Appendix B
Biographic Sketches of Workshop Speakers⁸⁹

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Eric H. Ducharme (NAE), cochair, retired in October 2021 as chief engineer at GE Aviation, where he was responsible for product and flight safety, airworthiness and certification, regulatory compliance, design process and quality, and technical talent development of over 1000 subject matter expert engineers on the technical career path. He is also the founder of an aerospace consultancy, Martlet Engineering, LLC.

He also led GE teams in aeroelastic technology, development of swept composite fans (resulting in the first successful engine applications), the GE90 engine engineering program, the LEAP-1A/B/C and Passport 20 engine engineering programs through development and certification, and the Advanced Technology Operation responsible for delivering technologies and architectures for next-generation commercial and military flight propulsion. In addition, he was VP of Engineering at GE Transportation, responsible for powering the world’s rail, mining, and marine sectors.

Dr. Ducharme earned his BSc in mechanical engineering from McGill University and his MS and ScD in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to his NAE membership, he is a fellow of the AIAA, ASME, and Royal Aeronautical Engineering Society. He serves on the National Academies’ Aeronautics Research and Technology Roundtable and is a former member of the NASA Aeronautics Advisory Committee, chair of the ASME Industry Advisory Board, and GE’s University Executive aligned with MIT.

Gary S. May (NAE), cochair, is chancellor of UC Davis, the most comprehensive campus in the University of California system, with four colleges and six professional schools. An accomplished scholar and engineer, he came to UC Davis after a three-decade career at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was dean of the College of Engineering. Prior to his appointment as dean, he was the Steve W. Chaddick Chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and served as executive assistant to GT President G. Wayne Clough.

May is known as a dynamic leader with a passion for helping others succeed. He believes success is best judged by how we enhance the lives of others. For developing nationally recognized programs to attract, mentor, and retain underrepresented groups in the STEM fields, he was honored in 2015 when President Barack Obama presented him with the Presidential Award for Excellence in STEM Mentoring.

May also believes in the positive impact of academia and industry when they partner for the common good. He launched Aggie Square in 2018 to spur economic growth in Sacramento

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⁸⁹ Biographies were current at the time of the workshop.

and help create jobs at a variety of education levels. In 2019 he and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg received a Leadership Award from the Association of University Research Parks for creating a unique partnership for Aggie Square.

May was elected to the NAE in 2018 for his innovations in educational programs for underrepresented groups in engineering and his contributions to semiconductor manufacturing research. In 2020 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for his “educational and academic leadership.” He was honored as a Bay Area Champion of Health by the National Medical Fellowships Bay Area Council, which noted his “passion for mentorship and advocacy of diversity in STEM.” He has also won numerous honors for his research in computer-aided manufacturing of integrated circuits. He has authored more than 200 technical publications, contributed to 15 books, and holds a patent related to this work.

May is vice chair of the Universities Research Association Council of Presidents, a member of the Council on Competitiveness and executive committee of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Board of Directors, and an advisor for the National Society of Black Engineers.

He earned his master’s and PhD degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley.

Shayna Begay is a member of the Navajo tribe and grew up in Cortez, CO. She works at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) as project team lead and principal systems engineer in the Nuclear Weapon Systems Group, responsible for leading a multidisciplinary team of engineers and scientists and overseeing the design, qualification, and production for a multibillion-dollar program.

Shayna is passionate about encouraging young students to pursue STEM careers. She has taught courses in chemistry, nanotechnology, photovoltaics, and rocketry through Sandia community outreach programs, and has volunteered for AISES as a science fair judge, national conference undergrad research poster judge, scholarship reader, and speaker on leadership development. She is vice chair for Navajo Technical University’s Engineering Advisory Board and a motivational speaker for programs and schools including the American Indian Graduate Center and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Education Forum.

