Postdocs honored for their achievements, diverse expertise

2019 Postdoctoral Performance Award recipients from left to right: Arun Mannodi Kanakkithodi (NST), Cunming Liu (XSD), Niranjan Parab (XSD), Marco Tulio Fonseca Rodrigues (CSE), Qi Li (ES), Jianzhe Liu (ES). Not pictured: Yingjie Li (CSE)

Seven postdoctoral appointees received the 2019 Postdoctoral Performance Award at a recent reception held in their honor. Laboratory Director Paul Kearns and Leadership Institute Director Philip Anderson presented awards in three categories, Basic Research, Applied Research, and Engineering Research.

Paul Kearns told those gathered at the reception, “Postdocs are an essential part of laboratory. Their achievements in basic research, engineering research, and applied research reflect diverse expertise among Argonne’s postdoctoral community and support our mission to accelerate science to drive U.S. prosperity and security.”

The winners included:

2019 PSA officers and board members from left to right: Chris Otolski (CSE), Toru Hatsukade (MSD), Laura Boon (ASD), Thomas Gage, secretary (NST), Vallary Bhopatkar (HEP), Hales Swift (ES), Laboratory Director Paul Kearns, Tony Montoya, liaison officer (CSE), Kalyan Mutyala (NST), postdoctoral program lead Tina Henne. Current postdocs not pictured: Friederike Wrobel, president (MSD), Lorenzo Nocivelli, vice-president (ES), Ahmed Farghaly, symposium chairperson (CSE), Moncy Yang (CSE), Mojammel Khan (MSD)

Basic Research

• Arun Mannodi Kanakkithodi (NST), whose research increased understanding of the electronic properties of semiconductor materials. As a postdoc, he managed five large projects at the lab — ranging from the development of innovative computational databases and machine-learning models to research for the newly proposed concept of transverse thermoelectric. He was able to make outstanding progress without compromising the quality of his work.
• Cunming Liu (XSD), who, as a principal investigator for advanced photophysics and photochemistry studies, has been allocated more than 20 beamtimes at the Advanced Photon Source and used ultrafast optical spectroscopy at the Center for Nanoscale Materials to advance knowledge of materials for catalysis and energy conversion. Both areas are critically important to the scientific mission of Argonne and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Applied Research

• Marco Tulio Fonseca Rodrigues (CSE), who excelled in applied research for electrochemical energy storage. He made major contributions to multiple lithium-ion battery projects. Many of his research accomplishments enhance the life and safety of batteries and are being incorporated in next-generation development.
• Yingjie Li (CSE), who significantly contributed to applied research for electrochemistry of battery cathode materials, which is especially important to the mission of Argonne and DOE. She worked on a project that partners with Tesla, where she researched and developed the cathode material additive that will be implemented in new products.
• Niranjan Parab (XSD), who was responsible for major developments in multiple laser additive manufacturing projects. His pioneering research on additive manufacturing established Argonne as an important player in this field. GE, GM, Boeing, Raytheon, NASA, and many other companies and laboratories are now looking to collaborate with Argonne due to Niranjan’s research.

Engineering Research

• Jianzhe Liu (ES), who performed pioneering work that resulted in major breakthroughs in the modernization of the electrical grid. His research advances the key technical areas of security and resilience and system operations, power flow, and control. He developed the methodologies, technologies, and tools that are needed for the next-generation grid.
• Qi Li (ES), who showed great ingenuity in developing a set of methods, metrics, and tools related to quantify and propagate uncertainty in building energy models. His research supports critical DOE missions and has led Argonne to become known as the premier lab for studying uncertainty in building energy modeling.

At the reception, Tina Henne, postdoctoral program lead, acknowledged the 2019 board members of the Argonne Postdoctoral Society (PSA) for their service by presenting each member with a Core Values Shout-Out button recognizing their Impact. Board members include:

Henne recognized the PSA board members for their efforts to:

• Develop resources and organizing a seminar to support the needs of international postdocs;
• Build stronger ties with the University of Chicago to enable networking;
• Create community and learning opportunities through organizing monthly events;
• Provide a chance for postdocs to explore career opportunities and showcase their research through the annual Postdoctoral Research and Career Symposium; and
• Make an impact on the Argonne community through lab-wide committee service and contributing to the Core Values forums.

The PSA presented Director Kearns with a certificate of appreciation and a gift of special Italian roast coffee, which the PSA officers learned was a favorite of his, to thank him for his efforts to increase engagement with the lab community and for being attentive to the needs of postdocs.