Past Winners
Congratulations to Our Winners for Best Talks
SBU 3MT and Postdoc Spotlight 2026 Award Ceremony. From left to right: Graduate Dean Celia Marshik, Shafeeque Mohammedali (People's Choice), Anwesha Sil (3rd Place), Anthony Bogetti (2nd Place), Myeongjin Bae (1st Place), Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation Monica Bugallo, Director of Research Training Initiatives Molly Lotz
Location: SAC Auditorium
Date: Friday, March 13, 2026 from 10 am to 3 pm
| Award | First Name | Last Name | Graduate Program | Talk Title |
| 1st | Myeongjin | Bae | Neurology | Why Balance Gets Harder with Age: What the Brain Tells Us |
| 2nd | Anthony | Bogetti | Laufer Center | The Tiny Things That Do Everything Inside You |
| 3rd | Anwesha | Sil | Radiology | A Smarter Way to Deliver Cancer Treatment |
| People's Choice | Shafeeque | Mohammedali | Neurology | Why Some People Age Faster: The Gene–Metabolism Connection |
Spotlight 2026 Competitors
| Name | Program | Talk Title and Video Recording |
| Yasmeen Abdelaziz | Chemistry | Giving Waste Another Chance! |
| Myeongjin Bae | Neurology | Why Balance Gets Harder with Age: What the Brain Tells Us |
| Anthony Bogetti | Laufer Center | The Tiny Things That Do Everything Inside You |
| Yixin Li | Radiology | Seeing Through the Forest: Better 3D Breast Cancer Imaging |
| Paul Griffin | Chemistry | Toward a Colorful Future with Iron and Cyanide |
| Nihal Medatwal | Cancer Center | A Tiny Lipid That Controls Cancer Cell Behavior |
| Shafeeque Mohammedali | Neurology | Why Some People Age Faster: The Gene–Metabolism Connection |
| Anwesha Sil | Radiology | A Smarter Way to Deliver Cancer Treatment |
| Aaron Sloutski | Materials Science and Chemical Engineering | Soft Solution for a Hard Problem |
Congratulations to Our Winners for Best Talks
SBU 3MT and Postdoc Spotlight 2025 Award Ceremony. From left to right: President of Stony Brook Alumni Association Neil Butterklee, Interim Director for the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs Molly Lotz, Antonio Novaes (1st Place), Lissa Fortes Soares (2nd Place), Jonathan Plessis-Belair (3rd Place), Maryam Azmi, Chenyu Zhang, Sai Abasolo, Graduate Dean Celia Marshik
Location: Wang Center Lecture Halls 1 and 2
Date: Friday, March 28, 2025 from 10 am to 2 pm
| Award | First Name | Last Name | Graduate Program | Talk Title |
| 1st | Antonio | Novaes | Medicine | Turning Off Kidney Damage, Turning On Hope |
| 2nd | Lissa | Fortes Soares | Public Health | How to be Stronger in Older Age |
| 3rd | Jonathan | Plessis-Belair | Radiology | Brain Aging on Trial |
Spotlight 2025 Competitors
| Name | Program | Talk Title and Video Recording |
|---|---|---|
| Varghese Babu | Materials Science and Chemical Engineering | A Cold Hard Truth |
| Monoj Das | Medicine | Rewriting Genetic Recipes: Highlighting a Cure for Kidney Disease |
| Ishrat Dollan | SoMAS | Rain of Terror |
| Lissa Fortes Soares | Public Health | How to be Stronger in Older Age |
| Win Lin | Physics and Astronomy | Searching for the Dark Photon |
| Kanti Nandan Mihooliya | Medicine | Breaking the Resistance! |
| Antonio Novaes | Medicine | Turning Off Kidney Damage, Turning On Hope |
| Jonathan Plessis-Belair | Neurobiology & Behavior | Brain Aging on Trial |
| Ying-Jen Yang | Laufer Center | Decoding Life’s Miniature Machines by “Shrinking” the Physics of Everyday Engines |
Congratulations to Our Winners for Best Talks
Our best talk winners from the 2023 SBU Postdoc Spotlight: 1st Place Ankita Singh (right), 2nd Place Gabriel Matos (left), and 3rd Place Katherine Gallagher (middle)
Location: Wang Center Lecture Hall 2
