Merit Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research

Deadlines: March 17. (In the event that a deadline falls upon a weekend or a university holiday, that deadline will move to the first workday following the posted date.)

Award Amount: $3,000.

Directions: Department chairs submit application materials electronically in digital form to the WiSE program office at wiseprog@usc.edu.

The WiSE Merit Awards for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research are offered to current Postdoctoral researchers at USC who demonstrate exceptional work in their field. Candidates must be working under the mentorship of a faculty member in a WiSE-eligible department of the USC Dana and David Dornsife College or Letters, Arts, and Sciences or in the Viterbi School of Engineering. A maximum of four awards will be given each year. Candidates are nominated by the faculty and each department may nominate up to two candidates. Each WiSE Award will be for $3,000.

Purpose
The purpose of the WiSE Merit Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research is to provide junior researchers an opportunity to be recognized for their achievements. The WiSE Program hopes the awards will provide support and motivation to researchers on an academic trajectory and increase the representation of women in science and engineering.

Selection Criteria
The WiSE Advisory Board will evaluate the excellence of the candidate’s research, the trajectory of progress, and other attributes that demonstrate how the Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research may encourage the candidate to pursue a career in academic science and engineering.

Goal: The primary goal of the WiSE Merit Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research is to encourage outstanding postdoctoral researchers at USC to pursue careers in academic science and engineering, thereby increasing the representation of women in these fields. The WiSE Program awards up to four WiSE Merit Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research each year to recognize exceptional achievements in research. Each WiSE Merit Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research will be for $3,000. This award is not to be used in lieu of any other funding or salary.

Eligibility: In order to be eligible for a WiSE Merit Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research, the researcher must be employed full-time as a postdoctoral researcher in a WiSE-eligible department in the USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences or Viterbi School of Engineering in a laboratory that is different from the lab in which the PhD was granted. The researcher must have at least one year in residency and should have publications resulting from work as a postdoctoral researcher at USC. The researcher must be nominated by their faculty advisor based on the quality of their research. Nominations by faculty should be sent to their department chair for ranking and submission to the WiSE Program.

Nomination Process: Each Department may nominate up to two candidates, endorsed and ranked in order by the Department Chair. Nomination materials should be submitted electronically to the WiSE Program office by email at wiseprog@usc.edu. The following information must be submitted for each nominee:

  • Two letters of recommendation, ONE of which MUST be from the candidate’s research advisor, detailing the exceptional work of the candidate, as well as explaining how the WiSE Award will serve to increase the representation of women in science and engineering.
  • A written one-page statement by the candidate, describing their current research accomplishments.
  • The candidate’s current CV listing accomplishments and publications
  • A brief cover letter of nomination and endorsement by the department chair ranking the candidates.

2022-2023

  • Olga Eremina, Biomedical Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering
  • Zenia Motiwala, Molecular and Computational Biology, USC Dornsife

2021-2022

  • Alysia Cox, Biomedical Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering

2020-2021

  • Sirisha Rambhatla, Computer Science, Viterbi School of Engineering

2019-2020

None awarded.

2018-2019

None awarded.

2017-2018

None awarded.

2016-2017

  • Mahua Roy, Biomedical Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering

2015-2016

  • Kate White, Chemistry, USC Dornsife
  • Annette Rowe, Earth Sciences, USC Dornsife

2014-2015

None awarded.

2013-2014

None awarded.

2012-2013

  • Elsa Courderic, Biological Sciences, USC Dornsife
  • WeiWei Hu, Mathematics, USC Dornsife
  • Julia Saltz, Chemistry, USC Dornsife

2011-2012

  • Kathyrn Allen, Chemistry, USC Dornsife
  • Ekaterina Romanova, Chemistry, USC Dornsife
  • Heather Russell, Mathematics, USC Dornsife

2010-2011

  • Debashree Ghosh, Chemistry, USC Dornsife
  • Heather Hunt, Chemical and Material Sciences, Viterbi School of Engineering

2009-2010

  • Ksenia Bravaya, Chemistry, USC Dornsife
  • Jill Sohm, Marine Environmental Biology USC Dornsife