The Executive Committee of the Division of Particles and Fields (DPF) of the American Physical Society (APS) formed an ad hoc panel in 2024 to re-examine the issue of a common deadline for theory post-doc offers.  The panel consists of: 

Csaba Csaki, chair (Cornell)

Vijay Balasubramanian (UPenn)

Alejandra Castro (Cambridge)

Mariangela Lisanti (Princeton) 

Hirosi Ooguri (Caltech/UTokyo) 

Shufang Su (UArizona)

The full charge of the panel is as follows:

•  Collect reactions from research groups and postdoc candidates involved in the last cycle. What were the consequences of the new deadlines and of the fact that there were two deadlines?

• Keeping in mind the limited statistics (only one cycle), are there specific recommendations for the next cycle? Any recommendations for the intermediate future?

• Identify the steps necessary towards a common deadline that includes the different branches of the theory community. If there is consensus, make a recommendation concerning the deadline date.

The purpose of this website is to summarize the findings gathered by the committee through their community survey and town hall, as well as to post their final report.  

The committee ran a survey in early September 2024 to gather feedback on experiences with and preferences for a common postdoc acceptance deadline.  The survey solicited both employers involved in the postdoc hiring process as well as current postdocs/graduate students.

A summary of the survey results are provided in the Town Hall slides and backup material, linked below.

The committee hosted a Town Hall on Friday, October 25, 2024.  The Town Hall presented an opportunity to provide direct input to the committee from community members and also ask questions about the planned schedule and working format of the committee.

A recording of the Town Hall and the related slides are posted below.
Questions that had been submitted to the committee can be viewed at this Google doc.

The committee's final report, copied below, has been submitted to the DPF Executive Committee as of January 2025.