Steadman Awards
The Steadman Family Postdoctoral Associate Prize in Interdisciplinary Research provides a monetary award recognizing outstanding postdoctoral associates or postdoctoral fellows at the University of Rochester whose research exemplifies the importance of multiple perspectives and/or cross-disciplinary approaches toward examining high impact questions of society.
The 2024 Steadman Awards and presentations will take place on Monday, September 30, 2024 in the Hawkins-Carlson Room of Rush Rhees Library on the River Campus. The entire University of Rochester community is invited to attend the presentations and reception following.
Eligibility and Prizes
Candidates must be a current postdoctoral associate or postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rochester. Candidates from all areas of the University of Rochester are welcome to apply.
Finalists will be selected to participate in a four-minute oral presentation to a panel of judges at the Steadman Awards Celebration.
Awards:
- Steadman Award - $2,000
- Award for Interdisciplinary Research - $750
- Award for Innovative Research - $750
How to Apply
Applications for the 2024 Steadman Awards have closed. They will reopen around August 2025.
Please direct any questions to kristina.lantzky-eaton@rochester.edu.
Previous Steadman Awards
The Steadman Family Awards is an event held every year during National Postdoc Appreciation Week where postdocs present their research in three minutes to a panel of judges and an audience of the University community. Competitors had only three minutes and two slides to convey their work in plain language during the event.
2023 Award
The 2023 $2,000 Steadman Family Postdoctoral Associate Prize in Interdisciplinary Research was given to Christina Heil, who holds a joint postdoc position in the labs of John Lueck and Charles Thornton. Heil uses “genetic engineering and molecular biology techniques combined with bioinformatics analysis” to investigate the neuromuscular disease myotonic dystrophy, for which there is no cure.
In addition, the Award for Innovative Research of $750 was given to Fanju Meng, a postdoc in the biomedical genetics lab of Patrick Murphy. Meng investigates the effects of toxicants on gene expression in developing embryos by “bridging developmental biology, environmental toxicology, and epigenetics.”
The Award for Interdisciplinary Research of $750 went to Damian Sowinski, a postdoc in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, who considers “how agency emerges from the physical substrate of the world, a question of profound importance to humanity’s understanding of itself and the biosphere it is a part of.”
