PDA Mentoring Awards 2025: Nomination Deadline Extended to 4/25

[Danielle Coogan]

Dear MIT Postdoc community,

This is a reminder to submit your nominations for the MIT PDA Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring Award 2025!  The deadline has been extended to 4/25/25.

The goal of the award is to honor and acknowledge principal investigators (PIs) for excellent postdoctoral scholar mentoring, and to recognize both the value of quality mentoring and its impact on the career path of postdoctoral scholars. It will highlight the unique opportunities and challenges of mentoring postdoctoral scholars, who are poised to become the next generation of academic and scientific leaders. This award is seen as an effective way to spread the culture of awareness of the critical role the faculty play in the academic/career development of postdoctoral scholars, and further, to recognize the importance of postdoctoral scholars to MIT’s mission.

To nominate your PI, please upload your nomination here<https://forms.gle/Uc62tc5Q63yDjzXv7> <https://forms.gle/Uc62tc5Q63yDjzXv7> where you outline why your PI should receive this award following the criteria defined below!

Eligibility and Award Categories
Previous winners of the award will not be considered for the award this year. Nominations for all other PIs, including those who were nominated last year, are welcomed. Current MIT faculty, principal research scientists, and senior research scientists, who are in good standing at MIT, mentoring current postdoctoral scholars are eligible for the award.
This year, the award will have two categories:
1) Early Career Mentor Award: Mentors with less than 8 years of postdoctoral mentoring experience will be considered for this category.
2) Established Mentor Award: Mentors with 8 or more years of postdoctoral mentoring experience will be considered for this category.
 Nomination Process
The primary nomination must be submitted by a current MIT postdoctoral scholar, who may organize supporting statements from additional current and former postdoctoral scholars. The nominating postdoc can write a cover letter (maximum 2 pages) highlighting different aspects from all supporting statements. We accept only one nomination for a PI and expect current postdoctoral scholars in the group to coordinate among themselves to submit only a single nomination. The nomination need not mention the category.
Criteria
The nominees will be reviewed based on demonstrated strengths in some or all of the following areas:

  *
Excellence in fostering and encouraging professional skills development and growth towards independence
  *
Ability to foster an inclusive work environment where postdoctoral mentees across a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives are empowered to engage in the mentee-mentor relationship
  *
Ability to support postdoctoral mentees in their pursuit of a chosen career path
  *
A commitment to a continued professional mentoring relationship with mentees, beyond the limit of the postdoctoral term

Nominations will close on 04/25/2025 at 11:59 PM EST. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact pda-alumni at mit.edu<mailto:pda-alumni at mit.edu> (Dani Coogan, PDA Alumni Chair).


Best wishes,
Your PDA

Dani Coogan, Ph.D.
PDA Alumni Chair
KN4ZUI
NASEM Mirzayan Fellow 2023
Postdoctoral Associate
Space Telecommunications, Astronomy, and Radiation Laboratory




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