Congratulations to Dr. Marla Eisenberg and Dr. Georgios B. Giannakis on receiving the 2022 Faculty Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Advising!
Marla Eisenberg, Professor, Department of Pediatrics
"The academic life can be hard, but I have found through my own experience that a supportive mentor can make it easier. My goal in mentoring postdocs is to encourage them to carve out an area of our shared research that they are passionate about and can take the lead on. Then they use that energy and enthusiasm to learn new skills and branch off even further to new ideas that are all their own, developing their own programs of research. I want to support my postdoc colleagues in building satisfying careers in areas that are meaningful to them, while also achieving a reasonable level of balance with life outside of work."
Georgios B. Giannakis, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
"After 35 years in academia, it has become crystal-clear to me that among the great legacies of a faculty member is advising-and-mentoring students and postdoctoral researchers. I consider myself lucky to have my professional career (and soon thereafter personal-life) path crossed with more than 26 postdocs, who after 2-3 years with my research group have pursued outstanding careers. They are my points of pride, and my ambassadors of diversity and excellence they attained in the universities, government agencies, and industry they joined; more than a third from underrepresented groups. Diversity broadly includes gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, and sexuality; but also embraces different backgrounds, philosophies, and perspectives, thus fostering a culture of equity and inclusion in an ecosystem, where all voices are heard, and practices are respected. My approach to postdoctoral advising simply leverages the model of their follow-on career, namely teaching/mentoring, professional service, and/or research, and fundraising."