Postdoctoral Diversity | Equity & Inclusion

Berkeley Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

The Berkeley Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program offers postdoctoral research fellowships, faculty mentoring, and eligibility for a hiring incentive to outstanding scholars in all fields whose research, teaching, and service will contribute to diversity and equal opportunity at the University of California.

2025-26 Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards

We are pleased to announce our 2024-25 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellows! These fellows provide an outstanding pool of potential new faculty members in a wide range of disciplines. Learn more about the 2025-26 UC Berkeley Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellows >>

UC President’s Initiative

University of California President Janet Napolitano committed $5 million to support new hiring incentives and professional development programs. Learn more about HIRING INCENTIVES for President's and Chancellors' postdoctoral fellows>>

Erin Doherty (she|her): 2025-26 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow

Erin E. Doherty is a 2025-2026 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology working with Professor Jennifer Doudna. Dr. Doherty employs chemical and structural biology to investigate the ongoing evolutionary conflict between viruses and their hosts, with a particular emphasis on mechanisms of immune signaling and interference. This work builds on her doctoral training in the lab of Professor Peter Beal, which examined the regulation of RNA editing in human cells—a process central to both innate immunity and neurological function. Her dissertation, titled “Rational Design of Oligonucleotides for Site-Directed RNA Editing,” focused on developing strategies to manipulate editing outcomes using engineered oligonucleotides.

Erin holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Davis, and a B.S. in Biochemistry from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Orlando Lara (he|him): 2025-26 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow

Orlando Lara is a 2025-2026 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology working with Professor Charles L. Briggs.

Orlando is an anthropologist, Ethnic Studies scholar, and writer. Grounded in the Rio Grande Valley and Southeast Texas, Orlando Lara’s dissertation focuses on the growth of identity precarity and insecurity through the interrogation and denial of core state identity documents such as US birth certificates and passports. His research focuses on state and federal efforts to formally question birth certificates registered by midwives in Southeast Texas as an example of the growing instability of citizenship and other purportedly “legal” statuses. Orlando also conducts research on the struggle for and growth of K-12 Ethnic Studies in hostile contexts.

Working with the artist Delilah Montoya, he co-created “Sed: A Trail of Thirst” and, with the Sin Huellas Artist Collective, the multimedia installation, “Detention Nation.” As a long-time community-engaged scholar, he co-founded the Ethnic Studies Network of Texas and has helped to establish American Indian/Native Studies as a statewide high school elective in Texas.

Margaret Duffy (she|her): 2024-25 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow

Margaret L. Duffy is a 2024-2025 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences working with Professor William Boos. Margaret’s primary area of research is the response of the atmosphere to climate warming, with additional research about diversity in the geosciences. Margaret’s PhD thesis was titled “An Energetic Perspective on the Tropical Atmosphere and its Response to Climate Warming.” She has also studied the influence of cloud feedbacks on climate warming, with an emphasis on uncertainty in climate models.
Her work about diversity in the geosciences includes using interviews to identify why geoscientists from underrepresented groups declined tenure-track faculty job offers. As a Chancellor’s postdoctoral fellow, she is studying changes in humid heat events with climate warming.

Margaret received a PhD in Climate Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS in Mathematics from Haverford College.

Contact Us

UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
Office of Equity & Inclusion
University of California, Berkeley
404 Sproul Hall, #5925
Berkeley, CA 94720-5920

Email: ppfpinfo@berkeley.edu