Inaugural Postdoc Excellence Awards recognize outstanding UW–Madison postdocs and faculty members

Nine UW–Madison postdocs have been recognized with the inaugural Postdoc Excellence Awards, presented by the UW–Madison Postdoctoral Association, in the areas of teaching, service, and mentoring. The association, a volunteer-led advocacy group for UW–Madison postdocs supported by the Office of Postdoctoral Studies, launched the new Postdoc Excellence Awards to reward postdocs for their outstanding efforts in these areas. The association also recognized three UW–Madison faculty members with Distinguished Faculty Postdoc Mentoring Awards to honor their outstanding mentorship of postdoctoral trainees on campus. The Distinguished Faculty Postdoc Mentoring Awards were established in 2015 to encourage and acknowledge excellence, innovation, and effectiveness in the mentoring of postdocs.

Postdocs were nominated for the Excellence Awards by their students, mentees, mentors and colleagues with letters of support detailing how they exemplified exceptional teaching, service, or mentorship. Faculty members were nominated by current or former postdocs with letters of support detailing how they have exemplified exceptional mentorship. An association committee was then tasked with selecting from among dozens of nominations those who have gone above and beyond in contributing their time, knowledge, energy, and enthusiasm. These postdocs and faculty embody the ideals of the association and the University of Wisconsin, and their dedication is inspiring and worthy of recognition.

Please join us in congratulating this year’s awardees, listed below, for their extraordinary commitment to the community at UW–Madison.

Postdoc Excellence Award in Teaching:

Anna Kowalkowski, Biology Core Curriculum

Cooper Rosin, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies

Postdoc Excellence Award in Service:

Ana Ebrahimi,Mechanical Engineering

Nell Maltman, Waisman Center

Daniel Radecki,  Comparative Biosciences

Postdoc Excellence Award in Mentoring:

Liza Chang, WISCIENCE

Anna Finley, Center for Healthy Minds

Natascha Merten, Population Health Sciences

Cara Moravec, Department of Genetics

Distinguished Faculty Postdoc Mentoring Awards:

Samuel Pazicni, Department of Chemistry

Stacey Schaefer, Center for Healthy Minds

Paul Stoy, Biological Systems Engineering

The awardees were honored at the association’s Celebration of Postdoc Excellence in March. The full list of Postdoc Excellence Award winners with select quotes can be viewed here. The full list of previous Distinguished Faculty Postdoc Mentoring Award winners can be viewed here. While only a few nominations could be selected to receive the awards, the association is grateful for all of the UW–Madison postdocs and faculty members who make UW–Madison an outstanding place for postdocs to train.

If you are interested in learning more about the association, please visit their website or email them.