She received a Gates Millennium Scholarship and attended the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) where she earned bachelor’s (magna cum laude, 2010) and master’s (2011) degrees in aerospace engineering. During her time at FIT, Shayna served as a university tutor, developed a Nanotechnology Outreach Program for secondary students, and spent a summer abroad at Oxford University. As a graduate student, Shayna interned at SNL, where she worked on the Mars Rover Curiosity Program.

Isabel Cardenas-Navia is senior director of research to advance Workcred’s research agenda and examine workforce credentialing issues and needs. She was previously vice president of programs and director of emerging workforce programs with the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF). She has led and facilitated projects bringing together Fortune 500 employers and higher education institutions; produced novel research on workforce issues in emerging technical fields; led the development and implementation of a national strategic plan, capacity building tools, and best practices for partnerships between businesses and higher education institutions in data science and analytics; and received funding from federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, and Department of Education, as well as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation.

Prior to BHEF, Dr. Cardenas-Navia was the president and founder of Alta Vision Consulting, where she provided short-term, project-based consulting in policy and workforce development in scientific and technical fields; identified, developed, and maintained strategic relationships and partnerships among higher education, industry, government, and foundations; and synthesized and summarized policies and academic research related to higher education and workforce development, particularly in digital technology and STEM fields.

Dr. Cardenas-Navia was a postdoctoral fellow with the National Human Genome Research Institute, and has conducted multifaceted research projects at F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd. in Switzerland, the Department of Radiation Oncology at Duke University Medical Center, the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley, and the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale School of Medicine. She has a PhD in biomedical engineering and certificate in biomolecular and tissue engineering from Duke University, and a BS in mechanical engineering from Yale University.

Gabriel Najera is president of the Najera Consulting Group, Inc., which helps nonprofit and for-profit organizations develop strategies to improve the performance of their programs and their social impact. He has held senior management and leadership positions in engineering, project management, manufacturing, oil field operations, strategic planning, marketing and sales, negotiations, management training, business consulting, and international business development.

He is a cofounder and former president of the Chicago chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). In 1995 he received SHPE’s highest national honor, the Jaime Oaxaca Award, for his lifetime achievements and contributions to the Latino community and STEM inclusion initiatives.

At the age of 5 years, he began working in farm labor camps with his family. These humble beginnings, combined with his 50 years of professional experience at all workforce levels, have provided him with a unique panoramic perspective of people at work. He has written numerous articles and is a highly sought-after speaker, trainer, and facilitator for corporate, nonprofit, trade association, college, and university meetings.

Gabriel has an MBA from the University of Chicago and BS in civil engineering from Michigan State University.

Pamela Holland Obiomon is dean of the Roy G. Perry College of Engineering at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU). She joined the university in 2003 as a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering and was selected to head the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) in 2013. Under her leadership, the department was awarded over $18 million in grants from the Chancellor’s Research Initiative of the Texas A&M University System. The grants aided in the establishment of three centers: for Computational Biology and Bioengineering Research, Cyber Security Research, and Advancing Innovations in Smart Microgrid. Also during her leadership as department head, the ECE Department was awarded $5 million from the US Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering for the Center of Excellence in Research and Education for Big Military Data Intelligence (CREDIT).

Before coming to PVAMU, she taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology and worked in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center.

Obiomon’s research interests are in integrated microsystems for environmental sensing powered by energy scavenging, smart systems using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and the design of FPGA-based controllers for autonomous vehicles. She has published over 50 papers in refereed journals, international and national conferences, and colloquia; been awarded

over $14 million in research funds as a principal investigator or co-PI; and developed the Field-Programmable Gate Array Synthesis Laboratory at PVAMU. In addition, she has supervised and served on 21 master’s and PhD committees. She is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE Women in Engineering, and Eta Kappa Nu.

Obiomon earned a BS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, MS in engineering from Prairie View A&M University, and PhD in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Percy Pierre (NAE) joined the Clark School as an adjunct professor and Glenn L. Martin Endowed Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in fall 2019. He will assist the college in the recruitment and mentoring of women and underrepresented minority graduate students, and in the recruitment of diverse faculty.

