Steering Committee Leadership

The Steering Committee is a group of postdoctoral scholars who regularly take part in meetings, events, and interact with the officers of the UMN-PDA. The Steering Committee are the postdoctoral scholars responsible for shaping postdoctoral policy at the University of Minnesota. Officers are voted on annually and can serve up to three years.

Any postdoc can become a member of the Steering Committee simply by notifying the PDA and showing up for meetings (in person or virtually).

Minutes of all Steering Committee meetings are publicly available.

Interested in volunteering with the PDA? Please fill out this form to express your specific interests.

Click here to review the PDA's By-Laws, which include a description of each leadership position's roles and responsibilities.

Officers

President 

Upendra Chelise, PhD

Department of Cardiology; Medical School

Vice President

Sachin Dhanda , PhD

Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics ; College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Sciences

Policy Liaison

Vacant - contact pda@umn.edu to join


Treasurer

Harry Tran, PhD

Department of Biomedical Engineering; College of Science and Engineering

Secretary

Dhananjay Singh, PhD 

Department of Veterinary Clinical Services; College of Veterinary Medicine



Committees and Chairs

Communications Committee

Chair: 

Becky Forgrave, PhD; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior


Members:

contact pda@umn.edu to join


Policy & Advocacy Committee

Chair

Courtney Matson, PhD; Department of Microbiology and Immunology

International Affairs Chairs

Xing He, PhD; Department of Physics

Marco Künzli, PhD; Department of Microbiology & Immunology

Members:

Elizabeth Abraham, PhD; Institute on the Environment

Patrick Brady, PhD; Department of Epidemiology & Community Health

Ankit Sood, PhD; Department of Neuroscience

Harry Tran, PhD; Department of Biomedical Engineering

Social Committee

Chair:

Ryan Abdella, PhD; Department of Biochemistry

Members: 

Saarik Kalia, PhD; Department of Physics

Xing He, PhD; Department of Physics

Harry Tran, PhD; Department of Biomedical Engineering

Career Development Committee

Vacant - contact pda@umn.edu to join

Representatives and Liaisons

Grace Conchas, PhD

Department of Biomedical Engineering; College of Science and Engineering

SCFA Term Faculty Advisory Subcommittee

Vacant - contact pda@umn.edu to join


Haitham Sobhy, PhD

Department of Pediatrics; Medical School

Robert Langat, PhD

Department of Surgery; Medical School