Appendix C
Biographical Sketches of Symposium Speakers and Moderators
Annette Parker (Committee Co-chair) is the president of South Central College, a Minnesota state community and technical college. She has been involved in manufacturing industry and workforce education for more than 35 years. She started her career at General Motors in Lansing, Michigan, and moved into education first as a faculty member and administrator at Lansing Community College and later as system director of workforce education for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Parker has served on President Obama’s Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) Steering Committee 2.0 and co-chaired AMP’s Demand-Driven Workforce Development work team. She currently serves on the Center for Community College Student Engagement National Advisory Board, Council for Adult and Experiential Learning Advisory Council (Chair), NASEM Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education, The Presidents’ Roundtable (vice convenor) and Iowa-Minnesota Campus Compact Board of Directors, and MIT’s Work of the Future Task Force. She earned an A.A.S. in industrial drafting from Lansing Community College, a B.S. in technical education and an M.S. in career and technical education from Ferris State University, and an Ed.D. in educational leadership from Western Kentucky University.
Barbara Schaal (Committee Co-chair) is the Mary Dell Chilton distinguished professor at the Washington University in St. Louis and is a nationally recognized plant evolutionary biologist who uses DNA sequences to understand evolutionary processes. She was among the first plant scientists to use molecular biology-based approaches to understand evolutionary processes in
plants, and she has worked to advance understanding of plant molecular systematics and population genetics. Schaal has been president of the Botanical Society of America, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Academy of Sciences, where she served as vice president for 8 years. She was appointed as a U.S. science envoy by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Schaal has served as chair of the Division on Earth and Life Studies at the National Research Council and was a member of President Obama’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology from 2009 to 2017. In 2019, she received the National Science Board’s Public Service Medal and joined the board of directors of the Supporters of Agricultural Research Foundation. From 2013 to 2020, she served as dean of the faculty of arts and sciences where she oversaw all academic, financial, and administration aspects. Schaal graduated from the University of Illinois, Chicago, with a degree in biology, and received her Ph.D. from Yale University.
Marcia McNutt is a geophysicist and the 22nd president of the National Academy of Sciences. From 2013 to 2016, she was editor-in-chief of Science. She was director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from 2009 to 2013, during which time USGS responded to a number of major disasters, including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. For her work to help contain that spill, McNutt was awarded the U.S. Coast Guard’s Meritorious Service Medal. She is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Geological Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the International Association of Geodesy. McNutt is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the Royal Society, UK, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1998, she was awarded the AGU’s Macelwane Medal for research accomplishments by a young scientist, and she received the Maurice Ewing Medal in 2007 for her contributions to deep-sea exploration. McNutt received a B.A. in physics from Colorado College and her Ph.D. in earth sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Aikaterini (Katerina) Bagiati is currently a research scientist at the MIT Office of Open Learning. She is actively involved in the development and the assessment related to MIT’s national and international educational projects and collaborations and conducts research at the preK–12 and higher-education levels, in the efficacy of innovative learning mechanisms and pedagogical approaches used in initiatives mentioned above. Her research interests are in the areas of early engineering, educational technologies, STEM curriculum development and teacher training, and design-based
learning. She first worked as a software engineer, and later as a computer science and technology teacher in middle and high school classes, while in parallel participated in numerous K–12 STEM summer camps. She received a diploma in electrical and computer engineering and a master’s degree in advanced digital communication systems from Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. In 2008, she was one of the first graduate students to join the pioneer School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. In 2011, she acquired her doctorate in engineering education, followed by a postdoctoral associate appointment within the MIT-SUTD Collaboration at MIT.
Annmarie Caño is a professor of psychology and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Gonzaga University. Her research has focused on the role of empathy and perspective-taking on individual and relationship well-being for a variety of dyads, including couples facing chronic illness, parents and children with illness, and also adjudicated adolescents. In recognition of her research contributions, she was elected in 2016 as a fellow of the American Psychological Association. Her administrative work has included recruitment and retention efforts to prepare students and faculty from diverse backgrounds for academic, professional, and personal success. She has conducted research on holistic review in graduate admissions and launched a competency-based professional development initiative that uses microcredentials to recognize graduate students’ achievements. Caño is a first-generation college student. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Stony Brook University and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Princeton University.
Sakereh Carter is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in environmental health sciences at the University of Maryland in the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health Lab. Her research focuses on environmental justice across the U.S. Gulf and East Coast. More specifically, the goal is to empower communities through a community-based participatory research framework/citizen science and educational outreach and influence policy directives with evidence-based research. Carter received her B.S. in animal biology and her M.A. in biological sciences.
Erin A. Cech is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan. Her research examines how inequality is reproduced through processes that are built into seemingly innocuous cultural beliefs and practices. She uses quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine inequality in STEM professions, examines how cultural definitions of “good work” and “good workers” can anchor inequality in the workforce, and studies how cultural understandings of the extent and origin of inequality help to
uphold unequal social structures. She received her Ph.D. in sociology at the University of California, San Diego.
