Two From Rokas Lab Receive University Accolades
Kyle David Named 2026 Vanderbilt Postdoc of the Year
has been named a recipient of һݶ’s Postdoc of the Year Award, which “recognizes a postdoctoral scholar who demonstrates excellence in research and scholarship.” The award is presented by The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, in partnership with the Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Association. David’s work focuses on the understudied ecology and global distribution of yeasts and other fungi, like the culturally medically important Saccharomycotina and Aspergillus clades. He also has a strong commitment to outreach, serving as the co-chair for the Evolutionary Studies Initiative’s outreach programming. He frequently visits local schools to teach labs in evolution and even started a collaboration between Evolutionary Studies and the Dismas House, a residential re-entry program for recently released men from prison. His burgeoning resume already includes 18 publications, including an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that received a lot of media attention, Saccharomycotina yeasts defy longstanding macroecological patterns. David also recently received the American Society of Naturalists Early Career Investigator Award and gave an invited talk titled “Evolution of Novelty” at the annual Evolution Conference in Montreal, Canada. David is co-mentored by ESI Director and Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Biological Sciences and of Cornell University. He is the co-chair of outreach for Evolutionary Studies.
Olivia Riedling Receives Provost’s Pathbreaking Discovery Award
Olivia Riedling has been named a recipient of һݶ’s Provost Pathbreaking Discovery Award, which “recognizes doctoral students who exhibit exceptional academic excellence in areas such as publications, awards, patents, and other forms of national/international distinction.” The award is presented by the Vanderbilt Graduate School. Riedling’s success in academia spans from a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship program award to a Smriti Bardhan Scholarship from the Vanderbilt Graduate School and the Ann Bernard Martin Award for Excellence in Graduate Research. She is a member of the in the and co-runs a rural outreach program with support from Evolutionary Studies. Riedling has been on five manuscripts with three being first-authored (mBio, Microbiology Spectrum, and Current Biology). She studies the diversity, evolution, and ecological distribution of fungi, especially Aspergillus, combining genomics, chemistry, and machine learning to understand how fungi produce secondary metabolites. Her work links biosynthetic gene clusters to the chemical compounds they generate and maps how fungal diversity and metabolite potential are structured across species and environments.