Pierre has over 50 years of experience in academic administration and the administration of military research and development. He was vice president for Research and Graduate Studies at Michigan State University, president of Prairie View A&M University, and dean of engineering at Howard University. He also served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame and the Board of Trustees of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. His service in military R&D administration includes service as Acting Secretary of the Army in 1981, as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research, Development, and Acquisition, and as a researcher at the RAND Corporation. Subsequently, he served on the Board of Trustees of the Aerospace Corporation, which performed systems engineering studies of space systems for the US Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office. He also served on the Board of Trustees of the Center for Naval Analysis which does systems studies for naval operations. He served as a program officer of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and was instrumental in organizing and funding the creation of several organizations in support of minorities in engineering. Pierre also served as a White House Fellow in the Office of the President of the US in 1969. Pierre is recognized as the first African American to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering. He was elected to the NAE in 2009 for his service as assistant secretary of the Army, contributions to engineering education, and leadership in creating the national minority engineering effort.

Adrienne Smith is interim dean of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at Holyoke Community College (HCC). She was previously dean of the School of Engineering, Technologies, and Mathematics at Springfield Technical Community College and, prior to that, associate professor and coordinator of electronics technology at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, MA. Smith started her professional life as an electrical engineer (and the first female engineer) at Digital Equipment Corp. in Springfield.

Her professional accomplishments span many areas of academic program development and enhancement, enrollment management and retention, diversity responsiveness, and regional and community partnership coordination.

Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in science, engineering, and math from Western New England University, where she was the first African-American woman to graduate with a degree in engineering. She earned a doctorate in education from UMass Amherst with competencies in community-college leadership, educational polices, and administration.

SPEAKERS

John L. Anderson (NAE) is president (2019–25) of the National Academy of Engineering. He was previously Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and president (2007–15) of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Before that he was provost and executive vice president at Case Western Reserve University (2004–07), following 28 years at Carnegie Mellon University, including 8 years as dean of the College of Engineering and 11 as head of the Chemical Engineering Department. He began his professional career as an assistant professor of chemical engineering at Cornell University (1971–76). Dr. Anderson was elected to the NAE in 1992 for contributions to the understanding of colloidal hydro-dynamics and membrane transport phenomena and was elected an NAE councillor in 2015. His service also includes numerous National Academies activities, such as the Committee on Determining Basic Research Needs to Interrupt the Improvised Explosive Device Delivery Chain (chair); Committee on Review of Existing and Potential Standoff Explosives Detection Techniques (chair); Organizing Committee for the National Security and Homeland Defense Workshop (cochair); and Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology (cochair). He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was appointed to the National Science Board in 2014 for a six-year term. He received the Acrivos Professional Progress Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and an award from the Pittsburgh Section of AIChE for Outstanding Professional Accomplishments in the Field of Academics, and he is listed on the Alumni Wall of Fame at the University of Delaware. In 2012 he received the National Engineering Award from the American Association of Engineering Societies. He has held visiting professorships at MIT (fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation), University of Melbourne (Australia), and Landbouwuniversiteit Wageningen (the Netherlands). He has presented guest lectures at universities throughout the United States and is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. He received his BS from the University of Delaware and PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, both in chemical engineering.

Sandra Begay, daughter of a Navajo tribal leader and a public health nurse, is a member of the Navajo Nation and has been an engineer for 33 years, including 30 at Sandia National Laboratories, where she is a research and development engineer. Before Sandia, she worked at the Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories. She has enjoyed 20 years of providing technical assistance to US tribes, and is featured in the American Society of Civil Engineers book Changing Our World: True Stories of Women Engineers, where the chapter “Women in Power” describes her research in providing electricity through solar panels to hundreds of Navajo members. Ms. Begay has mentored 44 technical American Indian and Alaska Native college students, which included 26 women interns (60% of the total); the former interns have become highly regarded technical staff members and leaders in tribal organizations, industry, academia, and nonprofit groups. She received a 2021 Women in Technology Award from the New Mexico Technology Council and serves on the University of New Mexico Board of Regents as secretary/treasurer. She earned an associate’s degree in preengineering, a BS in civil engineering from the University of New Mexico, and her MS from Stanford University in structural engineering with an emphasis in earthquake engineering.

