On November 12, 2025, UCLA’s postdoctoral scholars and their mentors will be recognized for their important contributions to the university’s interrelated research, teaching and service missions at the annual Postdoctoral Scholars & Mentors Awards Ceremony.

The Chancellor’s Awards for Postdoctoral Research, recognizes individual research accomplishments that show clear potential to have meaningful and enduring implications in their field. This event also recognizes the contributions of faculty mentors through the Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring Awards, administered by the Postdoctoral Association at UCLA.  The Mentoring Awards honor UCLA faculty members who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping postdoctoral scholars develop successful careers.

2025 Chancellor’s Award for Postdoctoral Research

47 postdoctoral scholars have been nominated to receive the Chancellor’s Award for Postdoctoral Research. Eight of these will receive the award — a $7,500 prize and a plaque.

Nominees:

• Ronak Afshari, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
• Jenna Alley, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
• Luke Barry, Epidemiology
• Rune Boen, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
• Tashalee Brown, Medicine – Internal Medicine
• Haoxuan Chen, Environmental Health Sciences
• Tingting Cheng, Institute for the Risk Sciences
• Laura Cortes, Integrative Biology and Physiology
• Debajyoti Das, Medicine – Digestive Diseases
• Sarah French, Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Yajing Gao, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
• Bernard Gordillo Brockmann, History
• Jia-Chen Gu, Computer Science
• Zhiyu Huang, Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Hyuk-Joon Jung, Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Heeun Kim, Community Health Sciences
• Dylan Kirsch, Psychology
• Panagiota Kolitsida, Biological Chemistry
• Nidhi Kumari, Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology
• Laura Lievano-Karim, Education
• Yannan Lin, Radiological Sciences
• Pan Liu, Statistics and Data Science
• Gavin Madakumbura, Geography
• Nairrita Majumder, Medicine – Pediatrics
• Arlyn Moreno Luna, Education
• Patricia Nano, Biological Chemistry
• YongKyung Oh, Radiological Sciences
• Alyssa Palmer, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
• Ruhi Patel, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
• Jani Penttala, Physics and Astronomy
• Roxana Rezai, Epidemiology
• Liliana Paloma Rojas Saunero, Epidemiology
• Benjamin Rosenberg, Psychology
• Brian Schaap, Physics and Astronomy
• Claire Schollaert, Environmental Health Sciences
• Xiaofei Shi, Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences
• Lianjiu Su, Medicine – Cardiology
• Grigor Varuzhanyan, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
• Hui Wang, California NanoSystems Institute
• Zhaoqiang Wang, Bioengineering
• Huaiyu Wei, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
• Wayne Wu, Computer Science
• Paula Wulff, Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences
• Artemis Zavaliangos-Petropulu, Neurology
• Zach Zeidler, Physiology
• Xiaobei Zhang, Medicine – Digestive Diseases
• Chenghao Zhu, Quantitative and Computational Biosciences

 

2025 Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring Award

UCLA faculty members who have gone above and beyond in helping postdoctoral scholars develop successful careers.

Nominees:

• Carrie Bearden, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
•  Aparna Bhaduri, Biological Chemistry
•  Alex Bui, Radiological Sciences/Bioengineering and Bioinformatics
•  Stephanie Correa, Integrative Biology and Physiology
•  Michelle Craske, Psychology
•  Elissa Hallem, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
•  Ashley Kita, Head and Neck Surgery
•  Anna Lau, Psychology
•  Kirk Lohmueller, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
•  Benjamin Madley, History
•  Bijan Najafi, Surgery – CASIT
•  Noa Pinter-Wollman, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
•  Cecilia Rios-Aguilar, Education
•  Keith Vossel, Neurology

Past Award Recipients

Past Chancellor’s Award for Postdoctoral Research recipients

Past Postdoctoral Mentoring Award recipients

Photo Gallery

2024 Photo Gallery

Video Gallery

Watch a video of the 2023 Chancellor’s Awards for Postdoctoral Research awards ceremony.

Watch a video of the 2022 Chancellor’s Awards for Postdoctoral Research awards ceremony.