Vicki Chandler is the provost and chief academic officer at Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute. Prior to Minerva, she served as the chief program officer for science at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, while also teaching at the University of Oregon and the University of Arizona. She is recognized as one of the foremost geneticists in the world, having conducted critical research in the field of plant genetics for more than three decades. In 2014, she was appointed to the National Science Board by President Barack Obama for a 6-year term. She is passionate about helping students develop the skills they need to be successful in their future careers, part of which is directing them to be curious, lifelong learners. Chandler was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and received her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Francisco.
Leanne Chukoskie is the associate director for the Research on Autism and Development Laboratory and also the director of the Power of NeuroGaming (PoNG) Center at the University of California, San Diego. Her current research focuses on sensory-motor behavior, especially eye movement behavior and its neural correlates across both typical and atypical development. This focus has evolved from early studies of basic visual and eye movement processes combined with an interest and experience working with individuals on the autism spectrum. She seeks ways to use sensor-based technology to create closed-loop adaptive systems for intervention and assessments to evaluate intervention outcomes efficacy. Chukoskie and her collaborator have designed and delivered a suite of gaze-contingent training games to improve spatial re-orientation of attention and gaze control of teens on the autism spectrum. This work led to the creation of the PoNG Center to develop and test sensor-enabled games targeted for different cognitive and motor skill assessment or improvement. This work also led to the creation of BrainLeap Technologies, a company that seeks to make attention training games broadly available. Chukoskie also has more than 10 years of experience in the science of learning through her participation in the National Science Foundation-funded Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center and her use of innovative active learning methods honed while teaching at Minerva Schools. She earned her B.A. in neural science and anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from New York University.
F. Fleming Crim has a distinguished record of accomplishments in research and education, including serving as the chief operating officer for the
National Science Foundation (NSF) since 2018. He spent 40 years in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he is now the John E. Willard and Hilldale professor emeritus. From 2013 to 2017, Crim served as NSF’s assistant director for mathematical and physical sciences. He has lectured around the world and published more than 150 papers leading to awards such as the Plyler Prize of the American Physical Society, the Langmuir Award of the American Chemical Society, and the Centenary Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (London). He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Crim received his bachelor’s degree from Southwestern University and his doctorate from Cornell University.
Alegra Eroy-Reveles is an assistant teaching professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As an innovative, community-based chemistry professor, her purpose is to prepare a diverse cadre of STEM graduates by translating her research findings into higher-education practices. Eroy-Reveles has a B.S. in Spanish and a B.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry.
Rufus Glasper is president and chief executive officer of the League for Innovation in the Community College, an international nonprofit organization that strives to cultivate innovation in the Community College space, advance the community college field, and make a positive difference for students and communities. He is the chancellor emeritus of the Maricopa Community Colleges, one of the nation’s largest multicollege community college systems. He served as chancellor from 2003 to February 2016 and held district leadership positions for three decades. Nationally, Glasper serves as an advisory board member for the Center for Community College Student Engagement, the University of Texas at Austin; Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University; and The Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, North Carolina State University. He serves on the board of directors for the Education Design Lab and COMAP, the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications. Glasper earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Luther College (Decorah, Iowa) and a master’s and advanced degrees in school business administration from Northern Illinois University. He received his Ph.D. in higher-education finance from the University of Arizona.
Kinnis Gosha (Go-Shay) is the Hortenius I. Chenault endowed associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and the director
of the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab at Morehouse College. His primary research interests include expanding computer science education, broadening participation in computing, green computing, and culturally relevant computing. Undergraduate researchers in his lab, the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab, investigate research problems centered on creating innovative computing technologies to solve cultural problems and issues. Applications of his research include robotics, avatars, and video games. He owns Gosha Technologies, a website development company. He received his Ph.D. in human-centered computing from Clemson University and was the inaugural graduate for the program, as well as the first African American to obtain a doctoral degree in human-centered computing. He also holds an M.S. from Auburn University and a B.S. from Albany State University.
Shanika Hope is a former elementary school teacher, principal and high school turnaround specialist with more than 25 years of experience in education. She has managed and/or supported more than 36 DC public schools and public charter schools in various capacities. Prior to her current role as head of the Amazon Future Engineer Program at Amazon, her previous roles include head of content and research at Amazon Web Services; vice president of national urban markets initiatives at McGraw Hill Education; vice president of curriculum and instruction at Discovery Education; and assistant superintendent of elementary and secondary education for the Washington, DC, State Education Office. She also served as a school principal and teacher in both Washington, DC, and Virginia. Hope earned a Ph.D. in education leadership and a master’s degree in math and science education from Old Dominion University, where she was selected as a Holmes Scholar.
