ANDREA SCHREIER

Andrea is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal Science at the University of California Davis. They have reviewed applications for the Graduate Group of Ecology (GGE) for many years and served as vice chair of admissions in 2019-2020 and chair of admissions in 2020-2021. Their interest in equitable admissions was initially piqued by outreach materials on holistic review provided by the GGE Diversity Committee Admissions and Awards Subcommittee. Serving as a major professor for ten graduate students over the past 6 years has also given Schreier first-hand experience of the important role non-cognitive competencies play in student success.

APRIL BJORNSEN

April Bjornsen is the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs in the Graduate Division at UC San Diego. Her responsibilities include diversity outreach and recruitment, oversight of graduate admissions, and projects to enhance graduate student life, retention and professional development. She dedicated to equitable practices in graduate education that advance the success of all graduate students, but especially those historically underrepresented in graduate education and the professoriate, from graduate preparation and holistic admissions, to preparing students for the full range of career possibilities in academia and industry. She is committed to faculty development on equitable admissions practices because of the significant role faculty play in making decisions about who matriculates and succeeds at the doctoral level.

AURORA KAMIMURA

Aurora Kamimura is a fellow in the Office of the Provost and lecturer in Education at Washington University in St. Louis. As a mixed-methods social scientist, her agenda investigates organizational strategies for broadening access and equity in the P-20/professoriate pathway. Kamimura’s recent work examines organizational processes that diversify the professoriate. As an educator with 20+ years of experience in higher education, her research complements her professional work in the K-16 pathway at the intersection of student and academic affairs across various units, culminating in serving as an Associate Dean. Furthermore, she currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Hispanics for Higher Education (AAHHE) and is involved in several national projects focused on the development of Latinx/a/o leadership. Kamimura earned a BA in Social Sciences from UC Irvine, ED. M. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Michigan.

BEN MONTPEIT

Ben is an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Davis in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He obtained a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of British Columbia (2007) and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of British Columbia (2007-2008) and University of California, Berkeley (2008-2012). The research conducted by his group involves studying the genetics and cell biology of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with funding from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. As the principal investigator, Montpeit works to identify, recruit, and mentor graduate trainees who will become the future of our national and international scientific workforce. As a member of both graduate education and admissions committees, he works to develop and promote best practices in graduate admissions and mentorship to ensure those trainees are selected in an equitable way and well supported. This requires changing longstanding admissions practices, reducing inequities related to funding, encouraging participation of historically underrepresented populations, and training faculty mentors. Montpeit believe these efforts will ultimately result in a more dynamic, innovative, resilient, and productive STEM community that will benefit society.

CASEY MILLER

Casey W. Miller is Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs in the College of Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is an experimental physicist focusing on nanoscale magnetic materials and related devices. He graduated summa cum laude with University and Physics Departmental Honors from Wittenberg University, where he was also elected to phi beta kappa. He earned his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 2003, did his post-doctoral work at the University of California, San Diego, and is recipient of the NSF-CAREER and AFOSR-Young Investigator Awards.

DAMIAN ELIAS

Damian O. Elias is an Associate Professor in the Departmental of Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley. Elias’ research focuses on the mechanisms that guide animal behavior and how these mechanisms relate to behavioral adaptation and evolution. Elias received his PhD in 2005 from Cornell University in Neurobiology and Behavior. His work covers a variety of topics (communication, mate choice, species diversification) across animal systems (ranging from spiders to birds) and scales (ranging from physics to phylogenetics). By studying the diversity of animal behavior through multiple lenses, Elias’ work aims to explore both biological principles and how bias influences the study and interpretation of animal behavior. Elias is a California Academy of Sciences Fellow and Affiliated Faculty in the Essig Museum of Entomology at UC Berkeley.

DEIRDRE LYONS

Deirdre Lyons is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Deirdre became interested in questions about the origins and evolution of animal body plans as an undergraduate at Mount Holyoke College. She received her doctorate in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley. Deirdre established her own research group at UC San Diego in 2016. At UC San Diego she served as a Leaders for Equity Advancement and Diversity (LEAD) Fellow and received the Chancellor's Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholar Award. Deirdre recently received a NSF CAREER award to develop the first developmental biology laboratory course at UC San Diego. This course provides UC San Diego undergraduate students and local high school students the opportunity to conduct authentic research during the academic year. This is one of several local and national efforts that she participates in to diversify the STEM workforce through access to research and structured mentoring.

