Virginia Tech capped its 2025 National Postdoctoral Appreciation Week with a research showcase, luncheon, and presentation of awards recognizing outstanding postdoctoral associates and faculty mentors.

More than 80 postdoctoral associates and university administrators were in attendance at the events held last month at The Inn at Virginia Tech. 

Hosted by the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, within the Office of Research and Innovation, the event included remarks delivered by Chris Smith, postdoctoral affairs administrator; Ron Fricker, vice provost for faculty affairs; and Dan Sui, senior vice president for research and innovation. The event concluded with the announcement of the Postdoc Service and Scholarly Excellence Awards and the Faculty Mentor Award.

“This is now the second year of our awards program to recognize outstanding postdoctoral associates and a worthy faculty mentor,” said Randy Heflin, associate vice president for research and emcee of the ceremony. “It is gratifying to see so many exceptional scholars contributing to our postdoctoral community.”

Scholars showcase

The 2025 Postdoctoral Scholars Showcase highlighted the breadth of research conducted across the university with 11 postdoctoral associates presenting 10-minute talks representing Blacksburg, Roanoke, Northern Virginia, and the Agricultural Research and Extension Centers.

Audience members selected three top presenters, who received Virginia Tech and Office of Research and Innovation swag bags. Winners included:

  • Kelsey Reed, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for "Plant Regeneration: To Cell and Back," first place audience vote winner
  • Leah LeJeune, mathematics, College of Science, for "Human Behavior in Epidemic Models," second place audience vote winner
  • Rashed Shelim, electrical and computer engineering, College of Engineering, Institute for Advanced Computing, for "Toward Generalizable and Explainable AI for Next Generation Wireless Communications," third place audience vote winner

Other presenters included: Nasim Akhtar, Shumaila Bhatti, Shantanu Bhide, Jordan Chapman, Sreenivasulu Chinnabattigalla, Mawuli Deegbey, Priyanka Gangwar, and Mark Renton.

Postdoc Service Excellence Award

Jorge Reyes, mathematics

This award recognizes postdocs who demonstrate exceptional mentorship, leadership, and service to their communities.

Reyes has served as vice president of the Virginia Tech Postdoctoral Association and is its current president. He helped launch the new Postdoc Seminar Series with colleague Zach Barth and represents postdocs on the Commission on Research, a university organization that studies, formulates, and recommends policies and procedures concerning research and research faculty to the Faculty Senate. Reyes has been an instructor of record for four math courses and is recognized as an outstanding teacher and mentor.

“For his commitment to research, teaching, service, and the postdoc community, Dr. Reyes is more than deserving of this Postdoc Service Excellence Award,” said Sarah Reznikoff, head of the Department of Mathematics. 

Postdoc Scholarly Excellence Awards

Eduardo Camps Moreno, mathematics, and Courtney Sexton, population health sciences

This award recognizes postdocs who demonstrate excellence in research, scholarship, or creative expression.

Camps Moreno, a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in mathematics, was recognized for prolific scholarly output — 12 peer-reviewed publications and 24 presentations since 2023 — and international collaborations. He has also organized workshops in India and Mexico, co-written software packages, and earned a Fields Postdoctoral Fellowship for spring 2025.

Sexton, postdoctoral associate in population health sciences, was honored for her strong research record and exceptional science communication. She has published five major papers, delivered a TEDx talk on her Virginia Tech research, and serves as a freelance science writer and consultant. Sexton also mentors students at all levels and co-leads two grant-funded projects.

 

Image of Jake Socha, the Samuel Herrick Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Photo by Bobby Hash for Virginia Tech
Jake Socha, the Samuel Herrick Professor of Mechanical Engineering, was honored with the Faculty Mentor Award. Photo by Bobby Hash for Virginia Tech.

Faculty Mentor Award

Jake Socha, mechanical engineering

This award honors faculty mentors who provide outstanding support to postdoctoral researchers.

Socha, the Samuel Herrick Professor of Mechanical Engineering, was nominated by three former postdocs, who praised his ongoing mentorship, encouragement to pursue prestigious fellowships, and commitment to advancing their careers.

“Jake’s advice is always constructive and aimed at making you better — not just at the task at hand but in the long run,” wrote former postdoc Pranav Khandelwal, now an assistant professor at Claremont McKenna College.

Nominees

The 2025 awards received a record number of nominations: 16 for Postdoc Scholarly Excellence and 18 for Faculty Mentor, doubling the previous year’s nominations.

  • Postdoc Service Excellence Award nominees: Saptarshi Chatterjee and Jorge Reyes.
  • Postdoc Scholarly Excellence Award nominees: Nader Abutaleb, Samar Antar, Debaditya Biswas, Eduardo Camps Moreno, Priyanka Gangwar, Nikhil Gotawala, Aymen Halouani, Jun Ji, Jane Jung, Leah LeJeune, Ryan Montalvo, Sarah Plummer, Mark Renton, Courtney Sexton, Rashed Shelim, and JinYi Yoon.
  • Faculty Mentor Award nominees: Michael Bartlett, Elinor Benami, Marie Boer, Lauren Childs, Ashley Dayer, Nisha Duggal, Douglas Higgins, Haibo Huang, X.J. Meng, Meryl Mims, Kristen Nielsen, Audrey Ruple, Walid Saad, Webster Santos, Konstantinos Triantis, Clement Vinauger, James Weger Lucarelli, and Jake Socha.

Contact:

Tags

Share this story