Nicholas Horton is Beitzel professor of technology and society and professor of statistics at Amherst College. He is an applied biostatistician whose work is based squarely within the mathematical and computational sciences but spans other fields in order to ensure that biomedical research is conducted on a sound footing. He has published more than 170 papers in the statistics and biomedical literature and four books on statistical computing and data science. He has taught a variety of courses in statistics and related fields, including introductory statistics, data science, probability, theoretical statistics, regression, and design of experiments. He is passionate about improving quantitative and computational literacy for students with a variety of backgrounds as well as engagement and mastery of higher-level concepts and capacities to think with data. Horton received the American Statistical Association (ASA) Waller Award for Distinguished Teaching, the Mathematical Association of America Hogg Award for Excellence in Teaching, the
Mu Sigma Rho Statistics Education Award, and the ASA Founders Award. He was a co-principal investigator of the National Science Foundation-funded Project MOSAIC, serves as the chair of the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies, is a fellow of the ASA and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was a research fellow at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Horton earned an A.B. from Harvard College and a Sc.D. in biostatistics from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Nicole Jackson is the chief technology officer at Duet Health and serves as an American Association for the Advancement of Science IF/THEN Ambassador. She is pursuing a graduate degree in education at Drexel University. Her research focuses on the application of research in technology to improve performance outcomes using mobile and web applications that aim to improve task achievement and contextual retention. Jackson obtained her B.A. in interdisciplinary studies and an M.S. in creativity and innovation technology.
Ryan Kelsey leads the Markle Foundation’s partnership strategy across all of its philanthropic initiatives as the executive director of partnership development. He weaves together innovation, philanthropy, nonprofit leadership, network strategies, and partnerships to work for a more equitable world. The primary vehicle for conducting his work has been to foster the improvement of educational systems to accelerate upward social mobility for historically disadvantaged populations, but his previous experiences also cross over into public health, the environment, and other sectors. Kelsey is also a member of the Board of Advisors for Project Kaleidoscope and a board member for the Black Rock Forest Consortium. He received his B.S. in biology from Santa Clara University, and his M.A. and Ed.D. in communications and education from Columbia University.
Kirk Kolenbrander is executive vice president, College of Engineering, Technology, and Aeronautics at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). He is leading the construction of a new innovative building on the main campus that will feature a makerspace, a 3D printing room, a drone flying area and unmanned aerial vehicle prep space, and a robotics lab. He is committed to helping SNHU to create a new, scalable model for higher education and wants to create a sustainable model that provides affordable, engaging learning experiences that help produce employees ready to contribute to companies. Prior to joining SNHU, he was a faculty member at MIT, where he won the MIT Baker Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the MIT Smith Award for Outstanding Faculty Contributions to Student Life. Kolenbrander led the creation of MIT LeaderShape, an intensive leadership curriculum he has taught during
Independent Activities Period for nearly 25 years, providing more than 1,000 MIT students with a formative experience in community-centered problem solving. He was instrumental in forging a new partnership between the Institute and the MIT Alumni Association. He has also led efforts to introduce changes intended to enhance diversity and inclusion at MIT, including improvements related to orientation for incoming students, mental health services, implicit bias training, financial aid, and student surveys and data collection. Kolenbrander holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Arthur Lee is Chevron fellow and principal advisor, environment and climate change, at Chevron Services Company, based in San Ramon, California. He has held positions of increasing responsibilities, including the corporation-wide formulation of strategic positioning and policy development on issues ranging from Chevron’s internal energy policy, U.S. air pollution issues, to actions addressing climate change concerns. He was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to the National Climate Assessment Development and Advisory Committee, responsible for the next assessment of climate change impacts on the United States. Lee is team leader on deployment issues in the CO2 Capture Project, which is the global joint industry-government project to develop the next generation of CO2 capture and storage technology. From April 2005 to May 2007, he served as the chairman of the Climate Change Working Group of the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association. Lee served as the review editor of the International Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) special report Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (2005). The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. In August 2006 and November 2007, with his leadership, Chevron was the key sponsor of the series of G8/International Energy Agency/Carbon Sequestration Leadership Workshop on Carbon Capture and Storage. The workshop series was successful in generating a consensus on recommendations for near-term opportunities for carbon capture and storage. These recommendations were delivered to G8 leaders.
Amber Luther is a planner and senior associate at Populous. Her work focuses on innovative urban designs and planning, which requires working alongside many city governments and universities to plan and construct large-scale projects. Luther received her B.S. in architecture and multimedia.
Lindsey Malcom-Piqueux is the senior institutional research analyst at Caltech. Her primary interest centers on postsecondary access and success for minoritized women and men in STEM fields. She has conducted research in several areas including the relationship between financial aid and STEM outcomes, the role of 4-year Minority-Serving Institutions and
Community Colleges in creating educational equity in STEM, and gender equity in STEM among minoritized populations. Malcom-Piqueux also studies the educational experiences and outcomes of students of color at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, predominantly Black institutions, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and tribal colleges and examines the congruence of the minority-serving designation and academic outcomes among their target populations. Her work has appeared in Educational Researcher, The Review of Higher Education, Harvard Educational Review, among other journals, and in volumes edited by Routledge, SUNY Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, and Stylus Publishing. Malcom-Piqueux received her M.S. and S.B. in planetary science from Caltech and MIT, respectively, and her Ph.D. in urban education with an emphasis on higher education from the University of Southern California.
