An Engaging Start

On February 21, the first meeting of the newly formed Postdoc Advisory Board was held in the Peter/McKenna Room in the Cohon University Center. Eighteen postdocs from across the university, along with Vice Provost for Faculty Shelley Anna and Maggie Sikora and Margo Littell from the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs, gathered over lunch to meet one another, share their hopes for the advisory board, and discuss their experiences and expectations as postdocs at CMU.

The conversation was substantial and engaging, and a few themes began emerging, including the need for opportunities to build community that can lead to enriching, interdisciplinary collaborations–and much more. The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs is excited to work together with our postdoc colleagues to strengthen the postdoc experience, now and in the future.

To get a visual overview of postdocs’ most pressing priorities, take a look at this word cloud, which was created using the Advisory Board members’ responses to the question, “What are you most excited about related to potential opportunities for the Postdoc Advisory Board?”

Thank you to all the postdocs who attended this month’s meeting! If you are interested in participating on the Postdoc Advisory Board, please reach out to us at graded@andrew.cmu.edu. We will plan our next meeting soon.

Postdoc Distribution List

The CMU Special Faculty/Postdoc Distribution List is a moderated list open to all postdocs and special faculty at CMU. Request to join with your Andrew email address. Postdocs are not automatically subscribed to this list, so please click the link!

NCFDD (National Center for Faculty Diversity and Development)

NCFDD is a leading provider of professional development in higher education. CMU has an institutional membership, so be sure to take advantage of this resource if you haven't already! To do so, go here and select Carnegie Mellon University from the list of members. Then, select “Activate My Membership” and complete the registration form using your CMU email address. Finally, a confirmation email will include an “Activate Account” link. Please note that the myriad resources available through this organization are not limited to professional development opportunities for faculty or future faculty. This resource is available to all postdocs, not just faculty or future faculty.

Two offerings to explore:

The Core Curriculum: This series offers 10 key skills and provides the opportunity to complete them at your own pace. The skills include “Every Semester Needs a Plan” and “The Art of Saying ‘No.’”

The NCFDD Mentor Map: Skill #7 of The Core Curriculum, “Cultivating Your Network of Mentors & Sponsors,” offers a webinar that fully introduces this tool. You can access a visual representation of the Mentor May here.

Future Faculty Program

The Future Faculty Program (FFP) provides postdocs with a way to engage with the full range of services at The Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation and to document their professional development with teaching. You will have the opportunity to get direct feedback on your teaching (this can be a guest lecture, if you don't have a teaching appointment), attend seminars, and get feedback on a teaching statement as well as a syllabus for a hypothetical or real course.

You do not have to be enrolled in the FFP program to take advantage of these services, but it can be helpful to have this on your CV when applying to faculty jobs (and is a good way to get to know our services!). Learn more about FFP here!

The Future Faculty Program has a rolling enrollment process, and you can join at any time by emailing eberly-assist@andrew.cmu.edu.

Welcome to the Postdoc Spotlight column, where you can get to know a few of your postdoc colleagues! Thank you to Mai Lee Chang, Asma Motiwala, and Roberto Vargas for answering questions for The Postdoc Post.

Mai Lee Chang (she/her)

Postdoctoral Researcher at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute

Hometown: Oshkosh, Wisconsin

What are your academic and/or professional goals?

My professional goals are to advance AI technologies that enrich society by upholding human values, mitigating unintentional harm, and enhancing quality of life. This involves designing systems that are trustworthy, fair, and socially intelligent. Specifically, my research has enabled robotic teammates to treat human teammates fairly as well as pioneering avenues for technology adoption to support aging in place.

Tell us about a significant moment in your journey at CMU so far.



I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with my amazing supervisors, Prof. Jodi Forlizzi and Prof. John Zimmerman, along with brilliant student research assistants on the AI-CARING project. The goal of this project is to explore how we can design AI agents to support older adults to prolong their time living at home, especially when they start experiencing cognitive decline. We wanted to seek the perspectives of healthy older adults and older adults who are experiencing cognitive impairment and their caregivers. However, recruiting participants proved more challenging than anticipated. It took visits to over 40 local senior centers to successfully complete three studies.

What do you like to do in your time away from academic work?

I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. Whether we're exploring new restaurants, catching a movie, hiking, or camping, every moment together is cherished. Additionally, I enjoy going to church and participating in Bible study sessions.