DENZIL STREETE

Dr. Streete brings complementary expertise in educational assessment and administration of diversity enhancement programs in graduate education. As Director of the Office for Graduate Diversity (OGD) at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Streete oversees the provision of recruitment and retention strategies and programming for students from historically underrepresented backgrounds. Dr. Streete leads efforts to provide workshops for academic programs at UC Berkeley on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging; as well as, holistic admissions and inclusive mentorship practices. Dr. Streete has a decade-long experience in graduate education and specializes in issues of recruiting, departmental climate, and inclusive mentorship. As a Black administrator, Dr. Streete utilizes his positionality and his experiences obtaining a PhD at an Ivy League institution to inform his approaches to working with graduate students and faculty. He has led numerous graduate student and faculty workshops at Syracuse University, Yale University, and the University of California, Berkeley on issues including imposter syndrome, inclusive mentoring, implicit bias, bystander intervention, and healthy departmental climates. At Yale University, Dr. Streete was responsible for diversity recruiting and initiated the Bouchet Bootcamp which provided graduate school preparation training for over 1,000 students from underrepresented backgrounds. Dr. Streete additionally served on the Executive Committee of The Leadership Alliance, a national organization that provides research opportunities and professional development for underrepresented students to mobilize a diversified research workforce.

FATIMA ALLEYNE

Fatima Alleyne, Ph.D., is the director of Community Engagement and Inclusive Practices in the College of Engineering (COE) at UC Berkeley. She brings her passion and love for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and education into her work to develop programs that promote equity; foster a positive, inclusive culture; and increase access and opportunities to those who have historically been underrepresented in STEM. She also leads a strategic planning process to guide priorities to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in COE. Prior to this role, Fatima served as the director of COE faculty engagement, consultant for the Center for Restorative Solutions, research general engineer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and education and outreach coordinator at an NSF-funded research center and research specialist, both at UC Berkeley. Her commitment and passion for STEM education has led to her service on a range of committees on campus and in her community. Fatima earned her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in materials science and engineering from UC Berkeley and a B.A. in chemistry from City University of New York, Hunter College.

Fatima intimately understands the inequities of our society and believes that equitable admissions can help Berkeley fulfill its commitment to equity.

GLORIA ANGLON

Gloria Anglón is a Ph.D. student in the Urban Education Policy program, concentrating in higher education at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education. She serves as a research assistant at the Pullias Center for Higher Education, examining racial and gender inequities in graduate education and the disciplines, advised by Dr. Julie Posselt. Before USC, Gloria served as Assistant Dean for Graduate Education and Director of Diversity

Initiatives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Gloria worked to enable MIT faculty and departments to understand better and enhance the experience of graduate students of color, make MIT a more welcoming place for all students, and advance efforts to identify and recruit marginalized students to STEM graduate programs. In the past, Gloria has also served as a graduate diversity officer at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences,

University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the University of Maryland. Additionally, she taught an introduction to sociology course at the Community College of Baltimore County, Essex.

Gloria is an Afro-Latina, proud daughter of Dominican immigrant parents, and a first- generation college graduate who grew up in the working-class communities of Miami, FL, the Bronx, NY and Providence, RI. Gloria earned her Bachelor of Science in diversity, business, and politics in America from Providence College, with a minor in Black studies, obtained doctoral coursework credit at the University of Maryland, and acquired her Master of Arts in applied sociology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

GRACE O'CONNELL

Grace O’Connell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the co-director of the Berkeley Biomechanics Laboratory, and her research interests are in soft tissue mechanobiology and tissue engineering. O’Connell received PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009, where her research focused on intervertebral disc biomechanics with age, degeneration, and injury. O’Connell’s research group focuses on tissue- and joint-level intervertebral disc mechanobiology. She has received many awards including the 2019 YC Fung Young Investigator Award, NSF CAREER Award. Since July 2021, she has been the Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence in the College of Engineering at Berkeley.

JOAN-EMMA SHEA

Dr. Joan-Emma Shea received her B.Sc. in Chemistry from McGill University, Quebec in 1992 and her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from MIT in 1997. She pursued her postdoctoral studies at the Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Shea joined the faculty at UCSB in 2001 and is currently a Full Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and in the Department of Physics. She is the Editor in Chief of the ACS Journal of Physical Chemistry and her research focuses on developing and applying the techniques of statistical and computational physics to the study of biological problems. Dr. Shea serves as Associate Dean and Faculty Equity Advisor at UCSB, and has a strong commitment to implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies to build a vibrant and diverse student body and faculty.