Theresa A. Maldonado is the vice president for research and innovation for the University of California system. She has extensive experience at the federal level in advancing engineering research, education, and commercialization initiatives. From 2011 to 2014, she served as a division director in the Engineering Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF). She was responsible for support of interdisciplinary research centers, research translation, innovations in engineering education, special initiatives in support of military veterans, broadening participation in engineering, and workforce development programs. Her initial appointment at NSF was from 1999 to 2001, when she served as a program director in the Engineering Research Centers Program and represented the Engineering Directorate on several NSF-wide committees. Before entering academia, she was a member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories working on optical fiber components and systems. Maldonado is a registered professional engineer in Texas. She earned Ph.D., M.S.E.E., and B.E.E. with Highest Honors degrees in electrical engineering, all from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Cathy Manduca is director of the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College, where she leads work to improve education guiding projects to completion, developing new directions, raising funds, and managing staff. This work supports communities of educators in learning together and collaborating to create resources supporting widespread improvement in various aspects of education. Her research focuses on understanding faculty learning and the impact of professional networks on educational practice. Manduca was the executive director of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers from 2007 to 2019. She serves on the Board on Science Education and the LabX Advisory Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and has served on the elected leadership for the American Geophysical Union and American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS) Education Section in the past. She is a fellow of AAAS and the Geological Society of America, and past recipient of the American Geophysical Union’s award for Excellence in Earth and Space Education. Manduca received her B.A. in geology from Williams College and her Ph.D. in geology from the California Institute of Technology.
Karen Marrongelle serves as the assistant director of the Directorate for Education and Human Resources at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Her career as a leader in the research community has been marked by a deep commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. As an administrator, she has focused on understanding the causes of disparities in educational opportunities and establishing strategic visions for addressing those issues. She served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Portland State University, where she worked to implement student inclusivity measures, establish public-private partnerships to support research, and optimize the school’s use of grants from NSF and other funding organizations. In addition to her work as dean, she served as a professor of mathematics and statistics at Portland State University beginning in 2001. Prior to her appointment as dean, she held positions as the vice chancellor for academic strategies and assistant vice chancellor for academic standards and collaboration with the Oregon University System. Marrongelle has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and philosophy from Albright College, a master’s degree in mathematics from Lehigh University, and a doctorate in mathematics education from the University of New Hampshire.
Tonya M. Matthews is the director of STEM learning innovation and associate provost for inclusive workforce development at Wayne State University, and a thought leader in STEM education and engagement, organizational equity and inclusion, and informal, community-driven learning. She is noted for her skill in bringing diverse voices into common conversation and has been recognized by Crain’s Business as one of Michigan’s 100 Most Influential Women. She is currently vice-chair for the National Assessment Governing Board (which defines the Nation’s Report Card in math and science) and she is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Science Education. She is the recipient of a Whitaker Foundation Award for Engineering Excellence and an alumni member of National Society of Black Engineers and Society for Women Engineers. As a community-driven science education and community-engaged science advocate, Matthews founded The STEMinista Project, an initiative supporting middle school girls in exploring tools and careers in STEM. The program uses collective impact program design, engages a global role model database, and works with partners to open access to 1,000+ hours of STEM experiences for participants every year. Previously, she was president and chief
executive officer of Michigan Science Center and led its climb to becoming the STEM Hub for greater Detroit and the state of Michigan. During her tenure, Matthews positioned the center and Detroit as an epicenter of STEM and garnered national recognition by hosting critical convenings such as the release of the first Nation’s Report Card on Technology and Engineering Literacy. Matthews received her B.S.E. in biomedical and electrical engineering from Duke University and her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
Amitava “Babi” Mitra is the founding executive director, New Engineering Education Transformation, MIT. He is co-leading a program to reimagine and transform MIT’s undergraduate engineering education, arguably one of the most impactful initiatives in higher education today. He has more than 25 years of experience in institution building, higher education, corporate e-learning, and distance education. He transformed a small e-learning research and development group into the profitable Knowledge Solutions Business. He was a founding member of the Pan-Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation, a nongovernmental organization established 25 years ago in the Kumaon Mountains. He was the founding dean for the School of Engineering & Technology, BML Munjal University, India, where he launched Joy of Engineering, a first-year hands-on course designed to get students engaged with engineering. He was the first chief of the Distance Learning Programs Unit at Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, India. Mitra received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from BITS.
