At the Fall 2025 Georgia Tech Postdoctoral Research Symposium, seven postdoctoral scholars were awarded conference travel awards for their outstanding presentations. Hosted by the Office of Postdoctoral Services on Nov. 7, the symposium featured 23 postdocs presenting innovative and diverse research through 10-minute research talks and 5-minute lightning talks. Congratulations to the following winners:

Samuel Jones, Best Research Talk Overall

Lowland biotic attrition and elevational shifts in a tropical bird community

School of Biological Sciences

Ishant Tiwari, Best Lightning Talk Overall

Shake it off: The science behind untangling your headphone cables

School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Gyeol Han, Best Research Talk from the College of Engineering

Geothermal powerplant: From a gamble to engineering

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Daniel Rodriguez Jorge, Best Lightning Talk from the College of Engineering

Personalized exoskeleton control for optimization gait economy post-stroke

School of Mechanical Engineering

Kathy Bui, Best Research Talk from the College of Sciences

When chemotherapy misfires: Motoneuron hyperactivity in oxaliplatin treatment

School of Biological Sciences

Yichi Zhang, Best Lightning Talk from the College of Sciences

Is test bias problematic? A practical framework for evaluating fairness

School of Psychology

Ankita Rathour, Best Talk from the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts

The forgotten women of Bollywood

Writing and Communication Program in Literature, Media, and Communications, School of Literature, Media, and Communication

Thank you to the executive vice president for Research, the deans of Engineering and Sciences, the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, and the vice provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education for sponsoring the awards. 

We are especially thankful to Laura Cadonati, associate dean for Research in the College of Sciences, and Aaron Levine, associate dean for Research and Outreach in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, for attending and distributing awards for their colleges.

Appreciation is extended to the following judges for the event:

• Onur Birol, Academic Professional, School of Biological Sciences
• Paul Joseph, Principal Extension Professional, Quadrant-i
• Jordan Moore, User Experience Librarian
• Tom Rosenmayer, Senior Extension Professional, Quadrant-i
• Ian Krout, Academic Professional, School of Biological Sciences
• Jacki Rohde, Academic Professional, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Haley Steele, Academic Professional, School of Biological Sciences

We are thankful to the following postdocs who assisted with abstract reviews and event planning:

• Zeineb Bouzid, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Anderson Romerio A Cerqueira, School of Biomedical Engineering
• Chih-Yuan (Frank) Chiu, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Mridula Nandi, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Oindrila Sinha, School of Biological Sciences

To view the photos taken at the Symposium, please click here.