11th Annual MBI Postdoctoral Recognition Awards
Sponsored by the Molecular Biology Institute and the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
The 11th Annual MBI Postdoctoral Recognition Awards ceremony was held May 6, 2009. The awards were made possible by generous donations from Nobel Laureate and MBI Founding Director Paul Boyer, Mrs. Phyllis Parvin and the Parvin Foundation, Dr. James and Joan Peter, and Amgen Inc. Nominations of outstanding candidates were solicited and three $10,000 awards were given to honor academic excellence in Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology at UCLA. In addition, four $2,000 research excellence awards were presented. The Selection Committee, consisting of four distinguished UCLA faculty in the Chemical and Life Sciences, reviewed the nominations and chose the following exceptional postdoctoral fellows to receive Recognition Awards:.
Paul Ha-Yeon Cheong, Ph.D. (Mentor: Ken Houk)
Recipient of the Amgen Award
Hongtao Liu, Ph.D. (Mentor: Chentao Lin)
Recipient of the Parvin Foundation Award
Roberto Ferrari, Ph.D. (Mentor: Siavash Kurdistani)
Recipient of the Boyer-Peter Award
Postdoctoral Special Recognition Awardees and our Donors:
1st Row: Paul Ha-Yeon Cheong (Amgen Award), Hongtao Liu (Parvin Foundation Award), Roberto Ferrari (Boyer-Peter Award)
2nd Row: Dr. Stephen Hitchcock (Amgen, Inc.), Dr. Paul Boyer (Donor), Dr. James Peter (Donor)
Note: Not pictured, Mrs. Phyllis Parvin (Donor), who was unable to attend this year’s ceremony
Postdoctoral Merit Awardees, their Mentors, and our Donors:
1st Row seated: Carol Linster (S. Clarke lab), Philip Liu (R. Modlin lab), Paul Ha-Yeon Cheong (K. Houk lab), Roberto Ferrari (S. Kurdistani lab), Hongtao Liu (C. Lin lab), Mijeong Kang (J. Feigon lab), Brandon Davies (S. Young lab)
2nd Row standing: Stephen Hitchcock, Steven Clarke, John Adams, Ken Houk, Siavash Kurdistani, Chentao Lin, Juli Feigon,
Stephen Young, James Peter, Paul Boyer
Thanks go to the members of the Selection Committee, chaired by Prof. Larry Simpson, for their extensive efforts, to Chemistry & Biochemistry Chair Al Courey for hosting the event this year, and to Bo Tendis, Mandy Bell and Gail Panatier for handling all of the details.
For additional photos of the ceremony click here