Mark Mitsui is the president of Portland Community College (PCC), the first Asian American president in the 58-year history of PCC, which educates more than 60,000 students annually and is the largest higher-education institution in the state of Oregon. He was selected by the Portland Business Journal as an executive of the year in 2018 and currently serves on several boards, which include the Governor’s Workforce and Talent Development Board, the Portland Business Alliance Board, and the Greater Portland Incorporated Board, the Higher Education Steering Council for Second Nature, We Are Still In, American Council on Education, and the President’s Advisory Council for Phi Theta Kappa. Prior to working at PCC, he served in the Obama administration as the deputy assistant secretary for community colleges in the U.S. Department of Education. In this role, he advanced the President’s and department’s Community College agenda through strategic partnerships across federal agencies and with national stakeholders. He also served as president of North Seattle College, vice president of student services at South Seattle College, assistant dean of student services at Green River Community College (where he was awarded an Exemplary Leadership Award by the Chair Academy), and director of student success
at North Seattle College. He entered into the community and technical college arena as a teacher at Renton Technical College, where he was awarded an Outstanding Faculty Award in 1994. Mitsui holds a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Western Washington University and completed a master’s degree in education at the University of Washington.
Nishal Mohan founded the 501c(3) nonprofit organization, mohuman, in 2018. Through self-determination, education, multidisciplinary experience, and deep social good ideals, he has worked in the nonprofit, startup, city, and federal sectors to blend science, technology, policy, and social justice for creative undertakings that serve all people. He is a fierce advocate, strategist, educator, and doer devoted to empowering those underserved by society to have an easier path to social, intellectual, and economic equity in their communities. Mohan received his B.A. in biology and his Ph.D. in molecular biology.
Anne Marie Núñez is a professor of educational studies in the Higher Education and Student Affairs Program at The Ohio State University. Her award-winning research employs sociological approaches to advance equitable postsecondary educational opportunities for historically underserved groups in higher education. Her scholarship has focused on (1) postsecondary trajectories of Latinx, first-generation, migrant, and English Learner students; (2) institutional diversity in the United States, including the role of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in promoting college opportunities; and (3) building inclusive and equitable environments in STEM disciplines and HSIs. She co-edited Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Advancing Research and Transformative Practice, an International Latino Book Award winner that is the first book to focus on HSIs as organizations and their role in the American higher-education system. She has served as a National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee member, helping to co-author and disseminate a 2019 report on the contributions of minority-serving institutions to the science workforce titled Minority Serving Institutions: America’s Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce. Her current research is funded by more than $10 million in grants from the National Science Foundation to build equitable environments in geosciences and computing, raise Latinx attainment in STEM fields, and strengthen STEM capacity in HSIs. Núñez received an A.B. from Harvard University, an M.A. from Stanford University School of Education, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in higher education and organizational change from the University of California, Los Angeles Graduate School of Education.
Eloy Oakley is the chancellor of the California Community College system. His career in education includes serving as an adjunct faculty member
teaching in and coordinating the Environmental Technology Certificate Program at Golden West College, manager of risk services at the Coast Community College District, vice president of college services at Oxnard College, and assistant superintendent/executive vice president of administrative services at the Long Beach Community College District. In 2007, he was appointed superintendent-president of the Long Beach Community College District, one of the most diverse Community Colleges in the nation, and he became increasingly well-known for providing statewide and national leadership on improving educational outcomes of historically underrepresented students. Partnering with the Long Beach Unified School District and Cal State Long Beach, Oakley helped form the nationally recognized Long Beach College Promise, a program creating clear, structured pathways for students to move from high school to Long Beach Community College and onto Cal State Long Beach. The James Irvine Foundation recognized him with its Leadership Award in 2014, the same year he was appointed chancellor to the University of California’s Board of Regents. In 2015, President Obama launched the America’s College Promise initiative that was modeled in part on the Long Beach Promise. Oakley earned his bachelor’s degree in environmental analysis and design and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Irvine.
Christine Ortiz is Morris Cohen professor of materials science and engineering at MIT and the founder and inaugural philanthropic benefactor of a new nonprofit higher-education institution, Station1 (http://www.station1.org), that is building a new model of postsecondary education through an inclusive, integrated, interdisciplinary approach to socially directed science and technology education, research, and entrepreneurship. Ortiz has been active in shaping the national and international dialog on higher education and has spoken at the National Science Foundation; the National Institutes of Health; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the United Nations; the League of European Research Universities (a network of 23 leading European research universities); Semesp (a national organization for Brazilian higher education); and the American Association for Colleges and Universities, among many other venues. She is a distinguished scientist and engineer with more than 175 scholarly publications, has supervised the research projects of more than 100 students from 10 different academic disciplines, and received 30 national and international honors, including the Presidential Early-Career Award in Science and Engineering. Ortiz obtained her B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her M.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University, all in the field of materials science and engineering, with a minor in theoretical and applied mechanics.
Michael Roberts is the founder of San Diego Code School. He has worn many hats from software engineer to chief executive officer. He is a board member of San Diego JavaScript Community. He is a Fullstack JavaScript practitioner with more than 30 years of experience coding. He has helped launch more than 100 student careers and has graduates working at IBM/RedHat, Apple, WalmartLabs, Sony, AWS, and many tech companies.
