Meet the BPA Board!

The BPA Board governs the day-to-day business conducted by the association. The Board has four subcommittees, each of which organize events within their specific portfolio:

  • Committee for Social Events.
  • Committee for Community and Culture.
  • Committee for Professional Development.
  • Committee for Alumni Relations.

Core Leadership

Sirui Ning

President

Chemical Engineering

Sirui is a postdoctoral researcher co-supervised by Profs. Karthik Shekhar and Kranthi Mandadapu. His research interests lie in theoretical biophysics and neuroscience. Before coming to Berkeley, he received his DPhil in theoretical physics from Oxford.

Preeta Pratakshya

Vice President & Professional Development Committee Co-Chair & Alumni Relations Committee Co-Chair

Chemistry

Preeta is a third-year postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry, where she works on developing bio-inspired strategies to design functional protein-based materials for applications in drug delivery and environmental sustainability. Working at the intersection of chemical biology and materials science, she studies how the engineered proteins self-assemble into functional nanostructures and seeks to uncover the molecular principles that guide their behavior. Beyond the lab, Preeta is passionate about mentoring and advocating for women in STEM. 
Hobbies: Traveling, Listening to music, Taking long walks, Exploring new cuisines

Jingyi He

Secretary

Optometry and Vision Science

Jingyi is a postdoc in Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science, specializing in human color vision. Her current work focuses on studying spatiotemporal integration in the human fovea using an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope.

Lining Zheng

Treasurer

California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences

Lining is a postdoc at the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, advised by Dr. Markita Landry. Her research focuses on elucidating the mechanisms of drug delivery vehicles to enable optimal biomacromolecule delivery.

Board Members

Vivek Singh

Social Committee Co-Chair

Chemistry

Vivek is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where he works with Professor Omar Yaghi on designing reticular materials for water harvesting, carbon capture, and selective ion separations. Bridging synthetic chemistry, materials science, and artificial intelligence, his research focuses on developing high-throughput and data-driven approaches to discover and optimize new metal–organic and covalent organic frameworks. He earned his Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he developed chiral metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). Beyond the lab, Vivek is deeply involved in mentoring students, fostering the scientific community, and exploring ways to make materials innovation more sustainable and accessible.
Hobbies: Listening to music, exercising, cooking, and enjoying tea with elaichi.

Michael Sonner

Social Committee Co-Chair

Hexin Liang

Social Committee Co-Chair

Lucas Yang

Social Committee Co-Chair

Marco Freschi

Social Committee Co-Chair

Mechanical Engineering

Marco is a postdoctoral researcher in the Mechanical Engineering Department at UC Berkeley. He got his PhD in Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology from Politecnico di Milano (Milan, Italy). His research project at UC Berkeley deals with morphing materials, particularly biodegradable natural-inspired actuators that will help with reforestation.

Hobbies: Concerts, reading novels, visiting museums, clubbing

Favorite music: Like a Prayer, Madonna

Liliana Piñeros Leyton

Professional Development Committee Co-Chair

Molecular and Cell Biology

Liliana is a first-year postdoctoral researcher in the Heald lab at the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. She is interested in investigating the cellular basis of the conserved scaling relationship between the size of an organism and its metabolic rate described in Kleiber’s law.
Hobbies: Hiking, running, dog training, and reading.

Amir Bitran

General Board Member

Justin Conner

General Board Member

Nina Yvonne Golombek

General Board Member

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Nina is a second-year postdoctoral researcher in the Stolper Lab at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences as well as in the Dawson Lab at the Department of Integrative Biology. Her current research focuses on 'clumped isotope' analysis of methoxyl groups extracted from wood lignin. Isotopic clumping in wood has recently been shown to be a proxy for photorespiration, which in turn, is important for understanding climate change and the responses of terrestrial plants to increasing levels of atmospheric CO2. This research aims to understand the 'isotopic clumping' in (a) different tree tissues, (b) trees grown in different environments/conditions, and (c) throughout the lifetime of long-living trees like redwoods or giant sequoias. She earned her Ph.D. from Dalhousie University in 2024.

Hobbies: Yongmudo, Traditional Archery, Ballroom Dancing

Esther (Jeong Yoon) Kim

General Board Member

Molecular and Cell Biology

Esther is a third year postdoc at the Robey lab in the department of Molecular and Cell Biology. She studies the development of immune cells in the thymus. Esther is broadly interested in how cells differentiate, and on an average day, she spends a lot of time with mice and the flow cytometer.

