Career Development Awards

Spring 2024 Career Development Awards Applications now open!

The University of Minnesota Postdoctoral Association provides annual career development awards for purposes of supplementing and encouraging attendance to events and programs furthering professional development such as conferences, workshops, and seminars.  Please note that only postdoctoral fellows (9560) and postdoctoral associates (9546) are eligible for the awards. 

Each successful recipient will receive up to $1000 to be used to supplement costs of such opportunities. Reimbursements must be submitted by June 21, 2024.  During the Spring 2024 cycle, at least 5 awards will be offered, and there will be another round of awards in Fall 2024. 

Applicants seeking reimbursement before the end of June 2024 may apply for this round of awards by filling out this form. Applications are due by March 1, 2024. 

Applicants will be notified by the second week of March if their application was selected or not for this award and the amounts approved. The Postdoctoral Association may prioritize awards to applicants that did not receive funding in the previous calls. The awarded money must be used for the approved expense (proposed conference, workshop, etc.). If this is not possible due to extenuating circumstances, the Postdoctoral Association Steering Committee must approve any changes in what the award is used for.  


Fall 2023 Career Awards

Cole Callen, PhD

Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences

Attending: Boston University Conference on Language Development

Karen Castillioni, PhD

Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

Attending: British Ecological Society Annual Meeting

Pooja Choksi, PhD

Department of Forest Resources

Attending: Sustainable Forest Transitions Meeting at the University of Manchester

Poppy Hesketh Beth, PhD

Department of Veterinary Population Medicine

Attending: American Bee Research Conference

Rachel Schambow, PhD

Center for Animal Health and Food Safety

Attending: Global African Swine Fever Research Alliance Gap Analysis Workshop

Spring 2023 Career Awards

Daniela Herrera Moro Chao, PhD

Department of Neuroscience

Attending: European Meeting on Glial Cells in Health and Disease

Kelsey Johnson, PhD

Department of Genetics, Cell Biology & Development

Attending: Pediatrics Academic Society 2023 Meeting

Kyusic Park, PhD

Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics

Attending: 41th International Modal Analysis Conference

Shubhechchha Sharma, PhD

Department of Knowledge Initiatives (Institute on the Environment)

Attending: International Association for Society and Natural Resources Conference

Joshua Shutter, PhD

Department of Soil, Water, and Climate

Attending: American Chemical Society Spring 2023 Meeting

Jessica Stone, PhD

Department of Anthropology

Attending: American Association of Biological Anthropologists Annual Meeting

Fall 2022 Career Awards

Eric Rawls, PhD

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Lei Zhang, PhD

Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics

Neetu Yadav, PhD

Department of Chemistry

Harry Tran, PhD

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Valeriia Yustyniuk, PhD

Department of Veterinary Population Medicine

Xinyuan Yan, PhD

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Spring 2022 Career Awards

Beatriz Baselga, PhD

Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior

Attending: Evolution 2022 Conference

Hector Chapoy Vilanueva, PhD

Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology

Attending: International Society for Heart Research Conference 

Dennis Cladis, PhD

Department of Food Science and Nutrition

Attending: Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting

Sarick Matzen, PhD

Department of Soil, Water, and Climate

Attending: American Chemical Society Spring Meeting

Serap Vatansever, PhD

Department of Food Science and Nutrition

Attending: 2022 American Oil Chemists' Society Annual Meeting & Expo

Xinru Wang, PhD

Department of Entomology

Attending: American Society for Rickettsiology 31th meeting

Spring 2020 Career Awards

Gabriela Bustamante, PhD

Program in Health Disparities Research

Attending: Society for Epidemiologic Research Meeting

Adrian Moore, PhD

Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior

Attending: Freshwater Mussel Conservation Society Workshop 

Aleta Steevens, PhD

Department of Neurosurgery, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences

Attending: The American Society for Neural Therapy and Repair

Postdoc Career Awards: Sustaining Professional Development During a Pandemic 2020

Lisa Harn Elliott 

College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences

Attending: Ecological Society of America (ESA) 2020

Beth Adamowicz

College of Biological Sciences

Attending: 2020 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Microbiome Virtual Meeting



Tolutola Oyetunde

College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences

Attending: Three online coursera specializations

Ke Shi

College of Biological Sciences

Attending: Schrödinger's online course: Introduction to Molecular Modeling in Drug Discover

Manish Shetty

College of Science and Engineering

Attending: 2020 ACS Fall Meeting

Diego Morales-Briones

College of Biological Sciences

Attending: Botany 2020 


Marie Maneka Malalgoda 

College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences

Attending: The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) meeting. Secured the founding by other grant* 

Manbir Rakkar

College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences

Attending: 2020 ASA-CSSA-SSSA 


Zhiyue Wang

College of Biological Sciences

Attending: IWA Leading Edge Conference on Water and Wastewater Technologies

Carolina Soto Palma

Medical School

Attending: 25th Summer Institute in Statistical Genetics (SISG)


Zhikai Liang

College of Biological Sciences

Attending: Plant Biology Worldwide Summit 2020



Ariel Alperstei

College of Science and Engineering

Attending: ICONS workshop


Lisa Anderson

Medical School

Attending: Crash Course training


Nick Lambrecht

College of Biological Sciences

Attending: ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition

Spring 2019 Career Development Awards

Rayma Kumar, PhD

Department of Chemistry

Attending: Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering Future Faculty Symposium

Sushan Ru, PhD

Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics

Attending: 2019 National Association of Plant Breeders Annual Meeting

Elaine Norton, DVM, MS

Department of Veterinary Population Medicine

Attending: American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Annual Forum

Fall 2019 Career Development Awards

Srinidhi Balasubramanian, PhD

Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering

Attending: 2019 Women in the Sciences Leadership Workshop

Irene Bueno Padilla, PhD

Department of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Attending: Annual Meeting of the Raptor Research Foundation

Elizabeth Martinez, PhD

Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

Attending: National Latinx Psychological Association Conference