Josipa Roksa currently serves as director of strategic academic programs and professor of sociology and education at the University of Virginia. Her current research focuses on understanding the experiences and outcomes of first-generation and low-income students, and more broadly the role of socioeconomic status in shaping students’ trajectories through both undergraduate and graduate education. The central question guiding her scholarly inquiry is: To what extent does education amplify, preserve, or reduce social inequality? To answer the question, she is examining how students’ experiences vary by race and ethnicity, particularly in STEM fields. Current projects are charting coursework trajectories, considering the role of family support, and exploring students’ interactions with faculty and peers, all with the goal of understanding the mechanisms that generate social inequality. In her earlier work, she has explored inequalities in learning (and specifically development of critical-thinking skills in college) and K–12 education. Roksa received a B.A. in psychology from Mount Holyoke College and a Ph.D. in sociology from New York University.
Yves Salomon-Fernández is president of Greenfield Community College. She previously served as president of Cumberland County College in New Jersey and interim president of MassBay Community College. In her career in higher education, Salomon-Fernández has served at large and medium-sized selective private and public universities, as well as open-access colleges in urban, suburban, and rural settings in the United States. Internationally, Salomon-Fernández has served with the United Nations in Mexico and as a consultant for the Bermuda Ministry of Education. She is a recognized thought leader, writing and speaking on issues related to reinventing higher education, rural innovation, equity, and women’s leadership. In 2018, Diverse Issues in Higher Education named Salomon-Fernández one of the Top 25 Women in Higher Education. She is a member of the American Association of Community College’s Commission on Small and Rural Colleges and serves on Jobs for the Future’s Policy Leadership Trust. She is also a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Community Development Council. She advocates for a greater role of the liberal arts as a board member at Mass Humanities. She also has a keen interest in the effect of the opioids epidemic on rural communities. Salomon-Fernández emigrated with her family from Haiti and is a graduate of Boston Latin School. She received
her undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and holds a certificate from the University of Oxford. Her master’s degree is from the London School of Economics and her Ph.D. from Boston College.
Sae Schatz emphasizes advocacy for learning science as director of the Advance Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative. Prior to joining the ADL Initiative, Schatz was a senior consultant with Executive Development Associates, and before that she was the chief scientist for MESH Solutions, LLC (a DSCI Company) in Orlando, Florida. She has worked on a number of well-known projects including the Marine Corps’ Making Good Instructors Great effort, the National Transportation Safety Administration award-winning Border Hunter research and instructional design project, and the Joint Staff (J7)’s Blended Learning–Training System. She served on the University of Central Florida faculty from 2006 to 2011 (teaching courses in human-systems integration, visual and web design, and web development) and continues to support the Modeling and Simulation Graduate Program as an occasional adjunct instructor. Schatz received her Ph.D. in modeling and simulation from the University of Central Florida.
Wanda Sigur is as an aerospace consultant for both emerging space exploration companies and traditional aerospace industry companies, continuing her lifelong commitment to the success of aerospace missions, the growth of the aerospace profession, and new technology implementation. She retired from Lockheed Martin as vice president and general manager of the Civil Space business where she had executive responsibility for national space programs relating to human space flight and space science missions, including planetary, solar, astrophysical, and Earth remote sensing for civil government agencies. These major programs included the Orion Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle, Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, GOES-R weather satellites, Juno, GRAIL, MAVEN, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and OSIRIS-REx planetary missions, and the company’s nuclear space power programs. Sigur’s key experience reflects her passion for growing an inclusive and progressive space exploration environment. As president and founder of Lambent Engineering LLC, she currently provides support in strategic planning, program review, and program management disciplines as well as sharing historical performance on NASA programs. In addition, she serves on boards of advisors of emerging space exploration companies and nonprofits and helps push key technologies to mature implementations. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Medicine, Engineering, and Science of Texas. She is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Aeronautics and Space Evaluation Board (ASEB) and chair of the ASEB Space Technology Industry Government University Roundtable. Sigur received her B.S.
in materials engineering from Rice University and her M.B.A. from Tulane University.
Susan Singer is the vice president for academic affairs and provost at Rollins College and a professor in the Department of Biology. Immediately prior to joining Rollins, she was the director for the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation and coordinated 14 federal agencies in implementing the undergraduate strategic objectives of the first Federal STEM Education 5-Year Strategic Plan. Previously, she served as the Laurence McKinley Gould professor, in the Departments of Biology and Cognitive Science at Carleton College for 30 years, where she had the opportunity to direct the Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching. She is an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow and received the American Society of Plant Biology Teaching Award and Botanical Society of America Charles Bessey Award. She served on numerous boards, including the National Science Foundation Education and Human Resources Advisory Committee, and is the current chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Science Education. Singer received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D., all from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
David Soo is chief of staff for Jobs for the Future (JFF) and provides strategic and programmatic leadership for key initiatives across JFF and JFF Labs. His work includes the design, development, and incubation of initiatives supporting JFF’s mission of accelerating the alignment and transformation of the American workforce and education systems to ensure access to economic advancement for all. Before joining JFF, Soo spent more than 7 years as a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Education. He was a key architect of the department’s higher-education innovation agenda during the Obama administration and later served in the Office of the Secretary’s Office of Educational Technology. Some key policies and projects he worked on yielded new and refreshed federal initiatives, including the EQUIP pilot program, the First in the World Grant Program, and the Higher Ed Ecosystem Challenge. He also led a series of meetings convened by the U.S. Department of Education and the Obama White House to promote innovation. Soo has appeared on NPR, the PBS News Hour, and Federal News Radio, and he has been quoted by Inside Higher Ed and U.S. News & World Report. He has spoken at events at the White House, the Aspen Institute, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, ASU+GSV Summit, SXSW EDU, Educause, the American Association of Colleges and Universities, and LearnLaunch. He is also a senior scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for New Designs in Learning.