Felicia Benton-Johnson is assistant dean in the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, responsible for all undergraduate engineering transfer programs, providing guidance to students to assist them with their academic, social, and professional

success, and working with development directors to secure funding for the college. As a national, leading practitioner, her areas of expertise are development, implementation, and evaluation of practical strategies to cultivate an inclusive organizational culture; broaden participation in STEM fields at the undergraduate, graduate, postdoc, and faculty levels; foster impactful collaborations with minority serving institutions; and establish successful transfer articulation agreements that expand access to postsecondary engineering education. She is also founding director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Engineering Education and Diversity (CEED), with successful programs for outreach, recruitment, and retention of underrepresented minorities and nontraditional students in STEM. She oversees precollegiate development, recruitment, transfer programs, and diversity initiatives for attracting, empowering, and retaining diverse students, faculty, and staff in engineering and technology. She received Georgia Tech’s 2015 Mentor of the Year Award, and CEED received the Recruitment Program Award in 2016 from the National Advocates for Minority Engineering Program Administrators and in 2017 was recognized by Georgia Tech for its commitment to diversity with the Diversity Champion Unit Award. Dr. Benton-Johnson is vice chair of the executive board of directors for the National GEM Consortium and a member of the 50K Coalition Community Linkages Committee, National Society of Black Engineers, American Society for Engineering Education, and Women in Engineering Proactive Network. She received her BS and a master’s of education in curriculum and instruction from Tennessee State University, and PhD in higher education leadership from Argosy University Sarasota.

Bruk Berhane is an assistant professor and undergraduate program director in the School of Universal Computing, Construction, and Engineering Education (SUCCEED) at Florida International University. Before that (2005–18) he directed engineering recruitment and scholarship programs for the University of Maryland, where he oversaw an increase in the admission of students of color and women and supported initiatives that reduce the time to degree for transfers from Maryland community colleges. In 2005 he had a fellowship with the National Academies, researching methods to increase the number of women in engineering, and later that year briefly served as a mathematics instructor in Baltimore City High Schools. In 2003–05 he worked on nanotechnology and microsystems at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. His areas of scholarly interest include broadening participation in engineering through community college pathways, entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial mindset in engineering, and experiences of first- and second-generation Americans in engineering undergraduate programs. He received his BS in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, MS in engineering management from George Washington University, and PhD in minority and urban education from the University of Maryland.

Steven Crossley is an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma, where he does research in heterogeneous catalysis for renewable energy and plastics recycling. He previously (2009–11) conducted research in fluid catalytic cracking and hydrocracking at ConocoPhillips (now Phillips 66). He is president of the Great Plains Catalysis Society, served as the CATL division programming chair for the 2019 and 2020 ACS fall national meetings, and is member-at-large of the division. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and given over 60 oral presentations at national meetings and departmental seminars. He is a member of the Cherokee tribe and serves as faculty advisor for the award-winning University of Oklahoma Chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). He has organized research nights with undergraduate AISES students, given workshops on recruitment and retention of Native American students to pursue research and graduate school at regional AISES

conferences, and served on panels to encourage and provide advice for Native Americans pursuing academic positions. Dr. Crossley received an ACS PRF DNI award (2014) and NSF CAREER award (2017). He earned his PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

