The Postdoctoral Society of Argonne held a General Assembly meeting on November 18th to introduce candidates for office and present PSA 2014 accomplishments and 2015 goals to the postdoctoral community. Officers were elected via paper and electronic ballot.
The 2015 PSA Officers are:
President–Joshua Bergerson (ES) Joshua Bergerson is currently a Postdoctoral Appointee at Argonne National Laboratory in the Building Energy Decision and Technology Research Program in Center for Energy, Environmental, and Economic Systems Analysis, part of the Energy Systems Division. He received his PhD in Civil Engineering from the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in May 2014. His graduate research focused primarily on uncertainty modeling and analyses, and applying these models and analyses to various uncertain structural systems. Josh recently co-organized the Reliable Engineering Computing 2014 Conference, hosted at IIT in May 2014. He has previously served in on Executive boards, serving as Chapter Vice President and President of the Chi Epsilon IIT Chapter for a total of 4 years. Upon starting at Argonne this past July, he joined the Postdoc Career and Research Symposium Committee, serving as the Poster Session Chair and helping to create the first PSA awards for the poster session. Josh is also a member of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, ASHRAE and American Society of Civil Engineers. Josh’s current work at Argonne is focused on modeling and analyzing the US building stock for assessing adoption rates and corresponding projected national energy use reduction for various energy conservation technologies.
Vice President–Marvin Cummings (XSD) Marvin Cummings joined the X-ray Science Division (XSD) at Argonne National Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher in November 2012, where he is working to develop a new microscopy technique: the synchrotron x-ray scanning tunneling microscope (SXSTM). He earned a Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from Rice University in December 2010; and prior to joining Argonne, received a 1-year appointment as a postdoctoral fellow at the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles, CA, to study the production technology of 6th to 4th century B. C., Attic red-figure and black-figure pottery. Marvin is currently an active member of the Postdoctoral Society of Argonne, serving as a PSA Board Member in 2014. He wishes to serve as vice president of the PSA in 2015, because he believes the PSA is a maturing organization that continues to demonstrate its power and potential; and as vice president, he wishes to continue to support the PSA’s growth, impact, and influence, both here at Argonne and within the greater Chicago community.
Secretary–Rebecca Tissot (MSD) Rebecca Sichel-Tissot grew up in the foothills of central California. She studied Materials Science Engineering at UC Berkeley, graduating with her B.S. in 2005 and her PhD from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011. She moved to Philadelphia to spend two years at Drexel University as a postdoc before coming to Argonne in March 2014. Her research focuses on novel x-ray probes of functional thin film materials. Through her research projects, she has been an APS user since 2005 – in some ways, Argonne feels more like home than anywhere else. Rebecca has a long history of involvement in student organizations, beginning with the Kiwanis club in high school. She was an active Graduate Student Association officer at UW-Madison, responsible for planning social events and new student welcome weekends. Rebecca helped organize the Postdoctoral Research Symposium this year and wants to continue contributing to the postdoc community at Argonne. As Secretary, she will work with lab management to provide more visibility for postdocs and their research within the lab, keep postdocs informed about events in and outside of Argonne, and organize job fairs and career development sessions.
Liaison Officer–Jessica Linville (ES) Jessica Linville started at Argonne National Laboratory as a Postdoc in the Energy Systems division in December of last year. My research is now focused on producing various types of biofuels from organic waste products. In the past year I have participated in many events at Argonne including: Introduce a girl to engineering day, science careers in search of women, the Undergraduate Success Workshop where I presented on how to pick a grad school and grad school advisor, and I helped to organize the Postdoc Fun Run. These activities have helped me to establish a relationship with the Postdoc Program Coordinator, Tina Henne, and the Undergraduate & Graduate Program Lead, Lisa Reed, and the WIST head, Lisa Durham. I believe that I would be a good fit for this position because of these connections as well as my desire to see postdocs more involved in activities around campus. I would like to see more opportunities for postdocs to network with each other to foster collaborations, and hold more social events.
Congratulations to our new officers! And a very special thank you to our outgoing officers who helped drive many new initiatives at the lab this past year. Your leadership and commitment to enhancing the postdoctoral experience at Argonne are top-notch!
2014 Officers:
President, Perry Motsegood (CSE)
Vice President, Jeremy Love (HEP)
Secretary, Andrew Senesi (XSD)
Liaison Officer, Dooshaye Moonshiram (XSD)
The outgoing officers recently presented at the Educational Programs Open House in November. Take a look at the Postdoctoral Society of Argonne Poster!