Clarissa Sorensen-Unruh is a full-time chemistry instructor at Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is also a dual degree graduate student (M.S. in statistics and Ph.D. in learning sciences at the University of New Mexico [UNM]), where she is also listed as adjunct faculty for the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. She currently serves on the communication advisory board on the UNM ADVANCE grant, as an educational collaborator on the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER grant, as a regular reviewer for NSF grants, and served from 2014 to 2016 as the Central New Mexico subaward principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health IRACDA UNM ASERT. Her first book, Communicating Chemistry through Social Media, on which she serves as both the main editor and a chapter writer, was published in 2018. She serves as a buddy (virtual and onsite) and an active member of Virtually Connecting, and she also serves in several roles in the American Chemical Society’s Division of Chemical Education: social media subgroup chair for the Biennial Conference Committee, a board associate for the Board of Publications, and as chair of the Strategic Task Force for PR. Sorensen-Unruh received an M.S. in statistics and a Ph.D. focused on the learning sciences from the University of New Mexico.
Lynn Andrea Stein is professor of computer and cognitive science at the Olin College of Engineering. From 1990 to 2000, she was an assistant and then associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and at the AI Laboratory and Laboratory for Computer Science. Her research spans the fields of artificial intelligence, programming languages, and engineering and computer science education. She is a frequent speaker at educational conferences on work including pioneering curricular applications of inexpensive robotics and a curriculum for introductory computer science. Stein has received the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, a Bunting fellowship, and several educational awards. She has also served on the executive council of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, on the member services board of the Association for Computing Machinery, and in various leadership positions as a woman in computing. Over the past two and a half decades, Stein has worked with the worldwide community to develop broader visions of computing and engineering education, running educational workshops, leading professional initiatives, and serving on advisory and visiting committees to a wide range of academic institutions and curricular programs. As a member of Olin College’s founding faculty, she played a leadership role in many aspects of the development of the college. In 2009, she was named the founding director of Olin’s Initiative for Innovation in Engineering Education. Stein has a bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in computer science
from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and master’s and doctorate degrees in computer science from Brown University.
Francis Su is the Benediktsson-Karwa professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and a former president of the Mathematical Association of America. In addition to his research in geometric combinatorics, he has written extensively about the dignity of human beings and the wonder of mathematical teaching. In 2013, he received the Haimo Award, a nationwide teaching prize for college math faculty, and in 2018 he won the Halmos-Ford writing award. His work has been featured in Quanta, Wired, and The New York Times. His book Mathematics for Human Flourishing (2020) is an inclusive vision of what math is, who it is for, and why anyone should learn it. Su received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Vicente Talanquer is a distinguished professor at the University of Arizona. His research centers on the study, reflection, and improvement of chemistry education and science teacher preparation. In particular, his research is directed at characterizing the conceptual frameworks and the patterns of reasoning used by chemistry students to answer questions and solve problems that require qualitative reasoning (e.g., classification, prediction, inference, comparison). He explores how students’ ideas and reasoning strategies evolve as they develop more expertise in the discipline (trajectories of expertise). These studies are of central importance not only to design learning progressions that foster meaningful learning but also to improve the preparation of future chemistry teachers through the development of their assessment thinking. Talanquer has been honored with several awards, such as the Early-Career Teaching Award, the Five Star Teaching Award, Leicester and Kathryn Sherrill Creative Teaching Award, and the Henry and Phyllis Koffler Prize in Teaching. He has also been recognized with the James Flack Norris Award for the Outstanding Teaching of Chemistry and the Distinguished Achievement in Science Education Award. In 2015, Talanquer was recognized as the Arizona Professor of the Year. He received a B.S, an M.A., and a Ph.D. in chemistry, all from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
William F. Tate IV is the provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the University of South Carolina (USC). He holds the USC Education Foundation distinguished professorship with appointments in sociology and family and preventive medicine (secondary appointment). Tate’s research concentrates in four areas: (1) human capital development in STEM fields, (2) epidemiological models and geospatial applications with a focus on adolescent and child development and health outcomes, (3) social development of youth in the context of metropolitan communities, and
(4) stratification. Prior to joining the USC faculty, he served as dean and vice provost for graduate education at Washington University in St. Louis, where he held the Edward Mallinckrodt distinguished university professorship in arts and sciences. Before serving at Washington University in St. Louis, he held the William and Betty Adams chair at Texas Christian University and served on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a past president of the American Educational Research Association, where he was awarded fellow status. In addition, he was elected to the National Academy of Education. Tate earned his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was a Patricia Roberts Harris fellow.