Tell us about your last memorable meal. What was it, where did you have it, and who were you with?

My last memorable meal was a delightful New Year’s Eve dinner with my family and cousins at my parents’ house. My brother and sister-in-law prepared the perfect pho noodle soup, which we all savored. To add to the joyous atmosphere, my sister and I organized entertaining games with prizes for everyone, spanning from our youngest cousins, age 5, to our aunts and uncles in their 80s. Laughter and joy filled the air, creating beautiful memories.

What’s your favorite thing about Pittsburgh?

One of my favorite things about Pittsburgh is that it is a city that’s at the forefront of innovation and technology. It exudes an atmosphere where all things are possible.

Asma Motiwala (she/her)

Research Scientist at ECE and CNBC  

What are your academic and/or professional goals?

My goal is to be able to lead a research program that investigates how the brain gives rise to cognitive functions such as decision making and planning. I want to study these processes from a theoretical perspective using computational and statistical methods.

Tell us about a significant moment in your journey at CMU so far.

My first visit to CMU in 2016 as a summer visiting graduate student was one of my most significant moments in my journey at CMU. At the time, I was in grad school at a small private research institute in Lisbon, Portugal. At that time, we were still a very small institute in Lisbon and I was the only female computational researcher there at the time. When I visited CMU, the groups I interacted with included a handful of incredibly talented female computational members. Being around them made a huge impression on me. It gave me much needed confidence and a sense of belonging that I hadn’t realized I was missing. That experience, and then several subsequent ones, underscored for me the importance of representation. And my experience during that visit was a significant factor in my choosing to come to CMU for my postdoc.

What do you like to do in your time away from academic work? 

I love to spend time with my cats, do gardening and ceramics.

Tell us about your last memorable meal. What was it, where did you have it, and who were you with?

My last memorable meal was eating grilled fish at a beachside restaurant in Lisbon. My colleagues and I recently visited Lisbon for one of the most prominent conferences in our field. The day before the conference we went out for lunch and had the most enormous sea bass I have ever eaten. It was more than 1.5 feet long and the four of us were barely able to finish it, with the most incredible view in the background.

What’s your favorite thing about Pittsburgh?

I really like that Pittsburgh has three large city parks. I enjoy being able to go to the parks for walks and that doing so is really easy given their proximity. 

Roberto Vargas (they/he)

Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Dietrich College, Psychology Department

Hometown: San Antonio, Texas

What are your academic and/or professional goals?

My research largely focuses on understanding how people represent conceptual information both at the behavioral and neural level (using fMRI) and how concept maps--reflecting a collective set of concept associations--influence decisions we make. Critically, I examine this topic through an ecologically conscious lens by asking how facets of our identity (e.g., race; gender; economic background) and our informational ecosystems (e.g., bias from news sources; social environment) are reflected in social biases we hold and the decisions we make when engaging with our societal environment (e.g., public-serving institutions).

Tell us about a significant moment in your journey at CMU so far.

Considering I have been affiliated with the university for ~9 years now, I have had so many significant moments at CMU. It’s hard to decide whether it was moving here to work as a research assistant, the day I heard I got into graduate school, or whether it was receiving the email notifying me that I was awarded the Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship. Recently, I would say it was a De Fer opening in Hunt Library. Their light roast is incredible.

What do you like to do in your time away from academic work? 

As a hobbyist scholar of pop culture, I watch a lot of movies. As of March 1, I am 19 movies into my goal to watch 100 previously unseen movies this year. Other than that, I do a lot of cooking (mostly Mexican food), lift weights, and play Dungeons and Dragons when the opportunity arises.

Tell us about your last memorable meal. What was it, where did you have it, and who were you with?

Even though the espresso martini from DiAnoia’s or the “Killer Tofu” appetizer from Soju would both be prime candidates, I have to go with Hook’s Fish and Chicken, the six-piece chicken tender dinner with no slaw and “extra seasoning.” Wash it down with an ice-cold Coke Zero; it will change your life.

What’s your favorite thing about Pittsburgh?

It’s the best city no one knows about. Breathtaking views around every corner; plenty of green space; amazing food and drinks in tucked away places; it’s affordable and accessible; it feels like one big friendly neighborhood. I would stay here forever if I could.