Michael Dennin is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine and, since 2015, vice provost for teaching and learning and dean, Division of Undergraduate Education. His research focuses on the dynamics of foams, Langmuir monolayers, and modeling of ice mélange; these studies in complex fluids are crucial for applications including foam use in oil recovery as well as granular matter in the form of powders and pills in the medical industry. He is a Sloan Research Fellow and a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar. He has received UCI Senate awards in all three categories: Distinguished Mid-Career Award for Service, Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching, and Distinguished Assistant Professor Award for Research. Professor Dennin has been very active in translating educational research to practical applications at the university and is dedicated to public outreach in science, teaching Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and appearing on numerous television programs (e.g., “Science of Superman,” “Spider-man Tech,” “Batman Tech,” “Star Wars Tech,” and “Ancient Alien.).” In the YouTube series Fascinating Fights (http://bit.ly/1GDKVex) he debates the outcome of battles between pop icons. In 2015 he published a science outreach book on the intersection between science and faith, Divine Science: Finding Reason at the Heart of Faith. He received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, and his MS and PhD from UCSB, all in physics.

Afet Dundar is director, Equity in Research and Analytics, at the National Student Clearinghouse and has been with the organization for over 10 years. She led the development and production of the Clearinghouse Research Center’s national reports on student outcomes and annual High School Benchmarks report. In recent years, she has been leading the education metrics development work for different Clearinghouse platforms and services as well as efforts to establish and drive forward the principles for an equitable, unbiased, and inclusive approach to Clearinghouse data collection and analytics. Dr. Dundar has contributed to numerous publications on student access and success outcomes. She has a PhD in education policy studies from Indiana University Bloomington.

Lorelle L. Espinosa is program director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, responsible for developing and implementing evidence-based strategic priorities for the foundation’s grantmaking to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in STEM higher education. Her portfolio includes oversight of the foundation’s MPhD program, which supports eight University Centers of Exemplary Mentoring (UCEMs) nationwide. UCEMs provide fellowships, peer and faculty mentoring, and networking and professional development resources to help graduate students from underrepresented groups complete their study in STEM fields. Dr. Espinosa also oversees the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnerships with eight US campuses to help meet the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students, enabling them to pursue advanced degrees in STEM while continuing to participate meaningfully in tribal life. Before joining the foundation in 2020, she was vice president for research at the American Council for Education, responsible for building the organization’s research portfolio with attention to DEI, promoting innovation and data use to close equity gaps, and helping shape the national conversation around issues of access to and success in higher education for diverse populations. She is the lead author of Race, Class & College Access: Achieving Diversity in a Shifting Legal Landscape, an influential study of how jurisprudence is changing race-conscious policies in education; was PI

of a national study, Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education; and cochaired the National Academies study that produced the report Minority Serving Institutions: America’s Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce. A Pell Grant recipient and first-generation college graduate, Dr. Espinosa earned her PhD in higher education and organizational change from the University of California, Los Angeles; her BA from UC Davis; and her associate of arts degree from Santa Barbara City College.

Christine Foreman is associate dean of student success and professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University. She has spent many seasons in Antarctica studying life in extreme conditions, connecting the very smallest organisms to the workings of our entire planet. Dr. Foreman serves on the US Ice Core Working Group and NASA’s Life Detection and Ocean Worlds Research Coordination Networks and has served on two National Academies study committees. She has a BS in biology from Baldwin-Wallace College and PhD in biology and microbial ecology from the University of Toledo.

Tirupalavanam G. Ganesh is Tooker Professor and assistant dean of engineering education at Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, and an associate research professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy. He is an engineer, educator, and education researcher who designs, implements, and studies learning environments that offer opportunities for mastery learning in both K-12 and university settings. He is investigator of NSF-sponsored projects aimed at designing, implementing, and systematically studying the impact of engineering education programs in undergraduate and K-12 settings, including the Engineering Futures project, designed to foster engineering identity in undergraduate students. Dr. Ganesh has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from the University of Mysore and, from Arizona State University, a master’s in computer science and PhD in interdisciplinary studies.

