at least, I focused on urban settings. And so, looking at how navigating urban landscapes is affecting insects. And then my job here, I've expanded on that research to look at agricultural systems.

So, in the work that I do at UNR, I'm part of a large collaboration between UNR, California and Nevada Fish and Wildlife, the USGS and the USDA, where we're all interested in understanding insect biodiversity on national wildlife refuges, which are run and managed by Fish and Wildlife Service. So, my job is basically to go out to California for four or five months in the summer and monitor what butterflies are there.

And so, I go out on these standard walks where I'll basically walk the same path three or four times a year, and then I just count butterflies I see flying around. And I tell them and I report back what species they have on those lands, as well as how many of those individuals I saw. And as part of this, because these lands are surrounded by agriculture, it's in the Central Valley where I work, and so, you have these kind of parcels of natural land surrounded heavily by rice and by orchards. And so, there's a lot of concern about the chemical contamination from pesticide use to make it on to these natural, you know, protected lands where we're hopefully harboring a lot of good pollinator diversity that will then go and benefit those crops.

But we're really interested in seeing how it's making it onto those landscapes. And so, I also go around and in those same areas, I sample the host plants that the butterflies use. So those are the plants where they'll land on them and lay their eggs, and the caterpillars will eat them and develop them. And so, we're interested in while those plants are being eaten, right, are they basically giving the caterpillars a toxic dose of chemical? And so, I've been doing a lot of plant sampling across these landscapes too, to get an idea of how far that contamination is making it into these landscapes and what that might mean for the pollinators that are inhabiting them.

Sandoval: So, have you made any preliminary findings?

Lenard: Yes, a little bit. So, I do have a paper coming out, and I don't want to speak too much on it, so we'll look on that. But it was surprising what we found. We haven't had a chance to analyze the plant samples yet. That takes a little bit more time for the chemistry to come back. But what we did was we use this kind of novel technique, which was really interesting.

And it's something that one of our collaborators in the USGS has developed, where they're these silicone wristbands. So, if you think back to when everyone was doing the Live Strong armbands, that's exactly what they are. And you can actually put them out into the field, and they just passively will absorb the chemicals. And so, we were able to put them out near butterfly plants and then pick them up a couple weeks later.

And our chemists that are part of our collaboration could actually basically wash those chemicals off and tell us what was there and how much was there. And so, be on the lookout for an exciting paper, hopefully coming out soon, talking about how much chemicals are potentially making it into these landscapes.

Sandoval: That's incredible for both of you. I mean, I love the research that's happening here on our campus. And it, you know, we're benefiting humanity. I mean, that's what it's all about. So, thank you. So let's, real quickly, talk about the Postdoc Association and what is it and what type of resources does that entity provide.

Lenard: The Postdoc Association at UNR, or the UNR PA, is an organization that was formed by volunteer postdocs in 2021. And so, it's really a place that is built by and for postdocs. And so, we offer a lot of resources in terms of professional development as well as community building and social events. And we also provide, through university resources, access to other professional development platforms, such as the National Postdoc Association. We’re a university member of that and they have their own professional development webinar series.

And we are also part of Beyond the Professoriate, which is another professional development platform. So, we try to provide these resources for postdocs, to kind of both gather as a community because like you said, there's only about 70 of us on campus. So sometimes you might be in a department where you're the only postdoc or you're in a lab or you're the only postdoc.

And so it can be a little bit of an isolating experience because you're no longer part of a graduate cohort where you have a lot of right students in your lab or a lot of, you know, so it is a little bit of an experience where we want to make sure we're gathering the postdocs together on campus so that, you know, we can have that strong community as well.

Sandoval: And Satish, a significant amount of the postdocs are international. So, what, what's been your experience?

Manandhar: Oh, yeah. As an international postdoc, there are certainly some unique challenge. For me, because I came, I did my Ph.D. in Korea and then came to U.S. last year. So, I had to adjust to new surroundings, cultures and also a new way of working. So and also I had to navigate to, like different, like going to a bank, like understanding financial services and health care system, driving.

Yeah. So those kind of things are very, new and unique to me. So, it needed some time for adjustments, some few months. But I also know some postdocs who did their Ph.D. at U.S., so their experiences might be, somewhat different. And the other point I want to make is that, most of the postdocs are on temporary visas. So to get a job after a postdoc is a bit of a challenge for us. And we have to think very carefully and plan our steps to achieve our goals. Yeah.

Sandoval: Oh, thank you. So we're getting close to time, but I'm real curious what's next for each of you after you finish your postdoc?

Lenard: So, for me, I am aiming to do a faculty position at an accredited university. So, I really love all the aspects of my job that we've talked about the research, the teaching, the mentoring. I just adore all of it. And so, I really would like to be principal investigator of my own lab someday.

Sandoval: Wonderful. Satish?

Manandhar: Yeah. I am also looking for academic jobs and specifically looking to do some experiments to add to my current research. But in my case, I am open to the industry positions as well, because in engineering, yeah, those positions can also give very, you know, a good career and also have some different experience then what I have for academics. So in my case, I'm open to like different opportunities at the moment.

Sandoval: And last thing, Satish, you've been here a little over a year I think. And what's your favorite part of living in Northern Nevada?

Manandhar: So, I like that Reno is surrounded by mountains. So, I remember when I first arrived here in Reno and I came out of the airport, and I saw, like, mountains, which is surrounded by snow-capped mountains. So it reminded me of my hometown in Kathmandu, Nepal, which is also in the Himalayas. So, it was very, kind of a homely feeling.

And I like that Reno is very convenient that you can, go places within a very short amount of time. So, yeah, I like that aspect. And also I like going to Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake for in the summer for refreshments.

Sandoval: Yeah, those are two of my favorite places. And, Angie?

Lenard: Yeah, I have probably the same answer. It's just so there's so much natural beauty around Reno. And so I, you know, I'm an ecologist, and I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any ecologist who doesn't love spending time outside is probably why most of us do this career. And so, you know, it's just so great to have that convenient hiking in those beautiful natural spaces like Lake Tahoe, you know, right in our backyards.

Sandoval: Well, thank you. And unfortunately, that's all the time we have. But I think this has been an amazing episode and we're really proud of you and can't wait to see what you do next. That is all the time we have for this episode of Sagebrushers. Thank you for joining us today, Dr. Manandhar and Dr. Lenard. Join us next time for another episode of Sagebrushers, as we continue to tell the stories that make our University special and unique. Until then, I'm University President Brian Sandoval and go Pack.