We are pleased to announce our first annual award for outstanding research publication by a Grand Challenges Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow. The award is supported by alumni of the Grand Challenges Initiative Postdoctoral Teaching and Research Fellows Program.

The selection committee, which included Drs. Doug Dechow (chair), Anne Sonnenschein (’19), Jose Raul Gonzalez Alonso (’19) & Charlene McCord (’19), evaluated submissions based on their novelty, impact and interdisciplinary thinking.

The winner of the inaugural award is Dr. Z. Carter Berry for his article “Diffuse light and wetting differentially affect tropical tree leaf photosynthesis.” The article is published in the leading plant science journal New Phytologist.

According to Dr. Dechow, “Dr. Berry’s submission was notable in its interdisciplinary approach that united engineering techniques—software-based design and 3D printing—with plant biology to develop a new device suitable for fieldwork.” The award’s reviewers cited the paper’s technical novelty and “implications [for] our understanding of photosynthesis in a changing climate.”

Our congratulations to Dr. Berry, and our thanks to all of the postdoctoral fellows who submitted their work.