Christine Grant has been a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State for over 30 years, conducting research in surface and interfacial science and advising postdocs and students ranging from the high school to the graduate level. As the inaugural associate dean of faculty advancement in the NC State College of Engineering since 2008, she’s responsible for faculty development, special initiatives, and promotion and tenure. She did an IPA assignment as a program director in the Engineering Education and Centers Division in NSF’s Directorate for Engineering, and manages the Broadening Participation in Engineering program. She also interfaces with the NSF-wide broadening participation initiatives HBCU-EIR, ADVANCE, and INCLUDES. She is president-elect and a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and a life member of AIChE, SWE, and AISES. A recipient of the AAAS Mentor Award and NSF Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math and Engineering Mentoring, she has been recognized for broadening the participation, promotion, and retention of underrepresented minorities and women in STEM with awards from the American Chemical Society, Council for Chemical Research, National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, and WEPAN. She has been a visiting senior scholar at AAAS, grant expert at NSF, and PI on multiple NSF ADVANCE grants. She also served on the advisory board or consulted with several ADVANCE schools to promote institutional transformation in STEM fields. She coedited Success Strategies from Women in STEM: A Portable Mentor and contributed chapters to Growing Diverse STEM Communities: Methodologies, Impact and Evidence and Overcoming Barriers for Women of

Color in STEM Fields. She obtained her degrees in chemical engineering from Brown University (ScB) and Georgia Institute of Technology (MS and PhD).

Rosalind Hudnell is Intel’s first chief diversity officer, delivering the industry-leading strategy that launched the $1 billion Diversity in Technology Initiative. With deep expertise in workforce development, she directed the 10K Engineer’s Initiative for President Barack Obama’s US Council on Jobs & Competitiveness and, as an advisory board member of the Global Business Coalition for Education, led the launch of the Youth Skills and Innovation Initiative. She served on the World Economic Forum “Internet for All” Steering Committee, was executive vice president for the National GEM Consortium, and led a decade of research on equity and inclusion, including coauthoring the research report “The Battle for Female Talent” published in the Harvard Business Review. Ms. Hudnell is a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum, member of the Executive Leadership Council, and chair of the Stanford Medicine Commission on Justice and Equity. She was selected as a “Woman Helping the World” by Forbes Magazine and listed in Fast Company Magazine as one of the most creative leaders in business. Her honors include the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Corporate Education, Rainbow Push Technology Trailblazer Award, National Action Network Triumph Award, Diversity Woman First Star Leadership Award, Ebony Power 100, and the Corporate Social Impact Award from the Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council. She is an alumna of St. Mary’s College with a degree in management and Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Accelerator program.

Shernita Lee is assistant dean and director of the Graduate School’s Office of Recruitment, Diversity, and Inclusion at Appalachian State University. Her training is in discrete computational biology but she also specializes in student engagement, programming, and outreach. Dr. Lee is passionate about creating a diverse and inclusive environment for graduate students, improving graduate student retention, aiding in the navigation of challenges graduate students encounter, and directing students to university/departmental resources and advocates to help them complete their degree. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Alabama State University and a doctorate from Virginia Tech in genetics, bioinformatics, and computational biology.

JoAnn Lighty is dean of the College of Engineering and professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering at Boise State University. Her research focuses on combustion-generated fine particulate matter formation, soot oxidation, and carbon capture technologies. In 2013–17, as director of the NSF Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems, she led 16 programs with a budget of $184 million and was a key architect of the cross-NSF initiative, Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems, focusing on convergent research for this system of systems. Before that she had a 29-year career at the University of Utah, where she was a professor, chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering, founding director of the Institute for Combustion and Energy Studies, and associate dean for academics in the College of Engineering. She has served on several national boards and committees focusing on environmental aspects of combustion. Dr. Lighty is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has received the SWE Distinguished Engineering Educator Award, Utah Engineering Educator of the Year from the Utah Engineering Council, the university’s Linda Amos Award for Distinguished Service to Women, and Lawrence K. Cecil Award from the Environmental Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers for her research in air quality. She earned her BS and PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Utah.

