A unique opportunity to introduce promising researchers from around the world to the inclusive, top-tier community of scholars at UBC Science.
The Early Career Invited Lecture initiative gives units within UBC Science a unique opportunity to introduce promising researchers from around the world to the inclusive, top-tier community of scholars already working within the Faculty.
It enables units to more strategically identify top candidates for future faculty searches, increases UBC's visibility within major research groups outside of Canada, showcases talented graduate students and post-docs to our own trainees, and provides career mentorship to invited scholars.
Note: The Early Career Invited Lecture Award is temporarily closed for 2023. Please check back later for more details!
The process
Departments and academic units identify top senior graduate students and post-docs in their fields. These rising stars are invited to UBC Vancouver to deliver a unit-level lecture, network, and experience British Columbia. Funding is provided from the Dean of Science, the Office of the Provost and Vice-President Academic, and the Strategic Initiatives Fund to cover the costs of travel and accommodation.
Criteria
- The scholar must be from a historically under-represented group
- The scholar must have completed at least three years in a PhD or already be a post-doc
- Nominees must be clearly differentiated—through awards, funding, affiliations—as rising stars in their area
- Nominees must be suitable for a research-stream appointment
- The scholar must not have any ties to UBC (undergraduate, graduate, post-doc) and must not be a collaborator with a UBC researcher
- Nominations must come from heads or directors of UBC Science units and be sent directly to ADR for approval. There are no deadlines
- Invited lectures do not replace interviewing a candidate for research positions. If there is a current search in the same field, then the candidate should be invited to apply for the position and not this award
Recent Recipients
Nidhi Kaihnsa, Brown University (2022)
INVITING UNIT: MATHEMATICS
Nidhi Kaihnsa is a Prager Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics at Brown University. She completed her PhD from Max Planck Institute, Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig. Her current research interests lie on the intersection of dynamical systems, chemical reaction networks, and real and convex algebraic geometry.
“I am happy to have received the UBC Science Early Career Invited Lecture Award. It was an incredible opportunity to share my research and to interact with the faculty at UBC.”
Amy Herbert, Stanford University (2022)
INVITING UNIT: DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY
Amy Herbert is a postdoctoral fellow in David Kingsley’s lab at Stanford University where she investigates the genetic mechanisms behind evolution in vertebrates, particularly in the context of trait gain. In this work, she has been developing new vertebrate model systems including the sea robin fish and the fourspine stickleback fish. Originally from Wyoming, Amy received her Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis where she studied the molecular mechanisms of myelination in the lab of Kelly Monk.
“I was thrilled to receive the UBC Science Early Career Invited Lecture Award and to present my research to the Department of Zoology. I had a memorable experience meeting with both faculty and students and learning about the exciting research happening in the Department. This award gave me the unique opportunity to form connections with scientists in my field, which will benefit my future research endeavours.”
Marlou Slot, National Institute of Standards and Technology (2022)
INVITING UNIT: STEWART BLUSSON QUANTUM MATTER INSTITUTE
Marlou Slot is a Rubicon Postdoctoral Fellow and NIST-Georgetown PREP Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She received her PhD from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on engineering novel electronic quantum matter at will: from fractals to flat bands, built atom by atom (in a scanning tunneling microscope) or created layer by layer (twisted van der Waals materials).
“Receiving the Early Career Invited Lecture Award was a tremendous honor and compliment! It was wonderful to be hosted at the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute colloquium and I look back on inspiring discussions with students and faculty, paving the way for future collaborations.”
Sophia Sanborn, University of California, Berkley (2022)
INVITING UNIT: MATHEMATICS
Sophia Sanborn is a Post-Doctoral Scholar in the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research on the neural computation of group invariant and equivariant representations bridges computational neuroscience and machine learning research and incorporates tools from group theory and harmonic analysis into neural networks. She received her PhD from UC Berkeley in 2021 as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.
"It was a pleasure and honor to deliver the Early Career Invited Lecture and to engage with the mathematics community at UBC. The many interesting conversations I had during my visit have already resulted in new collaborations.”
Past Recipients
Carolina Lucas, Yale University (2021)
INVITING UNIT: MICROBIOLOGY & IMMUNOLOGY
Siddhi Pathak, Chennai Mathematical Institute (2021)
INVITING UNIT: MATH
Kelvin Bates, Harvard University (2021)
INVITING UNIT: CHEMISTRY
Anna Seigal, University of Oxford (2021)
INVITING UNIT: MATHEMATICS
Megan Jackson, University of California (2021)
INVITING UNIT: CHEMISTRY
Eunice Chan, Western University (2021)
INVITING UNIT: MATHEMATICS
Melissa Emory, University of Toronto (2021)
INVITING UNIT: MATHEMATICS
Helen Jenne, Institut Denis Poisson (2021)
INVITING UNIT: MATHEMATICS
Aline Ramires, Paul Scherrer Institute (2021)
INVITING UNIT: QUANTUM MATTER INSTITUTE
Nina Holden, ETH Zurich (2020)
INVITING UNIT: MATHEMATICS
Giuliana Rossi, EPFL in Lausanne (2020)
INVITING UNIT: MICHAEL SMITH LABS
Sarah Denny, Stanford University (2019)
INVITING UNIT: MICHAEL SMITH LABS
Ni Feng, Yale University (2020)
INVITING UNIT: ZOOLOGY
Ellen Vitercik, Carnegie Mellon University (2019)
INVITING UNIT: COMPUTER SCIENCE
Cayleih Robertson, McMaster University (2019)
INVITING UNIT: ZOOLOGY
Stephanie Barbon, California Santa Barbara (2019)
INVITING UNIT: CHEMISTRY
Amelia Palermo, The Scripps Research Institute (2019)
INVITING UNIT: CHEMISTRY
Marie Richard-Lacroix, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (2019)
INVITING UNIT: CHEMISTRY
Nadia Tsvetkov, York University (2019)
INVITING UNIT: MICHAEL SMITH LABS
Kyla Ost, University of Utah (2019)
INVITING UNIT: MICHAEL SMITH LABS
Rosalyn Falconer, University of Edinburgh (2019)
INVITING UNIT: CHEMISTRY