b'Friends, Honors & TransitionsEighth and Ninth Postdoctoral Innovation and Excellence AwardsThe eighth and ninth Carnegie Postdoctoral Innovation and Excellence Awards (PIE) were given out this past year. These prizes are made through nominations from the departments and are chosen by the Office of the President. The recipients are awarded a cash prize for their exceptionally creative approaches to science, strong mentoring, and contributing to the sense of campus community.60Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of TerrestrialVenkata Srinu Bhadram, a high-pressure researcher at the Magnetism (DTM) Miki Nakajima received the eighth PIEGeophysical Laboratory (GL), received the ninth PIE Award. He Award. Nakajima is a planetary geophysicist who joinedwas the first to discover titanium pernitride (TiN 2 ) and cubic Carnegie in 2015 from the California Institute of Technology,titanic nitride (Ti 3 N 4 ), both long sought-after materials with where she received her Ph.D. She uses computational methodsgreat promise for future technological applications, among to study the formation of planets and their satellites to predictmany other research achievements. He is also a stellar team the dynamics of planetary impacts and how impacts affect theplayer, generating new collaborations between GL and other young planetary objects. Her abilities transcend astronomy,groups to develop innovative solutions that have been driving geochemistry, and geophysics. She works across traditionalresearch forward. He is also a dedicated mentor, teaching disciplines within and outside the department. She hascomplex experimental methods and the underlying physical proven to be a valued member of the Carnegie community byprinciples to students at the high school, undergraduate, organizing activities that range from annual poster sessionsgraduate, and postdoctoral levels.to interdisciplinary reading groups, and she serves as a postdoctoral representative.'