A new Postdoc and Student Leadership Group (PSLG) launches at Kansas NSF EPSCoR, giving a voice to a vital cohort of ARISE researchers.
With representatives from three college campuses, the new six-member leadership group includes one postdoctoral researcher, four graduate students, and one undergraduate student. Members are evenly distributed across Kansas State University, the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University.
The purpose of this group is to provide direct feedback to project management about the experiences of students and postdocs in the ARISE project. ARISE, which stands for “Adaptive and Resilient Infrastructures driven by Social Equity,” is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) with co-funding from the Kansas Board of Regents.
The PSLG will also help shape activities for professional growth, enable a sense of community across the multi-disciplinary project, and organize poster sessions for the annual symposium.
Group members are expected to:
- Serve as an engaged representative for the postdoc and student contributors from your institution and across the project as a whole
- As a group, be a contributing voice with feedback and recommendations on the project to ensure cohesive progress, inclusion, and innovation
- Commit to regularly recurring meetings (occurrence to be determined by PSLG group)
- Assist with annual meetings including poster sessions, activity ideas, and general involvement
- Assist with ideas for professional development, seminars, trainings, etc.
For questions, contact Liz Ruder, lizruder@ksu.edu.
2023 – 2024 PSLG Members
- Saranga Abeygunawardane, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Wichita State University
- Prudhviraj Dhanapala, Graduate Research Associate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kansas State University
- Madison Graham, Graduate Research Associate in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science, University of Kansas
- Carter Hassman, Undergraduate in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Kansas
- Adithya Melagoda, Graduate Research Associate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Wichita State University
- Adaeze Okeukwu, Graduate Research Associate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kansas State University