JOHN VASQUEZ

As Associate Dean of Access & Equity, Dr. Vasquez provides leadership across campus to weave academic achievement, diversity, equity, and inclusion, into the fabric of student life for all Central Washington University students, whether they are residential, at the University Centers, online, transfer, exploratory, first generation, non-traditional, etc. As Associate Dean, Dr. Vasquez has overall responsibility for the areas of: First-year & Exploratory Advising, Learning Support Services (i.e., tutoring, remedial/developmental coursework, etc.), Veteran’s Services, College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP), Education Opportunity Center (EOC), GEAR UP, High School Equivalency Program (HEP), Disability Services, Academic Concerns and Dispute Resolution, Transfer Center, Diversity and Equity Center and other grant-funded student support programs within the area of Student Success. Dr. Vasquez has over two decades of experience in higher education. He earned his B.A. in Organizational Studies and his M.H.S.A in Public Health Policy & Administration at the University of Michigan and his Ph.D. in Higher, Adult, & Lifelong Education at Michigan State University.

JONATHAN PELZ

Jonathan (Jon) Pelz received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1987. After postdoctoral research at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Pelz joined the Ohio State University Physics faculty in 1990. Pelz’s experimental condensed matter physics research focusses on nanometer-scale electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of surfaces, interfaces, and device structures, primarily using scanned probe techniques and electronic modelling. Pelz is currently Vice Chair of Graduate Studies for the OSU Physics Department, which includes chairing the Physics Graduate Admissions Committee. He was also the co-founder of the OSU M.S-to-Ph.D. Physics Bridge Program in 2013 and has been its Co-Director since its creation.

JULIE POSSELT

Julie Posselt is Associate Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Professor of Education at the University of Southern California. Posselt’s scholarship examines organizational behavior affecting access to and equity in graduate & professional education, especially in STEM disciplines. She is PI and Director of the California Consortium for Inclusive Doctoral Education (C-CIDE), and Co-PI and Director of the Research Hub for the NSF-INCLUDES Alliance: Inclusive Graduate Education Network (IGEN). Posselt is the author of two books: Equity in Science: Representation, Culture, and the Dynamics of Change in Graduate Education (Stanford University Press, 2020) and Inside Graduate Admissions: Merit, Diversity, and Faculty Gatekeeping (Harvard University Press, 2016).

LINDA DEANGELO

Linda DeAngelo is Associate Professor of Higher Education, Center for Urban Education Faculty Fellow, and Affiliated Faculty in the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh. DeAngelo earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education and Organizational Change from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, she was the Assistant Director for Research at the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA. She studies social stratification, equity, and justice issues. Her scholarship investigates how social inequalities are produced and manifested within higher education. DeAngelo’s work examines the differential effect of institutions on students, pipeline and educational transitions, and outcomes for first-generation, low-income, and racially minoritized students. Currently DeAngelo’s scholarship focuses on retention, degree completion, access to and engagement in faculty mentorship, and the pipeline for students of color into graduate education. She is the Coordinator of the Higher Education Program at Pitt and the chair of the PhD admissions committee for her degree program. She currently works with departments and programs across Pitt in asset-based mentorship approaches to supporting graduate students of color. She has also worked with the School of Public Health at Pitt in their adoption of holistic admissions processes.

MADHVI VENKATESH

Madhvi Venkatesh, DPhil is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University. Originally trained as a structural biologist in the NIH-Oxford Scholars Program, she now studies student affect, socialization, and skill development in bioscience graduate education. In addition to her research, Madhvi also serves as the Curriculum Director for the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences. In this role, she directs teaching and curriculum development for first-year PhD students and provides pedagogical training to their instructors. Throughout her research, teaching, and faculty development roles, Madhvi takes an equity-minded lens to help move graduate training towards practices that support the retention and advancement of students from all backgrounds.

