2026 — 2027 Cohort of Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows Named
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and Vice Provost for Research Dr. David Meaney, are pleased to announce the 2026–2027 cohort of Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows, a group of outstanding early-career scholars who will contribute to Penn’s vibrant research community over the next three years.
Established in 2010, the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is designed to support promising postdoctoral researchers as they advance their careers and enrich academic life across the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Since its inception, the fellowship program has supported nearly 100 postdocs across nine of Penn’s schools and at CHOP. Many have gone on to tenure-track positions in academia, while others have built impactful careers in industry, government, and the nonprofit sector.
Fellows conduct independent research while also participating in structured career development and community-building initiatives designed to prepare them for long-term success in academia and beyond. In addition to individualized mentoring, the program offers opportunities for professional development, networking, and cross-campus engagement with peers and faculty across disciplines.
This year’s cohort will be hosted across the Graduate School of Education, the School of Arts & Sciences, the School of Social Policy & Practice, and the Perelman School of Medicine.
Allison Langer (she/her) will be working with Sigal Ben-Porath in the Graduate School of Education and the SNF Paideia Program to study how emerging technologies shape child and adolescent development. Her research focuses on social media, artificial intelligence, self-regulation, and digital literacy. At Penn, she will extend this work through the SNF Paideia–Provost Fellowship, a new partnership supporting research at the intersection of scholarship, dialogue, and public engagement.
Annika Margevich (she/her) will be working with Hugo Ulloa in the School of Arts & Sciences to investigate the physical processes that regulate Pacific-Arctic ocean exchange. Her research focuses on the Bering Strait throughflow, Arctic change, and the transport of heat, freshwater, and mass. At Penn, she will build on her observational work by integrating theory and numerical modeling to study exchange dynamics in a changing Arctic.
Desiree O’Neal (she/her) comes to Penn to collaborate with DeMarcus Jenkins in the School of Social Policy & Practice. Her research examines how education policy shapes K–12 systems and community experiences, with particular attention to school choice, public decision-making, and the effects of policy on historically underserved communities. At Penn, she will expand this work by studying how communities respond to school closures and educational disinvestment.
Emma Peterman (she/her) will be based in the Perelman School of Medicine, where she will work with Christoph Ellebrecht in Dermatology and the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies. Her research focuses on synthetic biology, programmable gene circuits, and cellular immunotherapy. At Penn, she will extend this work through research on SHARC, a platform designed to improve CAR T cell engineering for solid tumors.