Michael Torrence is a technology strategist. He has worked with higher education in many capacities and focused his expertise on research, adult education, student success, academic affairs, staff development, and distance learning. His other interests are Applied Learning within Open Education Resources, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Automation, Robotics, Mechatronics, and Gamification as platforms for education, learning, and training business and industry to increase efficiency and scalability. Torrence is also an entrepreneurial business development professional with a Ph.D. in exceptional learning (literacy) from Tennessee Technological University.
Will Tyson is the associate professor of sociology at the University of South Florida. His research examines interpersonal and structural influences on STEM education and career pathways out of high schools, community colleges, and 4-year universities. Through this research, he examines how education facilitates life course transitions among students from various backgrounds. His current research focuses on school-to-work and work-to-school pathways of individuals enrolled in community college technician education programs in preparation for the 21st century high-technology workforce. He teaches courses in race and ethnicity, sport in society, and sociology of education. Tyson received his Ph.D. from Duke University.
Monique Umphrey is the president of Houston Community College Northeast. Prior to joining Houston Community College, she was the vice president of workforce innovation and the college-wide dean of information technology at the Center of Excellence, Cuyahoga Community College. In 2014, she immediately started implementing ways to improve the college’s computer networking and programming educational tracks and planned for expansions into areas including cybersecurity, data analytics, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. A new degree in cybersecurity as well as new certificates in data analytics were launched. Her goal was to unite and leverage the strengths of existing academic offerings and workforce
development training to optimize career and education opportunities for Tri-C students. Umphrey was selected into the inaugural class of the Aspen Presidential Fellowship for Community College Excellence, a rigorous, 10-month executive leadership program for aspiring Community College presidents led by the Aspen Institute and the Stanford Educational Leadership Initiative. She has more than 20 years of information technology experience, with more than 8 years of leading large-scale projects at Fortune 500 companies. She also was an adjunct instructor in information systems management and is certified for both online and classroom teaching. Umphrey earned a B.A. in computer information systems and an M.S. from Middle Tennessee State University, and a doctorate of management from the University of Maryland.
Monica Van is a student at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) obtaining her B.S. in cognitive sciences. As an active UCSD student, she is a research assistant in the Early Learning & Cognition Lab. She has helped organize the TEDxUCSD for 2 years, contributed to projects with Global TIES UCSD, and interned with the Qualcomm Institute-UCSD Division of Calit2. Van is one of the Idea Competition winners for the Symposium on Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education.
Suzanne L. Weekes is the incoming executive director of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and is currently the associate dean of undergraduate studies and professor of mathematical sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). As dean, she is focused on the undergraduate research enterprise at the university to continue to advance WPI’s mission to create, to discover, and to convey knowledge at the frontiers of academic inquiry for the betterment of society. Her mathematical interests are in numerical methods for differential equations including applications to spatio-temporal composites and cancer growth, and she is also involved in many initiatives connecting the academic mathematics community to mathematics and statistics work done in business, industry, and government. Weekes is co-founder and codirector of the national Preparation for Industrial Careers in Mathematical Sciences Program and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Undergraduate Program. She is the recipient of the 2019 Humphreys Award for Mentoring from the Association for Women in Mathematics and the 2020 Haimo Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics from the Mathematical Association of America. She serves on the Science Policy committees of both the American Mathematical Society and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. She is on the board of governors of the Transforming Postsecondary Education in Mathematics initiative. Weekes received a B.S. in mathematics from Indiana University, and a Ph.D. in mathematics and
scientific computing from the University of Michigan, and did her postdoctoral work at Texas A&M University.
Robin Wright is the director of the Division for Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation (NSF). She is at NSF on a temporary assignment from the University of Minnesota’s Department of Biology Teaching and Learning, for which she was the founding head. She previously served as associate dean for faculty and academic affairs in the College of Biological Sciences and as professor of genetics, cell biology, and development. At Minnesota, she helped to develop the Nature of Life Orientation Program and has been a leader in development of Foundations of Biology, an innovative, team-based introductory biology course for biological sciences majors. She served on the Education Committee of the American Society for Cell Biology and as chair of the Education Committee for the Genetics Society of America. She was a member of the Executive Committee for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute/National Academies of Science-sponsored Summer Institute on Biology Education and the National Academies’ Scientific Teaching Alliance. During this work, she was named as a National Academies Biology Education Mentor for 14 consecutive years. She was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and received the Elizabeth Jones Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education from the Genetics Society of America. Wright received a B.S. in biology from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Carnegie-Mellon University.
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