Brennon Marcano is chief executive officer of the National GEM Consortium and an adjunct assistant professor at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Before joining GEM, he was executive director of the Council of Urban Professionals (2014–16), which seeks parity at the highest levels of business and civic engagement; during his tenure the organization grew its corporate partnerships by 50%, had its most financially successful gala, placed a record number of diverse individuals on boards, and had a promotion rate of over 40% within one year for program participants. Before that he was executive director of Workforce Opportunity Services; under his leadership the organization grew to an entity with a budget of over $10 million operating in nine states (19 cities) and internationally in France (under the name SociaLift). At Prudential (1995–2010) he undertook progressively challenging assignments and held technology leadership roles. He sits on the City University of New York’s School of Professional Studies Foundation Board as well the board of EyeBeam, a New York tech nonprofit. He is a Stephen H. Gayle Memorial Fellow and has received scholarships from Baruch College and Reuters. He was editor in chief of CLASS (Caribbean Latin American Sights and Sounds) magazine, later known as Black Diaspora magazine. Mr. Marcano holds a BA in business journalism from Baruch College and a master’s degree in technology management from Columbia University.

Bimal Nepal is a Rader I Professor and associate director of the Industrial Distribution Undergraduate Program in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution (ETID), and leads the First-Generation Engineering (FGEn) Student Mentoring Program at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on supply chain and distribution operations, quality and reliability, decision modeling, and engineering education. He played a key role in creating FGEn in 2017, and the program has made a demonstrable impact on academic performance and retention of first-generation freshmen in the TAMU College of Engineering. He has received over $3.1 million in research funding from industry and federal agencies in these areas; published over 115 peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters; and is an associate editor for the Engineering Management Journal. Dr. Nepal is a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM) and director of its Professional Society Outreach. He has served on the board of directors of the Data Analytics and Information Systems Division of the Institute for Industrial and Systems Engineers and cochaired the technical program committee of the ASEM annual conference. His honors include an Outstanding Alumni Award from Wayne State University’s Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, ASEM’s William Daughton World Headquarters Service Award, and TAMU’s Association of Former Students Teaching Award (College Level), College of Engineering Faculty Fellow (multiple times), and ETID Departmental level Teaching, Research, and Service awards (multiple times). He has a BE in mechanical engineering from Malaviya National Institute of Technology and, in industrial engineering, an ME from the Asian Institute of Technology and PhD from Wayne State University.

Michelle L. Reaves is executive director of the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP), which provides standards-aligned STEM educational experiences for PreK12 students. With over 15 years of experience in providing enrichment opportunities for students underrepresented in STEM fields, she is the chief architect of DAPCEP’s popular PreK-3 Explorers Program, the annual STEM Day held at the Michigan Science Center, GEAR-UP student programming, the biannual DAPCEP Student Showcase, and the STEM In-State and Out-of-State College Tours. Ms. Reaves leads the very successful NSF-funded project Preparing African American Males in Energy and Education, which ensures that African American males

will be prepared for careers in renewable energy and power generation. She also facilitates DAPCEP’s long-range strategic plan and national expansion efforts, including rolling out the first out-of-state program with Bradley University and the Peoria, IL school district. Prior to DAPCEP, she was assistant director of precollege and outreach programs in the College of Engineering at Wayne State University, managing the Young Men in Engineering Program; Girls Advancing in Math, Engineering, and Science; Women in Engineering Training; High School Engineering Training Institute; Michigan chapter of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation; and Center of Academic Excellence in National Security Intelligence Studies. She is a member of the New Detroit Leadership Board, a coalition working toward racial understanding and equity. Ms. Reaves has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Western Michigan University, an MBA from Wayne State University, and certification as a project management professional.

