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Education ASM Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) Program

Our Work

The ASM MOSAIC program is a professional development program that supports successful transition of early-career scientists from postdoctoral positions to tenure-track faculty positions at research-intensive institutions. This 5-year initiative supports the Society’s goal to bolster the next generation of scientists to harness the power of microbes to serve humanity. 

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Professional Development that Promotes Faculty Success

The ASM MOSAIC program, a cooperative agreement between NIH and ASM, is a 5-year initiative that will support early-career scientists as they transition successfully from postdoctoral positions to tenure-track faculty positions. The program will support scholars to achieve robust careers as microbiologists and immunologists and prepare them to mentor the next generation of scientists.

MOSAIC has 2 components:

  1. The career transition award for postdoctoral researchers to enhance diversity through the well-established K99/R00 award system.
  2. The research education cooperative agreement for ASM and other scientific societies that provide courses for skills development and mentoring activities.

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ASM MOSAIC Scholar Experience

ASM's MOSAIC program is funded by the NIH MOSAIC Institutionally-Focused Research Education Award (UE5). The program's 3 phases will include courses, workshops and mentor support for scholars in the microbial sciences to achieve the following goals:

  • Focus on the foundational skills required to gain faculty positions.
  • Embark on a successful tenure-track career.
  • Catalyze progression to scientific leadership.
 

See Scholars by Cohort Year:

2023 Scholars

2024 Scholars

2025 Scholars

Key Activities

Years 1 and 2

  • Create and refine Individual Development Plans (IDP).
  • Choose a faculty pathway.
  • Apply and interview for a tenure-track position.
  • Develop a philosophy and plan for successful mentoring.
  • Establish a mentoring network.
  • Foster a community of peers and mentors, both virtually and in person.

Years 3 and 4

  • Build departmental relations and support diversity.
  • Attend "Lab Management" workshop.
  • Foster a community of peers and mentors, both virtually and in person.
  • Participate in workshops and training courses for "Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)."
  • Attend "Leadership Training in the Business of Science" workshop.
  • Develop science communication skills.
  • Acquire tools for sustained research funding, e.g., grant writing, scientific publishing.

Years 5+ 

Over the course of the experience, scholars will have the opportunity to grow their peer networks by attending and presenting at the ASM-managed ABRCMS, ASM’s annual flagship meeting, ASM Microbe, and other ASM meetings and events.

 

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ASM MOSAIC 2023 Scholars

Omokolade Adebowale

Institution: UC San Diego
Faculty Position: tenure track assistant professor in the department of bioengineering

Project: biophysical cues shaping macrophage and T-cell functions

Diana Elizondo

Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Faculty Position: tenure track assistant professor

Project: delineation of macrophage-derived transglutaminases role in adipose tissue health and inflammation in obesity

Krista Freeman

Institution: Case Western Reserve University
Faculty Position: assistant professor in the department of physics

Project: improving phage-based medicine with immunoengineering

Ramiah Jacks

Institution: The Ohio State University
Faculty Position: assistant professor in the department of surgery

Project: regulation and maintenance of adipose tissue T cells

Ayano Kohlgruber

Institution: Boston Children's Hospital
Faculty Position: assistant professor of pediatrics in the division of immunology

Project: decoding synovial CD4+ T cell antigen specificities in rheumatoid arthritis

Joscelyn Mejias

Institution: Georgia Tech and Emory Institute of Technology
Faculty Position: assistant professor in the department of biomedical engineering 

Project: age and sex differences in the immune response to synthetic materials

Rachael Philips

Institution: The Ohio State University
Faculty Position: tenure-track assistant professor in the department of microbial infection and immunity

Project: genomic regulation of immune response by a STAT1 gain of function mutation

ASM MOSAIC 2024 Scholars

Elze Rackaityte

Institution: University of California, San Francisco
Current Position: postdoc

Project: molecular understanding of maternal humoral responses to pregnancy

Rachel Elizabeth Turn

Institution: UW Madison
Faculty Position: assistant professor in the comparative biosciences department

Project: TULP3 integrates essential ciliary functions

Tracess Smalley

Institution: H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
Current Position: postdoc

Project: dual E3 ligase function of TRIM25 in modulating innate immunity

Sarah Vick 

Institution: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division
Current Position: postdoc

Project: regulatory T cell coordination of the mucosal NK cell response during viral infection

Walatta-Tseyon Mesquitta 

Institution: Boston Children's Hospital
Current Position: postdoc

Project: molecular regulation of lymphoid lineage priming in steady state and regeneration

Cristina Santarossa

Institution: Johns Hopkins University
Current Position: postdoc

Christina Santarossa

Project: structure and function of the LetA lipid transport family across bacteria and eukaryotes

