Postdoc Excellence Awards
The Postdoc Excellence Awards recognize current postdocs on the UW-Madison campus that contribute their time, knowledge, energy, and enthusiasm to mentoring, teaching, and service. Postdocs are nominated by themselves, current or former mentors and mentees, or colleagues. 2021 is the first year we are offering these awards and anticipate receiving numerous nominations for postdocs to be recognized for their outstanding efforts. Every year, we can only select a few of the of the outstanding nominations to receive the awards, but are grateful for all the work every postdoc at UW-Madison engage in that makes UW-Madison an excellent place to work and develop. Winners from every year will be listed below.
2021 Postdoc Excellence Awards
Submit your nominations for this year’s Postdoc Excellence Awards!
Nominations due 5 PM Friday, February 12, 2021. Submit your nomination via this form.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Postdoctoral Association (UWPA) is soliciting nominations for its 2021 Postdoc Excellence Awards. The awards were established to encourage and reward excellence, innovation, and effectiveness in the mentoring, teaching, and service of UW-Madison postdocs. There are three categories of award:
- Postdoc Excellence in Mentoring
- Postdoc Excellence in Teaching
- Postdoc Excellence in Service.
Current postdocs may be nominated by themselves, current/former mentors and mentees, or colleagues. If postdocs nominate themselves we ask that they have either a mentor or mentee, as applicable, submit a letter of support simply stating that they have read your nomination letter and support it. Nomination letters (2 page maximum) should provide specific details as to how the nominated individual excels in a given category and why they are deserving of the award. The following rubrics will be used to judge nominations for each of the awards: mentoring, teaching, and service.
Winners of the 2021 Postdoc Excellence Awards will be recognized at the UWPA Celebration of Postdoc Excellence in March 2021. Nominations should be submitted via this form.
Applications must be submitted electronically by 5 PM Friday, February 12, 2021. Questions? Contact the UWPA Postdoc Mentoring Awards Committee (uwpa@postdoc.wisc.edu)
Excellence in Mentoring Judges
Claudio Gratton, PhD (2019 Distinguished Faculty Postdoc Mentoring Awardee)
Jessica Kelliher, PhD
Mark Zierden, PhD
Excellence in Service Judges
Erin Garcia, PhD
Shane McMahon, PhD
James Romero-Masters, PhD
Excellence in Teaching Judges
Erin Garcia, PhD
Shane McMahon, PhD
James Romero-Masters, PhD
2021 Celebration of Postdoc Excellence
March 26th, 2021 from 6-8 pm
The Postdoc Excellence Awards will be publicly announced at this event.
This event will be held online at congregate.live/ with full link to announced
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2021 Awardees
Postdoc Excellence Award in Teaching
Anna Kowalkowski, PhD
Biology Core Curriculum
Cooper Rosin, PhD
Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Postdoc Excellence Award in Service
Anahid Ebrahimi, PhD
Mechanical Engineering
Nell Maltman, PhD
Waisman Center
Daniel Z. Radecki, PhD
Comparative Biosciences
Postdoc Excellence Award in Mentoring
Liza Chang, PhD
WISCIENCE
Anna J. Finley, PhD
Center for Healthy Minds
Natascha Merten, PhD
Population Health Sciences
Cara Moravec
Laboratory of Genetics
Quotes About Previous Awardees
“Anna is endlessly creative in solving problems, thinking about learning goals first, but balancing that with flexibility based on in-the-moment formative feedback on student learning.” Anna Kowalkowski PhD, 2021 Postdoc Excellence Award in Teaching
“The defining feature of Dan’s work with the UWPA and others is his commitment to bettering the lives of all postdocs. He envisions how each event and initiative can best impact the individual, through the lenses of diversity and inclusion, immigration status, postdocs’ personal lives (e.g. childcare considerations), department/discipline, and more.” Daniel Z. Radecki PhD, 2021 Postdoc Excellence Award in Service
“Cara mitigated my doubts as an early career researcher by maintaining that not all knowledge is easily gained and reminding me that it takes many years and practice to become an expert in a field. Cara’s feedback was honest, yet encouraging, and made me feel optimistic that I will develop into a successful scientist if I keep working hard and follow her example.” Cara Moravec PhD, 2021 Postdoc Excellence Award in Mentoring