Karl W. Reid is senior vice provost and chief inclusion officer at Northeastern University, where he is also professor of practice in the Graduate School of Education in the College of Professional Studies. He previously served for seven years as executive director of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). A certified diversity professional, Dr. Reid is a leading national advocate for diversity and inclusion and for increasing college access, opportunity, and success for low-income and minority youth. As director of the Engineering PLUS Alliance, he leads an NSF-funded national effort to achieve transformative, systemic, and sustainable change in representation of engineering. He came to NSBE from the United Negro College Fund, where he oversaw new program development, research, and capacity building for the organization’s 37 HBCUs and was senior vice president for research, innovation, and member college engagement. Before that he worked to increase diversity at his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was associate dean of undergraduate education and director of the Office of Minority Education. He is the author of Working Smarter, Not Just Harder: Three Sensible Strategies for Succeeding in College…and Life and a founding member of the 50K Coalition. In 1991, five years into a successful career with the IBM Corporation, Dr. Reid read Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities, about educational disparities in the US; it sparked his passion for bringing about positive change through the education of African Americans and other underserved populations. Dr. Reid sits on the National Council for Expanding American Innovation at the US Patent and Trademark Office, the National Academies Committee on Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women of Color in Technology, the American Society for Civil Engineers Industrial Leaders Council, and the dean’s advisory cabinets for the Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the University of Michigan College of Engineering. He is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education and the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives. He earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in materials science and engineering at MIT and was a Tau Beta Pi scholar. He earned his PhD in education at Harvard University.

Carmen Sidbury is senior director of research and development at the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, with prior work experience at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, and her own company, The Sidbury Group. Her university experiences include Spelman College, where she was associate provost for research and associate dean for undergraduate studies; assistant dean for diversity in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington; and program director for diversity at Georgia Tech and, most recently, the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She also spent two years at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Graduate Education as director of the Graduate Research

Fellowship Program. She earned her BS (as a NACME scholar) and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from NC A&T State University, and was the first African-American female to earn a PhD in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech.

Louis Soares, ACE’s chief learning and innovation officer, incubates and scales the council’s executive leadership networks, and catalyzes compelling research and innovation initiatives across the council. Working with colleagues, he integrates the work of ACE’s leadership, research, and innovation teams to develop programs and services to advance the success of senior leaders, diversify the executive talent pipeline, and facilitate partnerships to enhance institutional performance. His prior roles at ACE include vice president for policy research and strategy (2013–16) and vice president for strategy, research, and advancement (2016–18). He has published two landmark papers, “Post-Traditional Learners and the Transformation of Higher Education” and “Evolving Higher Education Business Models,” that advanced public dialogue on adult student needs and acceptance of innovative education delivery models. He has developed and successfully implemented innovative education/training programs for and in collaboration with college, university, and employer partners for frontline workers, business executives, and higher education administrators. He was previously director of the postsecondary education program and fellow at the Center for American Progress, director of business-workforce development under Rhode Island governor Donald L. Carcieri, and director of education partnerships for the Rhode Island Technology Council. Mr. Soares was appointed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to serve on the national board of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (2011–14). He has a bachelor’s in business economics from Brown University and a master’s in public administration from Harvard University.

Claus von Zastrow is a senior policy director at the Education Commission of the States, working with colleagues to promote timely and relevant education policy and research. He is dedicated to ensuring that state leaders have the information and guidance they need to make the best possible decisions affecting young people. He has held senior positions in education organizations for more than 20 years and spent much of that time helping diverse stakeholders find consensus on important education issues. He was COO/director of research at Change the Equation (2010–17), executive director of Learning First Alliance (2004–10), director of institutional advancement at the Council for Basic Education (2002–04), and director of postsecondary learning at the National Alliance of Business (2001–02). Dr. von Zastrow has a BA in literature from Dartmouth College, a second BA from Oxford University, and a PhD from Yale University.