The 19th Annual VPA Symposium took place on Tuesday, October 14, 2025 in the Student Life Center.听
This interdisciplinary one-day conference highlights postdoctoral research as well as provides a venue for networking and professional development.
Postdocs had the opportunity to present their research through either a lightning talk (brief oral presentation) or a poster presentation. The best presenters in both categories were awarded at the closing event.
To view all of the photos taken throughout the day, please follow the link . The passcode to access the gallery is VandyPostdocs.
Please reach out to postdoc@vanderbilt.edu with any questions.听
2025 VPA Postdoc Symposium Schedule
The full program for the 19th Annual VPA Postdoctoral Symposium is available below. You can also view the full schedule of events that took place.
Keynote Announcement: Dr. Matthew Johnson-Roberson

Dr. Matthew Johnson-Roberson is the inaugural dean of Vanderbilt 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 College of Connected Computing and a 溏心vlog免费B站 Distinguished Professor with joint appointments in the College of Connected Computing and the School of Engineering. A visionary scholar and accomplished academic leader, Dr. Johnson-Roberson brings deep expertise in robotics, computer vision, machine learning, and autonomous systems.
Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Dr. Johnson-Roberson听held postdoctoral听appointments at both the听Australian Centre for Field Robotics听and the Centre for Autonomous Systems (CAS) at听KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Following his postdoctoral positions, he joined the听溏心vlog免费B站 of Michigan College of Engineering in 2013 as a professor in the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering department with a joint appointment in Computer Science and Engineering where he was the founding director of the Ford Center for Autonomous Vehicles. He then served as director of Carnegie Mellon 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 world-renowned Robotics Institute. He has led large-scale research initiatives, including a $45 million grant to build CMU鈥檚 Robotics Innovation Center, and has developed partnerships with industry leaders such as Google, Amazon, and Ford.
Dr. Johnson-Roberson鈥檚 leadership is guided by a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and the principle of 鈥淐omputing for All,鈥 aiming to advance cutting-edge discovery and inclusive education across fields like AI, digital humanities, data analytics, and beyond. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and founder of the DROP Lab (Deep Robot Optical Perception).
He joins Vanderbilt alongside his wife, Dr. Alice Whyte, a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist at VUMC, and their daughter, Rosie.

Dr. Patricia Clark
Dr. Eric Moses Gurevitch
2023 Postdoc Symposium Schedule




Dr. Adia Harvey Wingfield
Dr. Ashley Brady