Hobbies: Watching films (and thinking about what to screen at BPA’s Film Club), playing tennis, and cooking (there is much joy to be found in butter, salt, and sugar)

Favorite song: Soundtrack from Cinema Paradiso

Yizi Mao

General board member

Bioengineering

Yizi Mao serves as a General Board Member of the Berkeley Postdoc Association, supporting initiatives that enhance professional development, community engagement, and advocacy for postdocs at Berkeley.

Jun Zhu

General board member

Molecular and Cell Biology

Jun is a postdoc at Ji lab. Her research focuses on advanced microscopic techniques for biological imaging.

Hobbies: Kayaking, hiking, fitness

Favorite song: Songs by Zhou Shen, Mao Buyi, and Dimash kudaibergen

Former BPA Board Members

BPA Board 2025–2026: Sirui Ning, Preeta Pratakshya, Jingyi He, Lining Zheng, Vivek Singh, Michael Sonner, Hexin Liang, Lucas Yang, Liliana Piñeros Leyton, Amir Bitran, Justin Conner, Marco Freschi, Nina Golombek, Jeong Yoon Kim, Yizi Mao, Jun Zhu

BPA Board 2024–2025: Sina Naeimi, Jasper van de Kreeke, Jun Zhu, Esther Kim, Diana Daniela Moreno Santillan, Tessa Scott, Esther Parpal, Justin Lawrence Conner, Sarah El Khoury, Carlos Iglesias Aguirre, Sooyeon Yi, Bernardine Rinkel, Jan Schütte-Engel, Marco Freschi, Jingyi He

BPA Board 2023–2024: Sarah El Khoury, Thomas Elston, Esther Kim, Leopoldo Mejia, David Quiroga, Rafael Quintero-Bermudez, Tessa Scott, Patrick Spaulding Ryan, Bernardine Rinkel, Diana Daniela Moreno Santillan

BPA Board 2022–2023: Michael Kosicki, Israel Borokini, Mark Plitt, Francesca Burgos Bravo, Alexandros Karampatzakis, Ana Vidu, Guanghan Meng, Xiao Liu, Kanika Khanna, Rafael Quintero-Bermudez

BPA Board 2021–2022: Helena Cantwell, Ludovica Luisa Vissat, Michael Kosicki, Sebastian Sandl, Federico D. Munch, Atiyya Shaw, Xiao Liu, Florentine (Flora) Rutaganira, Rohit Kolora, Molly Kozminsky, Amber Hornsby, Alexandros Karampatzakis, Francesca Burgos Bravo

BPA Board 2020–2021: Clotilde Cadart, Zara Bagdasarian, Mary Kristina Wharton, Laura Casto, Helene Cantwell, James Utterback, Caroline Figueroa, Molly Kozminsky, Florentine (Flora) Rutaganira, Thibaut Brunet, Ludovica Luisa Vissat, Rajit Rajappa

BPA Board 2019–2020: Rajit Rajappa, Zhihao Zhang, James Utterback, Laura Casto, Praveen Vayalamkuzhi, Thibaut Brunet, Clotilde Cadart, Helena Cantwell, Juan-Pablo Castillo, Pasquale (Paco) Cilibrizzi, Caroline Figueroa, Samantha M. Grist, Alain Naef, Sarah Leinwand

BPA Board 2018–2019: Behnam Ghalamchi, Rajit Rajappa, Juan-Pablo Castillo, Alicia Roy, Iskra Pollak Dorocic, Sarah Leinwand, Abby Kroken, Burcu Gumuscu Sefunc, Milan Delor, Praveen Vayalamkuzhi, Daniel Kim

BPA Board 2017–2018: Joyabrata Mal, Milan Delor, Martin R. Lichtenthaler, Benjamin Frandsen, Miguel Arratia, Samantha M. Grist, James Angus Chandler, Marta Vuckovic, Corinne Sadlowski, Nadya Vasilyeva, Marco Agostoni, Abby Kroken, Diana Fusco, Burcu Gumuscu Sefunc, Günther Thiele, Kaveh Gharehbaghi, Behnam Ghalamchi, Rutger Luteijn, Joe Papp, Iskra Pollak Dorocic