Each year, the Postdoctoral Awards for Research Excellence (PARE) are given in recognition of the research promise demonstrated by individual postdoctoral scholars. Meet this year’s recipients and learn about their areas of interest.
The PARE awards are open to postdoctoral scholars in all disciplines and are designed to assist them in their continued professional development by supporting the recipients in conference travel, purchasing books, lab materials, or engaging in other scholarly activities that directly enhance the individual’s professional growth. Each recipient receives a monetary award of $1,200 along with a plaque.
Aobo Li is a postdoctoral research associate and COSMS Fellow in our Department. He is described by his professors as a “rising star in the neutrino and nuclear physics community.” He leverages artificial intelligence to facilitate the experimental search of neutrino-less double-beta decay – part of an effort to explain why there was matter left after the Big Bang instead of only pure energy. His efforts to stay informed about new tools in machine learning (and immediately learn how to best apply them to experiments) has already led to several notable achievements. Li’s expertise and leadership provide a unique educational opportunity for UNC graduate and undergraduate students.