The MIT School of Science has announced nine postdocs and research scientists as recipients of the 2025 Infinite Expansion Award, which highlights extraordinary members of the MIT community.

The following are the 2024 School of Science Infinite Expansion winners:

  • Lior Alon, instructor and former postdoc in the Department of Mathematics, was nominated by John Urschel, who wrote, “I find that Lior revels in learning about different areas of mathematics, in particular, how his expertise can help others, and vice versa.”
  • Saverio Cambioni, a postdoc in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, was nominated by Benjamin Weiss, who wrote, “Saverio is so full of ideas, so technically exceptional, and such a superb mentor that he essentially operates as independent researcher and advisor.”
  • Cameron Dean, senior postdoc in the MIT Heavy Ion Group, was nominated by Gunther Roland, who wrote, “He has taken leadership for the mechanical design, integration, commissioning and operation of one of the 4 critical detector subsystems of sPHENIX, the MVTX micro-vertex detector … Cameron’s effort, for now more than two years, to get this device going, and to keep it going, has nothing short of heroic.”
  • David Grimes, Digital Learning Lab Scientist and Instructor in the Department of Chemistry, was nominated by Elizabeth Nolan, Mei Hong, Jennifer Weisman, Brett McGuire, Sam Peng and Matthew Shoulders, who wrote, “He is dedicated, pragmatic, adaptable, and eager to analyze and find solutions to problems and improvements to existing pedagogical approaches. He blends his command of chemistry with expert knowledge of modern educational norms and pedagogy in a way that is effective.”
  • Benjamin Lehmann, Pappalardo Fellow in the Department of Physics, was nominated by Tracy Slatyer, who wrote, “Dr. Lehmann has made noteworthy contributions to the Physics Values Committee and in mentoring more junior scientists. He is also doing leading independent work in the search for light dark matter, and has come up with novel and exciting ideas to pursue the detection of primordial black holes.”
  • Mariel Price, a postdoc in the Department of Chemistry, was nominated by Jeremiah Johnson, who wrote, “she has made several important research contributions to my group and the field of sustainable polymers, while also establishing herself as a leader and model citizen in our department.”
  • Jeffery Scott, a research scientist in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and the Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy, was nominated by Arlene Fiore and many EAPS community members, who wrote, “His good-natured, continual contributions that enable our scientists to rapidly overcome computational roadblocks both hasten the pace of discovery and go far above and beyond his job description.”
  • Sarah Sterling, the cryo-EM Facility Director in MIT.nano, was nominated by Thomas Schwartz, who wrote, “She takes her job very seriously, is fully dedicated, and constantly looks for ways to improve operations. She is totally competent and likes to take on responsibilities, qualities that make her highly respected among the diverse user base.”
  • Hiroki Sugihara, a research scientist in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, was nominated by Mriganka Sur, who wrote, “Hiroki is an indispensable member of our lab, who works selflessly to make the lab productive and efficient.”