Leadership Team

If you are interested in becoming a board member of RPA, please write to: PostdocAssoc@rice.edu (we currently have a good number of board members, but please contact us anyway if you have a specific idea or vision for RPA and we are happy to discuss further).

Dr. Katie Young

Katie Young, Ph. D.

President (06/2025 -)

Dr. Katherine Shwetz

Katherine Shwetz, Ph. D.

Board member

Dr. Sarthak Gupta

Sarthak Gupta, PhD

Board member

Dr. Mendel Kranz

Mendel Kranz, PhD

Board member

Dr. Shanna Chu

Shanna Chu, Ph.D.

Board Member

Dr. Toros Arikan

Toros Arikan, Ph.D.

Board Member

Dr. Aleksandra Nelson

Aleksandra Nelson, Ph.D.

Former Board Member

Image of Sujitkumar Bontapalle, RPA Leadership Board Member

Sujitkumar Bontapalle, PhD

Board member

Image of Roy Lycke, RPA Leadership Board Member

Board member

Image of Sho Watanabe, RPA Leadership Board Member

Sho Watanabe, PhD

Board member

Dr. Tesla Cariani

Tesla Cariani, PhD

Former Board member

Dr. Jaleh Jalili

Jaleh Jalili, PhD

Former Board member

Dr. Andrew Anderson

Andrew Anderson, Ph.D.

Former Board member

Dr. Manuel Iburg

Manuel Iburg, Ph.D.

President (01/2024 - 06/2025)

Dr. Tinglian Yuan

Tinglian Yuan, Ph.D.

Former Board member

Dr. Roman Zhuravel

Roman Zhuravel, Ph.D.

Former Board Member

Khen Elimelech, Ph.D.

President (01 / 2021 - 12 / 2023)