MIT Postdoctoral Association - MIT PDA

Hi! I’m Yibei, the IT & Information Committee Chair of the MIT Postdoctoral Association (PDA). I’m a postdoc at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. I joined the PDA because I enjoy building tools and systems that make it easier for our community to stay connected and informed.

Over the past semester, I’ve been working behind the scenes to keep the PDA calendar updated with events across the community, including PDA sports, game nights, the buddy program, art/painting events, and book club. I’ve also helped with technical tasks such as organizing buddy program groups and supporting small automation and coding projects that help our events run more smoothly.

This semester, I’m focused on making it easier for postdocs to find and track PDA events, improving how we manage event information, and building small tools that support our programs behind the scenes. My goal is to make the infrastructure invisible but effective so the community events can shine.

I’m always happy to hear suggestions for tools or improvements that could help the PDA run better. Feel free to reach out via email pda-www[at]mit[dot]edu and/or find me on MIT slack!

I’m Vas , a Postdoctoral Associate in MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Co-Chair of the Professional Development Committee at the Postdoctoral Association. My research brings together materials science, physics, and chemistry to advance brain-inspired computing for energy-efficient AI.

Since joining the PDA in November 2025, I’ve been especially interested in helping fellow postdocs connect across fields, explore different career paths, and find opportunities for collaboration and growth. I care about creating spaces where postdocs can learn from others, exchange ideas, and think more openly about what comes next.

Through my role in the PDA, I collaborate closely with the MIT Career Advising & Professional Development (CAPD) to organize events that offer practical insight into careers across academia, industry, and startups. In December 2025, I co-organized and co-chaired the Professional Development Startup Panel & Workshop, which brought postdocs together with founders and industry mentors to discuss innovation, research translation and careers beyond academia. I also helped chair the Early-Career Faculty Panel organized by the PDA Alumni Committee, where postdocs heard direct perspectives on the transition into faculty roles and the realities of early academic careers.

This semester, I hope to continue building opportunities for the MIT postdoc community to connect with professionals across sectors, while also expanding links with academic institutions in the UK and Europe.

If there are career topics, professional development events, or collaborations you’d like to see, I’d be very glad to hear your ideas. You can reach me at [email protected], message me on Slack, or come say hello at one of our upcoming events.

Poornima Dubey is a translational scientist and entrepreneur whose work bridges nanomedicine, cancer biology with an interest in healthcare AI. She earned her Ph.D. in Nanotechnology from IIT Roorkee, and her research journey includes positions at UCL School of Pharmacy, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Maryland, and MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Her research interests span from gold nanoparticle-based therapeutics and non-viral gene delivery systems including lipid nanoparticles, to protein engineering of Fc fusion biologics, and most recently, applying AI to early disease detection in healthcare.

As Professional Development Committee Chair, Poornima is committed to helping postdocs explore career paths beyond the traditional academic track. She organized a startup workshop series featuring MIT postdoc alumni who founded companies, creating space for postdocs to learn firsthand about the transition from bench to venture. She brings a deep commitment to mentorship, innovation, and empowering postdocs to see entrepreneurship as a viable and rewarding career path.