Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Executive Board

2025 PDA Board Members

President

Nishant Kumar, Ph.D.


Nishant is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University, where he is developing a novel non-invasive method for bladder cancer detection. His research also focuses on nanoscale material identification using atomic force microscope.

He joined the Tufts Postdoctoral Association (PDA) in January 2024 as an executive committee member and has been serving as President of the PDA since July 2024.

Before coming to Tufts, Nishant earned his PhD (2018–2023) from the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Patna, India. His doctoral research centered on self-assembly at interfaces and 2D materials, and he contributed to the discovery of Molybdenene, a metallic 2D material.

Vice President

Bipin Jairaj Gaikwad
Ph.D. Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Career Development Associate

Atul Sharma
Ph.D. Biosensors and Bio-analytical Chemistry
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Community Building Associate

Sihan Liu
Ph.D. Cellular & Molecular Biology
School Of Medicine

IT & Information Committee Chair

Federico Pigozzi
Ph.D. Computer Engineering
Department of Biology

Postdoc Wellness Associate

Merve Turemen
Ph.D. Textile Engineering
Department of Biomedical Engineering

Career Development Associate

Krystyna Rybka,

Ph.D. Behavioral Neuroscience

Tufts Medical Center

Career Development Associate

Surya Varchasvi Devaraj

Postdoctoral scholar

Tufts University Department of Electrical and Computing Engineering

Past PDA Board Members

Grafton Campus Postdoc Representative (2023-2025)

Neharika Jain
Ph.D. Microbiological Sciences and Immunology
Department of Infectious Diseases and Global Health (IDGH)

Please feel free to contact any of us if you have any questions! If you’re not sure who to reach out to, just email pda-president@tufts.edu