NADINE KABENGI

At Georgia State University, Dr. Kabengi is Associate Dean of The Graduate School and associate professor in the Department of Geosciences where she has been since 2012. Dr. Kabengi’s research expertise is in experimental thermodynamics and with group focuses on the reactivity at solid-fluid interfaces from the macro to the nanoscale. She is the recipient of the prestigious Department of Energy CAREER award. Dr. Kabengi received her B.S. and M.S in Agricultural Engineering and Soil Science from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, where she was born and raised. She later moved to the United States where she earned a Ph.D. in Soil Physical Chemistry from the University of Florida.

Dr. Kabengi commitment to increasing representation in STEM stems from her lived experiences. At GSU, she created an Honors seminar course entitled “Underrepresented Minorites in Science: Why so few?” designed to debate that exact question by delving into various literatures on retention and attrition of URMs from STEM fields and careers. She teaches the “WomenLead in Science” section of this award-winning program at GSU and is the faculty mentor of STEMulate, a student club newly-formed by her students. STEMulate focuses on empowering URMs and women in STEM. Dr. Kabengi had served as the Graduate Director for Geosciences, a MS program that enrolls a majority of students (57%) from underrepresented groups. Under her leadership, the program was named a Bridge Program by the American Geophysical Union in 2019.

ROMÁN LIERA

Román is an assistant professor in the educational leadership department at Montclair State University. His research focuses on faculty learning and development regarding

issues of racial equity. He also has experience designing and facilitating workshops to support faculty in developing equity-minded competencies. His current projects focus on understanding how race operates in doctoral education socialization, the academic job market, hiring, and tenure and promotion. His research appears in the Journal of Higher Education, American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Review of Higher Education among others.

STEVE DESIR

Steve Desir is a doctoral student in the Educational Leadership Program at the USC Rossier School of Education. Steve Desir is advised by Julie Posselt. His research interests include racial equity in college admissions, organizational change, and the use of theory-based psychological interventions to facilitate behavioral change. More specifically, Steve is interested in whether insights from social psychology and behavioral economics can be used to improve educational experiences for minoritized groups.

Steve earned a master’s degree in Education Policy and Management from Harvard. Prior to his studies at HGSE, Steve completed a master’s degree in secondary education from NYU, and earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science at Penn State. Steve is a native New Yorker, and in his spare time enjoys running, Muay-Thai kickboxing, and attending concerts.

SCOTT SHELL

Prof. M. Scott Shell is the Myers Founders Chair Professor and Graduate Vice Chair of Chemical Engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon in 2000 and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton in 2005, followed by a postdoc in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UC San Francisco from 2005-07. Shell's group develops novel molecular simulation, multiscale modeling, and statistical thermodynamic approaches to address problems in contemporary biophysics and soft condensed matter. Recent areas of interest include self-assembled peptide materials, nanobubbles, hydrophobic interfaces, water purification membranes, and colloid-polymer materials. He is the recipient of a Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Award (2007), an NSF CAREER Award (2009), a Hellman Family Faculty Fellowship (2010), a Northrop-Grumman Teaching Award (2011), a Sloan Research Fellowship (2012), a UCSB Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award (2014), the Dudley A. Saville Lectureship at Princeton (2015), and the CoMSEF Impact Award from AIChE (2017).

SUSANNAH PORTER

Susannah received her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Yale University in 1995 and her Ph.D. in Biology at Harvard University in 2002. After completing a one-year NASA Astrobiology Post-Doctoral Fellowship at UCLA, she moved to the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she is Professor, Vice Chair, and Faculty Graduate Advisor in the Department of Earth Science, and Associate Director of UCSB’s Earth Research Institute. She studies the rise of complex life, from the fossils of early eukaryotes to the first widespread appearance of skeletal animals. She is a member of her Department’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee and has worked to introduce holistic review in both graduate admissions and faculty searches. She is a Fellow of the Paleontological Society and a recipient of UCSB’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

TAMARA SCHAPS

Tamara has worked in higher education since 2004, serving at multiple institutions in diverse units such as career development, admissions, and student services. She has focused on graduate education since 2011 and is interested in creating pathways into and through graduate school for students from all backgrounds, in particular those who are underrepresented in their fields. She is active in professional associations and is committed to service and mentorship in higher education. Tamara earned a B.A. in Communication and Global Studies at Pacific Lutheran University and an M.A. in Higher Education Administration from The George Washington University. She joined the UC San Diego Graduate Division in January 2018 to work on collaborative initiatives and special projects; she currently serves as co-leader of the UC San Diego C-CIDE Campus Team working to increase diversity and equity in graduate education through intentional faculty engagement.