2021 Jakobsen Conference

The 2021 Jakobsen Conference will be held virtually with live talks from guest speakers and graduate student award announcements on April 29. The Zoom link for the event will be provided closer to the date.

Graduate students can submit pre-recorded research talks online. The talks should be five minutes in length and presented in lay language to be understood by a wide audience. There are no restrictions on the number of slides and animations.

All students who submit talks will receive a monetary prize. A small number of student talks will be selected for larger cash prizes.

Live talks from guest speakers (to be announced later) will focus on the following topics:

  • Lesser-known career paths (science to business, humanities in tech space, etc.)
  • High-achieving alumni (traditional employment path or unique)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Job searching in the current climate (pandemic, virtual networking, online resume, economic distress)
  • Work-Life balance and mental health
  • Political, social, and economic issues during 2020 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement
  • Environmental challenges/climate change
  • Political, social, technological response to fixing global climate change
  • Media and journalism in the 21st century (social media, podcasts, etc.)

Any questions about the event can be directed to the Committee Chair: Kody Waldstein (kody-waldstein@uiowa.edu).