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2026 from 4 pm to 6 pm
| Award | First Name | Last Name | Graduate Program | Talk Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Ankita | Singh |
Microbiology and Immunology | Fixing Leakage in the Gut |
| 2nd | Gabriel | Matos |
Microbiology and Immunology | Stopping the Fungi Apocalypse |
| 3rd | Katherine | Gallagher |
IACS & SoMAS | The Mystery of the Gap |
Spotlight 2023 Competitors
| Name | Program | Talk Title and Video |
|---|---|---|
| Ciro Riccio | Physics and Astronomy | The Crack in the Mirror |
| Mitu Sharma | Chemistry | Can Chemistry Unlock the Treasure of Bountiful Crops? |
| Katherine Gallagher | Institute for Advanced Computational Science & School of Marine and Atmospheric Science | The Mystery of the Gap |
| Gabriel Matos | Microbiology and Immunology | Stopping the Fungi Apocalypse |
| Arshad Mehmood | Institute for Advanced Computational Science & Chemistry | Painting with Light: A Journey of Interpretation |
| Atul Pradhan | Medicine | Tuberculosis: A Present Challenge |
| Ankita Singh | Microbiology and Immunology | Fixing Leakage in the Gut |
Congratulations to Our Winners for Best Talks
Our best talk winners from the 2022 SBU Postdoc Spotlight: 1st Place Tianqi Xie (center)), 2nd Place Julie Burrill(right), and 3rd Place Raphael Lengacher (middle)
Location: Wang Center Lecture Hall 2
Date: Thursday, November 17, 2022 from 4 pm to 6:30 pm
| Award | First Name | Last Name | Graduate Program | Talk Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Tianqi | Xie | Geosciences | |
| 2nd | Julie | Burrill | Alda Center for Communicating Science | |
| 3rd | Raphael | Lengacher | Chemistry |
The Search for Cancer – From a Needle in a Haystack to a Bright Flare |
Spotlight 2022 Competitors
| Name | Program | Talk Title and Video Recording |
|---|---|---|
| Aswathy Nair | Neurobiology & Behavior | |
| Athmanathan Senthilnathan | Ecology & Evolution | |
| Hassane Hamdaoui | Physics & Astronomy | |
| Indhu Varatharajan | Geosciences | |
| Julie Burrill | Alda Center for Communicating Science | |
| Kaushik Mitra | Geosciences | |
| Raphael Lengacher | Chemistry |
The Search for Cancer – From a Needle in a Haystack to a Bright Flare |
| Tianqi Xie | Geosciences | |
| Wenliang (Bill) Li | Physics & Astronomy | |
| Zennur Sekendiz | Dept of Medicine, World Trade Center Health Program |
Understanding the Change in the Minds of 911 First Responders |
Congratulations to Our Winners for Best Talks
Location: Zoom
Date: Thursday, February 25, 2021 from 4 pm to 5:15 pm
| Award | First Name | Last Name | Graduate Program | Talk Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Ethan | Cline | Physics and Astronomy | |
| 2nd | Olivia | Swanson | Neurobiology and Behavior | |
| 3rd (tie) | Kim | Berghaus | Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics | |
| 3rd (tie) | Kristian | Hajny | School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences |
Spotlight 2021 Competitors
| Name | Program | Talk Title and Video Recording |
|---|---|---|
| Laurel Yohe |
Ecology and Evolution | |
| Kristian Hajny |
School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences | |
| Olivia Swanson |
Neurobiology and Behavior | |
| Evgeny Amelchenko |
Anesthesiology |
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Mice living in an interesting or a boring cage differ in aggressiveness |
| Jonas Nascimento Conde | Microbiology and Immunology | |
| Neetika Jaisinghani | Pharmacology | |
| Rebecca Adikes | Biochemistry and Cell Biology | |
| Kim Berghaus | Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics | |
