Congratulations to 2025 Outstanding Postdoctoral Award Honorable Mentions!
Left to right: Dr. Amr Elsayed, Dr. Rebekah Mokry
Postdoctoral Affairs extends congratulations to the 2025 Outstanding Postdoctoral Award Honorable Mentions: Dr. Amr Elsayed and Dr. Rebekah Mokry!
Dr. Amr Elsayed is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Software Engineering in the Systems and Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Arizona. Amr has excelled as an outstanding educator, a distinguished researcher, and an active contributor to multiple conference committees in software engineering and computer science. His mission is to bridge the gap between academia and industry, creating impactful value through his work. Amr holds a Master's and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Baylor University in 2024, besides holding Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Computer and Information Science from Ain Shams University. He boasts a wealth of experience in the tech industry, with over nine years as a software technical lead for renowned international companies. Amr is a certified Professional Scrum Master with hands-on experience leading and collaborating within multiple agile teams. His research focuses on Software Engineering, Mobile Cloud Computing, and Microservice Architecture. Amr is an active member of the scientific research honor society (Sigma Xi) and the academic excellence honor society (Upsilon Pi Epsilon). Driven to make meaningful contributions to the field, he aspires to solidify his position as a leader in the tech industry and a distinguished researcher and educator.
Dr. Rebekah Mokry exchanged the conifers of the Midwest for the cacti of the Southwest in 2022 when she joined Dr. John Purdy’s laboratory as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. Rebekah’s research focuses on virus-host interactions; specifically, how human cytomegalovirus successfully replicates in diverse nutrient niches in the body. She is also passionate about supporting trainee growth and development and co-founded a Trainee Virology Journal Club and the Immunobiology Postdoc Group. In 2023, Rebekah was awarded a BIO5 Postdoctoral Fellowship and a NIH F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship. In her free time, she enjoys reading classic, fantasy, and horror novels, playing video games, and spending time with family.