Current Executive
President
Michael Baggaley
Michael Baggaley is a postdoc in the Department of Mechanical Engineering working with Dan Romanyk. His work is focused on understanding the mechanobiological processes that modulate how biological tissues grow and adapt to match the constraints of their environment. He completed his PhD in Biomechanics at the University of Calgary in 2022 and worked as a postdoc at the U of C for two years before moving to Edmonton. He is interested in improving the well-being and recognition of postdocs at the University of Alberta. He is particularly passionate about the strengths of unions to enact change.
VP External
Alsayed Mostafa
Alsayed Mostafa is a postdoctoral research fellow in Biorefining Conversions and Fermentation Laboratory (Bressler Lab) at the University of Alberta. His current work focuses on improving the efficiency of organic waste conversion into bio-jet fuel and scaling up the pyrolysis process. Before joining the Bressler Lab, Alsayed completed two years as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Dhar Lab in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the U of A. Alsayed completed his PhD in Smart-City Engineering at Inha University, South Korea. Before joining the U of A, Alsayed worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Environmental Resources Engineering at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, USA. He has gained large professional experience from his career working in multiple countries: the USA, South Korea, India, and Egypt.
Alsayed has been a member of many student organizations during his student life. For approximately two years, Alsayed served as Vice-President (External) of the Postdoctoral Fellows Association (PDFA) at the University of Alberta, actively advocating for the well-being and recognition of postdoctoral scholars through his engagement with the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS). Outside of the university, he worked and volunteered with many organizations related to human rights, social initiatives, charity, and political campaigns in Egypt, South Korea, and the USA. Based on his social activity, Alsayed was selected by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation to participate in a program supporting the development of youth capacities, which lasted for 18 months.
VP Communications
Reshmi Ramakrishnan
Reshmi Ramakrishnan, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Das Lab, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alberta. Her research focuses on applying computational biology and machine learning approaches for antiviral drug discovery. She completed her PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the Switch Laboratory, KU Leuven, Belgium, where she studied protein folding and aggregation, and a postdoctoral fellowship at KAUST, Saudi Arabia, where she worked on disease-associated mutations.
In addition to her research, Reshmi is the founder of GENEFiTHUB, a training and consulting firm based in Kerala, India. She is passionate about fostering scientific collaboration and mentoring the next generation of researchers.
VP Operations
Javad Bolboli
Dr. Javad Bolboli is a postdoctoral fellow and project manager in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta. He is also the program committee chair of the Prairie Advanced Manufacturing Meeting (PAAM 2025) and the 19th CIRP Conference on Computer Aided Tolerancing. He holds a PhD in AI and IoT. Alongside his academic accomplishments, Javad brings strong industrial experience, where he successfully led cross-functional teams, managed complex projects, and developed innovative systems. His research areas include smart manufacturing, Industrial IoT, digital twin, and AI. He has published extensively in leading IEEE journals and has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Outstanding PhD Graduate Recognition and several research excellence scholarships.
VP Finance
Rashaduz Zaman
Rashaduz Zaman is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta. His work is focused on understanding the chemical interaction between plant-plant and plant-insect-microbes in grassland soil and plant communities across Canadian grazing pastures. He completed his PhD (2024) in Forest biology and management from the department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta with specialization in chemical ecology, MSc in Molecular Life Science (2019) from University of Jena. He worked as a Research Scientist (2020) in Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany. His research interests include Chemical Ecology, Entomology, Forest Health, Climate Change, Microbial Ecology, Multi-tropic plant-insect-microbe interactions and behaviour. Apart from academic achievements, he has been actively involved in different student organizations and advocacy initiatives. During his graduate studies, he served as president and vice-president finance of the Bangladeshi Students Association at the University of Alberta (2022-2024). Passionate about bridging research and real-world impact, he is committed to enhancing the postdoctoral experience by supporting professional development, fostering inclusivity, and building a strong, engaged postdoc community at the University of Alberta.
Member-at-Large
Oluwafemi Adu
Oluwafemi (Femi) Adu is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, working with Matthias Götte under the Striving for Pandemic Preparedness–the Alberta Research Consortium’ (SPP-ARC). His research focuses on understanding the humoral immune response to diverse viral antigens and applying these insights to both basic science and translational research. Femi earned his PhD in Infectious Diseases and Immunology from Cornell University in 2025 and his MSc in Animal Biosciences from the University of Edinburgh, UK, in 2019.
Beyond the lab, Femi has been deeply involved in campus leadership. He has served on the executive boards of more than seven campus organizations since his undergraduate years. Most recently, he was the inaugural Academic and Professional Chair of the African Graduate Students Association at Cornell University (2024–2025), a Graduate Community Advisor for on-campus graduate housing (2022–2025), and an executive member of the Graduate Student Society in the Biomedical and Biological Sciences PhD program (2021–2022). His sustained commitment to community engagement and leadership culminated in receiving the 2025 Global Citizens Award at Cornell University.
Femi looks forward to bringing his commitment to academic excellence, professional growth, and community leadership to the postdoctoral community at the University of Alberta.
Member-at-Large
Britney Firth
Britney Firth is a postdoc in the Biological Sciences department working with Clare Venney. She is a conservation physiologist interested in the heritable and plastic effects of changing environments, especially captivity, on the genetics, physiology, and behaviour of aquatic species. She is currently studying (1) the relative importance of parental versus offspring environment on epigenetics, physiology, and behaviour, and (2) the effect of different durations of captivity on epigenetics. Britney received her PhD from the University of Waterloo under the supervision of Michael Power and Andrew Drake (DFO) in 2024. Afterwards, she completed a one-year postdoc with Trevor Pitcher at the University of Windsor. She is interested in developing a more social postdoc community and scientific collaboration within and outside the U of A.
Member-at-Large
Matthew Labbe
Matthew Labbe is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering working in the Douglas G. Ivey research group. His main work involves analyzing the microstructural degradation of solid oxide fuel and electrolyzer cells using scanning electron microscopy techniques. He also assumes the role of co-lab coordinator and part-time sessional instructor and has garnered technical expertise in atomic layer deposition thin film processing and electrochemical energy storage technologies. He has been a member of the University of Alberta community for over 10 years, completing both his BSc and PhD in Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta, and has presented his research and love for science at various events within the University community. Matthew enjoys the community and social aspects that the PDFA develops and wants to help improve the working life for postdoctoral scholars.
Member-at-Large
Yuhan Yi
Yuhan Yi is a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include mobile edge computing, edge intelligence, reinforcement learning, and online optimization. She received the B.S. degree in Communication Engineering in 2019 and the PhD degree in Information and Communication Intelligence Systems in 2025, both from Donghua University, Shanghai, China. She is interested in supporting the professional growth and well-being of postdocs and fostering an inclusive and connected postdoc community at the University of Alberta.