| Ethan Cline | Physics and Astronomy |
Congratulations to Our Winners for Best Talks
Our best talk winners from the 2019 SBU Postdoc Spotlight
1st Place Paola Cepeda (right), 2nd Place (tie) Kevin Sackel (center) and Hillary
Schiff (right)
Location: Wang Center Lecture Hall 2
Date: Thursday, November 14, 2019 from 4 pm to 6:30 pm
| Award | First Name | Last Name | Graduate Program | Talk Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Paola | Cepeda | Graduate School & Linguistics | |
| 2nd | Kevin | Sackel | Mathematics & Simons Center | |
| 2nd | Hillary | Schiff | Neurobiology & Behavior |
Spotlight 2019 Competitors
| Name | Program | Talk Title and Video Recording |
|---|---|---|
| Kasturi Banerjee | Infectious Diseases | |
| Somanon Bhattacharya | Infectious Diseases | |
| Paola Cepeda | Graduate School and Linguistics | |
| Mariano Guardia Clausi | Radiation Oncology | |
| Christina Joselevitch | Neurobiology and Behavior | |
| Diane Kim | Psychiatry and Behavioral Health | |
| Yedukondalu Neelam | Geosciences | |
| Kevin Sackel | Mathematics and Simons Center | |
| Hillary Schiff | Neurobiology and Behavior | |
| Gurtej Singh | Surgery | |
| Yingchao Su | Biomedical Engineering | |
| Stalin Vilcarromero | Infectious Diseases |
The Real Threat for the Hispanic Workers in Suburban Areas of Long Island: Social Barriers and Lyme Disease |
Congratulations to Our Winners for Best Talks
Location: Wang Center Lecture Hall 1
Date: Thursday, November 15, 2018 from 4 pm to 6:30 pm
| Award | First Name | Last Name | Graduate Program | Talk Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Lindsey | Czarnecki | Neurobiology & Behavior | |
| 2nd | Steven | Jaret | Geosciences | |
| 3rd | James | Robertson | Laufer Center |
Spotlight 2018 Competitors
| Name | Program | Talk Title and Video Recording |
|---|---|---|
| Maryam Alavi | Medicine |
A Tiny Protein and One of the Most Common Cause of Cancer-Related Death |
| Harini Krishnan | Physiology and Biophysics | |
| Cristina Lazzarini | Molecular Genetics & Microbiology | |
| Steven Jaret | Geosciences | |
| Evgeni Boriushkin | Medicine | |
| Carlos Perez Lara | Physics and Astronomy | |
| Heidi Preis | Psychology | |
| Oumarou Njoya | Physics and Astronomy | |
| Lindsey Czarnecki | Neurobiology and Behavior | |
| James Robertson | Laufer Center |
Congratulations to Our Winners for Best Talks
Location: Wang Center Lecture Hall 1
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2017 from 4 pm to 6:30 pm
| Award | First Name | Last Name | Graduate Program | Talk Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Krupa | Haranahalli | Chemistry | |
| 2nd | Diana | Amorim | Physics and Astronomy | |
| 3rd | Maria | Rosa | Ecology and Evolution |
Life in transition: Can feeding flexibility help marine animals in a changing environment? |
Spotlight 2017 Competitors
| Name | Program | Talk Title and Video Recording |
|---|---|---|
| Ligia Diana Amorim | Physics and Astronomy | |
| Jozef Bodnar | Mathematics | |
| Emiliano Brini | Laufer Center | |
| Veronica Canoa Roman | Physics and Astronomy | |
| Krupanandan Haranahalli | Chemistry | |
| Hagit Hak | Biochemistry |
There’s someone in my kitchen! How Agrobacterium hijacks plant cells for making food |
| Soumyadeep Mukherjee | Public Health |
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Among 9/11 Responders: An unfortunate legacy of getting bullied in childhood |
| Maria Rosa | Ecology and Evolution |
Life in transition: Can feeding flexibility help marine animals in a changing environment? |
| Kirsten Siebach | Geosciences |
Reading the Martian Rock Record: Stories of a Previously Habitable World |