Melanie Shapiro

Institution: City of Hope
Faculty Position: assistant professor in the department of diabetes immunology

Melanie Shapiro

Project: Fcγ receptor-mediated pharmacogenomics of antibody therapies in type 1 diabetes

Moses New-Aaron

Institution: Emory University
Current Position: postdoc

Moses New-Aaron

Project: alcohol metabolism potentiates HIV-induced lung and liver multimorbidity via inter-organ crosstalk

Yan Zhang

Institution: California Institute of Technology
Current Position: postdoc

Project: an adaptive framework to synthesize and reconfigure bacterial viruses (phages) to counter antibiotic resistance

Sana Nasim

Institution: Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Current Position: postdoc

Project: unraveling immune cell interactions and multicellular dynamics in GNAQ-driven capillary malformation



ASM MOSAIC 2025 Scholars

Sandra Mendiola

Institution: University of Georgia
Current Position: postdoc

Sandra Mendiola

Project: host and bacterial factors underlying entomopathogen virulence in the Chagas Disease vector Rhodnius prolixus

Christopher Hamm

Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine
Current Position: postdoc

Christopher Hamm

Project: how polyphosphate shapes bacterial growth in E. coli and drives survival, spore formation and biofilm development in Bacillus species

Elizabeth (Betsy) Hart

Institution: Harvard Medical School
Current Position: postdoc

Elizabeth (Betsy) Hart

Project: investigating the mycomembrane protein assembly pathway

Erin Doherty

Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Current Position: postdoc

Erin Doherty

Project: molecular mechanisms of oligonucleotide immune signaling and evasion

Cameron Roberts

Institution: University of Michigan
Current Position: postdoc

Cameron Roberts

Project: molecular mechanism of lipoprotein surface localization in gram-negative bacteria

Randy Hamchand

Institution: Cornell University
Current Position: postdoc

Randy Hamchand

Project: mapping the biosynthetic landscape of the gut microbiome to uncover immunomodulatory metabolites

Melene Alakavuklar

Institution: Michigan State University
Current Position: postdoc

Melene Alakavuklar

Project: uncovering the role of conserved proteins of unknown function in envelope maintenance in Brucella

Conor Templeton

Institution: Northwestern University
Current Position: postdoc

Conor Templeton

Project: host-pathogen interactions facilitating human papillomavirus (HPV) pathogenesis

Camilo Gomez Garzon

Institution: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Current Position: postdoc

Camilo Gomez Garzon

Project: determinants and oncogenic potential of Fusobacterium infection across gastric cancer subtypes

Diandra Vaval Taylor

Institution: University of Illinois Chicago
Current Position: postdoc

Project: reprogramming the immune microenvironment of ovarian cancer



ASM MOSAIC Mentors

ASM MOSAIC scholars are guided by these mentors who support their progress from innovative researchers to competitive applicants for biomedical research funding.

  • Hector Aguilar-Carreno, Ph.D., Cornell University.
  • Juan Alfonzo, Ph.D., Ohio State University.
  • Cynthia Cornelissen, Ph.D., Georgia State University.
  • Patricia Champion, Ph.D., University of Notre Dame.
  • Vincent Lee, Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park.
  • Petra Levin, Ph.D., Washington State University in St. Louis.
  • Mary O’Riordan, Ph.D., University of Michigan.
  • Christina Stallings, Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis.
  • Jorge Vidal, Ph.D., University of Mississippi Medical School.
  • Allison Wiliams, Ph.D., University of California San Francisco.
  • Jinwei Zhang, Ph.D., National Institute of Health, NIDDK.

ASM MOSAIC Program Leadership

This ASM program is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant #UE5AI178763.

Principal Investigator:

Irene Hulede, Education Director, American Society for Microbiology

Co-Investigators

Advisory Committee

These are the members of the program’s advisory committee.

  • Avery August, Ph.D., professor, Cornell University.
  • Stefano Bertuzzi, Ph.D., MPH (Ex-Officio), Chief Executive Officer, ASM.
  • Arturo Casadevall, M.D., Ph.D., M.S., chair and professor, Johns Hopkins University.
  • Jo Handelsman, Ph.D., director and professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
  • Akiko Iwasaki, Ph.D., professor, Yale University.
  • Greetchen Díaz-Muñoz, Ph.D., Director, Science Education Program and Community Partnerships, Ciencia Puerto Rico.
  • Courtney Robinson, Ph.D., associate professor, Howard University.
  • Alfredo Torres, Ph.D., professor, Associate Provost of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, The University of Texas Medical Branch.
  • Raphael Valdivia, Ph.D., professor, Duke University.

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