President's and Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

The UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP) and the UC Davis Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (CPFP) offer postdoctoral research fellowships and faculty mentoring to outstanding scholars in all fields whose research, teaching, and service will contribute to the diversity and equal opportunity at the University of California. These contributions may include public service addressing the needs of our increasingly diverse society, efforts to advance equitable access to higher education, or research focusing on underserved populations or understanding inequalities related to race, gender, disability or LGBTQ+. 

Each fall, the program seeks applicants with the potential to bring to their academic careers the critical perspective that comes from their non-traditional educational background or understanding of the experiences of members of groups historically underrepresented in higher education. UC Davis Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellows are selected from the pool of applicants for the University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The UC Davis Program partners with sister programs sponsored by the UC Office of the President, the University of Michigan, and other UC campuses.

2024-2025 President's and Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellows (and Continuing Fellows)

Christian Alvarado, President's Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)

Department: African American and African Studies

Christian is an interdisciplinary historian focusing primarily on the course of decolonization on the African continent during the mid-20th century. He focuses in particular on the event most commonly known as the "Mau Mau Uprising," which accelerated global debates about European imperialism, the ethics of violence within anticolonial resistance movements and the meaning of decolonization itself.

 

Maria Jose Echeverria Landeta, President's Postdoctoral Fellow (2024)

Department: Civil and Environmental Engineering

Maria's work centers on advancing climate justice by retrofitting aging coastal reinforced concrete buildings for earthquake-tsunami multi-hazards intensified by climate change.

Brent Eng, President's Postdoctoral Fellow (2024)

Department: Anthropology

Brent specializes in the study of secularism and religion, migration, and political violence, with a regional focus on the Middle East.

 

Joshua Garcia, President's Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)

Department: Land, Air and Water Resources

Joshua’s research focuses on the effects of municipal compost on soil health in urban agriculture. He's broadly interested in studying how both rural and urban farmers can cultivate healthy and biodiverse soils for sustainable crop production in the face of rapid environmental change.

Romina Garcia, President's Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)

Department: Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies

Romina’s research is grounded in the experiences of women of color, specifically centering the experiences of Black women within the context of domestic violence.​​​​

Brenda Lopez Reyna, President's Postdoctoral Fellow (2024)

Department: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Brenda's research focuses on using low-cost sensors to detect toxic air pollutants in underrepresented communities.​​

Lea Kenigsberg, President's Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)

Department: Mathematics

Lea's work seeks to define and investigate a new algebraic structure on symplectic cohomology, the coproduct.​​​​

J.J. Manson (Nuučaan̓uɫ), President's Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)

Department: American Studies

J.J.’s research focuses on issues around housing, public transportation and environmental sustainability in metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Specifically, J.J. is analyzing the discourses and practices policymakers, activists and community members use to make claims to space adjacent to transit hubs in metro Vancouver. His dissertation is titled, "Indigeneity in urban communities: relationality, dualism, and the lived experiences of Indigenous persons who live in Vancouver and Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada."

Denae Ventura Arredondo, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)

Department: Mathematics

Denae’s work focuses on Ramsey-Turán type problems with the use of geometric tools such as polytopes.

 

 

Antonio de Jesus Torres Hernandez, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)

Department: Mathematics

Antonio’s research mainly focuses on the areas of discrete mathematics, computational geometry and data analysis.​​​​

Gonzalo Hernandez-Hernandez, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow (2024)

Department: Physiology and Membrane Biology (School of Medicine)

Gonzalo's research is geared towards a sex-specific tailored hypertension therapy: a computational model of vascular smooth muscle modulations.

 

Paolina Lu, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow (2024)

Department: American Studies

Paolina investigates the cultural politics of insect agriculture at the intersection of immigrant foodways, future food technologies, and climate affects.

 

 

Cuauhtemoc Quintero Lule, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)

Department: History

Cuauhtemoc’s scholarship examines the expansion of the Nāhuatl language in colonial Mexico.​​​​

Raed El Rafei, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)

Department: Anthropology

Raed's research examines contemporary, queer, time-based media from the Middle East through an interdisciplinary approach using film and media studies, Middle Eastern studies, queer theory, and ethnography.

 

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Jo'lene Antonette Saldivar, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow (2024)

Department: Entomology and Nematology

Jo'lene is investigating plant-butterfly dynamics across changing landscapes.

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Bedros Torosian, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow (2024)

Department: History

Bedros researches racial mobilities in Arab and Armenian diasporas, Ottomanism, and gender and masculinity studies from 1890-1914.

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• 2022-2023 President's and Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellows
• Heba Alnajada, President's Postdoctoral Fellow, History
  José Manuel Santillana Blanco, President's Postdoctoral Fellow, American Studies
  Rachel Carlson, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Earth and Planetary Sciences
  Miles Davison, President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Sociology​​​​​
  Mohamad Marwan Jarada, President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Asian American Studies
  Frank Mondelli, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Science and Technology Studies
  Shruti Paranjape, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Physics
  Mauricio E. Ramírez, President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Chicana and Chicano Studies
• 2021-2022 President's and Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellows
• Jennifer Mogannam, President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Anthropology and Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies
  Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu, President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Native American Studies
  Fantasia Painter, President's Postdoctoral Fellow, History
  Edwin Solares, President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Computer Science
  Connie Abril Rojas, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Evolution and Ecology
  Mirian G. Martinez-Aranda, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Sociology
• 2020-21 President's and Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellows
• Giovanni Batz (Gio B'atz'), President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Native American Studies
  Esmat Elhalaby, President's Postdoctoral Fellow, History
  Vladimir Emiliano Diaz-Ochoa, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Medical Microbiology and Immunology
  Alyssa J. Griffin, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Earth and Planetary Sciences
  Prashanth S. Venkataram, Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Application Details

The UC Davis Chancellors Postdoctoral Fellow is selected from the pool of applicants for the University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The mentor’s letter should address the department’s future hiring plans and the applicant’s potential for appointment at UC Davis.

• Eligibility
• Applicants must hold a Ph.D. from an accredited university before the start of their fellowship.  Successful applicants must present documents demonstrating that they are legally authorized to work in the United States without restrictions or limitations.  Individuals granted deferred action status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are encouraged to apply.
• Evaluation and Selection
• Candidates in all fields are evaluated by faculty reviewers in their own fields and in related fields. Faculty reviewers will evaluate candidates according to their academic accomplishments, the strength of their research proposal, and their potential for faculty careers that will contribute to diversity and equal opportunity through their teaching, research and service. Faculty reviewers also may consider the mentor's potential to work productively with the candidate and commitment to gender equity and diversity in higher education. Final selections may be made by faculty review panels or senior academic administrators (provost, vice provost, vice chancellor). Evaluation and selection details for the President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. 
• Awards, Salary, and Tenure
•  Awards will be announced in April-May and be made to applicants who show promise for tenure-track appointments on the UC Davis campus. Each award is for a 12-month period in residence, renewable for one year upon demonstration of academic productivity and participation in program events. All salaries will be in accordance with the UC Davis Salary Scale for Postdoctoral Scholars.   The award includes health insurance, vision and dental benefits, paid sick leave, maternity leave, and four weeks of paid time off. It also provides up to $5,000 for research-related and program travel expenses. 
• Frequently Asked Questions
•   President's and Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship FAQ