Announcing the Awardees for the Inaugural Jumpstart Postdoctoral Program

The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science is pleased to announce the 2023 awardees of the inaugural Jumpstart Postdoctoral Program. Dean Valery Forbes launched the new initiative last fall, with the aim of “jumpstarting” new multidisciplinary research collaborations between faculty and postdoctoral associates to solve some of today’s complex societal challenges.

“I am delighted to welcome our first cohort of Jumpstart postdoctoral researchers,” said Forbes. “Our goal for this new program is to act as a catalyst for novel partnerships that seed discoveries with our collaborators across the university and beyond.”

The recently launched program is designed to facilitate successful award applications from promising postdoctoral researchers with diverse backgrounds. Out of 22 applications, five projects were selected. The new cohort represents scientific studies across the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, and includes participation from the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and the Schmidt College of Medicine.

Each postdoctoral scholar will receive a salary following the NIH postdoc scale, with benefits, and $5,000 per year for research supplies and research-related travel. Postdoctoral projects are funded for up to two years, assuming satisfactory progress toward research goals are made during the first year.

To learn more about the program, visit:  science.fau.edu/postdoc-program/.

2023 Jumpstart Postdoctoral Program Awardees

Postdoc:  Casey Coomes, Ph.D.
Title:  “Physiological and Behavioral Implications of Increasing Temperatures in a Temperate Zone Songbird”
Principal investigator:  Associate Professor Rindy Anderson, Ph.D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Co-principal investigator:  Professor Sarah Milton, Ph.D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Description:  This project will assess the effects of heat on a local, threatened songbird species: the Bachman’s sparrow.

Postdoc:  Haida Li, Ph.D.
Title:  “Loop Quantum Gravity”
Principal investigator:  Associate Professor Muxin Han, Ph.D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Co-principal investigator:  Assistant Professor Yang Li, Ph.D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Description:  The main focus of this research will be on the numerical and statistical aspects of quantum gravity by using and improving upon advanced statistical methods such as the Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) method.

Postdoc:  Juliana Marques, Ph.D.
Title:  “Development of Cardioprotective Treatments for Cancer”
Principal investigator:  Professor Salvatore Lepore, Ph.D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Co-principal investigator:  Associate Professors Claudia Rodrigues, Ph.D., and Bommareddy Ajay, Ph.D., Schmidt College of Medicine
Description:  This project will investigate the role of a novel compound, developed at FAU, in preventing damage to the heart caused by chemotherapy.

Postdoc:  Asal Nouri, Ph.D.
Title:  “Rebooting Social Media: Utilizing Network Neuroscience to Help Reverse the Negative Impact of Social Media”
Principal investigator:  Associate Professor Chad Forbes, Ph.D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Co-principal investigator:  Professor Susan Schneider, Ph.D., William F. Dietrich Chair in Philosophy, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, and Director, FAU Center for the Future Mind
Description:  This project will evaluate methods that attenuate the deleterious consequences of standard social media algorithms on learning and well-being by proposing alternative algorithms that encourage critical thinking at the direct expense of emotion-based manipulations.

Postdoc:  Keng Xu, Ph.D.
Title:  “Multiple Cellular Ions Real-time Sensing Using Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning”
Principal investigator:  Assistant Professor Renjie Wang, Ph.D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Co-principal investigator:  Professor Xingquan (Hill) Zhu, Ph.D., College of Engineering and Computer Science
Description:  This project is focused on developing chemical sensing materials with three key features: controllable microstructures, surface modification, and superior sensing properties.