2025 — 2026 Cohort of Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows Named
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and Senior Vice Provost for Research Dawn Bonnell are excited to announce the 2025–2026 cohort of Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows—a group of outstanding early-career scholars who will contribute to Penn’s vibrant research community over the next three years.
Established in 2010, the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is designed to support promising postdoctoral researchers as they advance their careers and enrich academic life across the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Since its inception, the fellowship program has supported nearly 100 postdocs across nine of Penn’s schools and at CHOP. Many have gone on to tenure-track positions in academia, while others have built impactful careers in industry, government, and the nonprofit sector.
Fellows conduct independent research while also participating in structured career development and community-building initiatives designed to prepare them for long-term success in academia and beyond. In addition to individualized mentoring, the program offers opportunities such as grant writing intensives, faculty job market preparation workshops, writing retreats, and research-in-progress forums. Fellows also benefit from curated networking events with Penn faculty, alumni, and visiting speakers, as well as cross-campus opportunities to collaborate with peers across disciplines and schools.
This year’s cohort will be hosted across the School of Arts & Sciences, Perelman School of Medicine, and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Marquise D. Bell (he/him) will be working with Kevin Turner in the School of Engineering and Applied Science to design programmable materials for soft, wearable robotic systems. His research focuses on the thermal and fluidic design of compliant sheet-based devices for thermoregulation, mobility assistance, and in-situ decontamination. At Penn, he will expand this work by integrating tunable mechanical interfaces to support the development of next-generation assistive technologies.
Audrey Drotos (she/her) will be working on auditory neuroscience, neural coding, and systems-level processing of complex sound features such as amplitude and frequency modulations. Her research focuses on how brain circuits prioritize behaviorally relevant sounds and suppress irrelevant sensory input. Dr. Drotos will be working in the lab of Maria Geffen at the Perelman School of Medicine’s Department of Otorhinolaryngology, where she will explore thalamocortical pathways and the role of emotional learning in shaping auditory perception.
Rama Hagos (she/her) joins the Department of Sociology, where she will work with Chenoa Flippen and Jason Schnittker. Rama will also be affiliated with Penn’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Immigration (CSERI) and the Population Studies Center. Her research spans historical and contemporary topics in population studies, including marriage patterns, health trends, and institutional contact.
Julia Honoroff (she/her) joins the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts & Sciences, where she will collaborate with Chair Sara Jaffee on the PHLHousing+ Evaluation. Her postdoctoral research focuses on early childhood policy, family support programs, and the effects of housing and economic interventions on household outcomes. Drawing from training in developmental psychology, sociology, and policy research, Dr. Honoroff studies how public programs intersect with caregiving and education systems in households with young children.
Malcolm Nelson (he/him) joins the Department of Classical Studies in the School of Arts & Sciences, where he will expand on his recent dissertation from Harvard University. His research investigates the role of empathy, moral norms, and emotion in ancient Greek society, with a particular focus on law, warfare, and political authority. A U.S. Army veteran, Malcolm brings a unique perspective to historical inquiry, connecting lived experience with the study of ancient cultures. He will be working under the mentorship of Julia Wilker.