Dr. Kat Cooper

Instructor of Chemistry, NCSSM

B.S. Chemistry, Georgia Tech,

M.S. Chemistry, Emory University

Ph.D Chemistry Education, North Carolina State University

Kat Cooper joined NCSSM as an Instructor of Chemistry in August 2017. She has loved chemistry since her first chemistry course in high school, and has loved teaching even longer. Kat plays flute and piccolo and is conversational in German. She also loves to do any crafts that are out there and has learned how to use a floor loom, to make jewelry with metal working and beading, and to knit and crochet. Kat and her husband live in Durham with their two crazy dogs, Bruce and Makoto, and their adorable and goofy son Rowan! 

Contact Information:  kat.cooper@ncssm.edu

Course Description:  In this course, students will be using advanced chemistry techniques to solve a candy murder mystery. Someone at the candy factory has been murdered, and it is up to this class to figure out who the murderer is. The course will investigate data collected from a variety of spectroscopic and separations methods used in advanced chemistry research. The techniques will showcase some of the intricate instrumentation chemists use to identify unknown substances, purify and isolate chemical components, and confirm success of the formation of synthesis products. Students will learn how to analyze data from numerous analytical methods and use this data to support their conclusion, who committed the murder at the candy factory? 

Link to Canvas Course: https://ncssm.instructure.com/courses/14146

Dr. Hatajai Lassiter/ (Dra. Hatajai Lassiter)

Assistant Professor of Biology, UNC Charlotte

B.S. Biological Sciences, Minor: Spanish, North Carolina State University

M.S. Biology, North Carolina Central University

Ph.D. Microbiology, Howard University

Hatajai Lassiter is an Assistant Professor at UNC Charlotte, where she instructs Biology/Microbiology lectures and labs and conducts Infectious Disease research. She also served as an Assistant Professor at James Madison University and an Adjunct Instructor at North Carolina Central University and Guilford Technical Community College.  She has a sincere passion for instruction while having fun and mentoring students. Her favorite activities are playing sports, listening to music, riding her motorcycle, and playing/chilling with her new rescue doggie, Sir Dante. 

Contact Information:  microphd2019@gmail.com

Course Description:  In this course, students will be provided medical case studies and will be tasked to isolate the patient's sample, characterize and identify the suspected pathogen. Experimentation will include: cell culture/Isolation Streak, Gram Stain, microscopy, aerotolerance, differential/selective media, antimicrobial susceptibility test, and Bergey's Manual identification. 

Link to Canvas Course:  https://ncssm.instructure.com/courses/14147

Ms. Mekka Williams 

Senior Technology Leader

B.S. Computer Science, Georgia Tech

Ms. Williams is a Cloud Solution Architect.  She helps customers figure out how to use NetApp solutions to migrate, store, backup, recover, and access their data in the cloud. She is also always on the lookout for new and exciting technologies that can make NetApp an even better cloud solutions provider. She is a computer scientist at heart. As an alumni of Brooklyn Tech High School in New York, she was a big fan of math and science early on in school and that led her to computer science. She followed the path that software development carried her, always keeping her eyes and ears open for opportunities that were interesting to her. Technology is so dynamic, it changes often. and she decided that she wanted to ride that wave and that she was comfortable with continually learning throughout her career.   In her free time she enjoys reading, gardening, fitness, traveling and spending time with family. She also enjoys speaking with young people, especially underrepresented minorities, about future careers in STEM. 

Contact Information:  mekwil74@gmail.com 

Course Description:   Join us for an intensive week-long exploration of artificial intelligence and robotics where high school students will train robots to autonomously navigate complex obstacle courses. This hands-on camp bridges the gap between theoretical machine learning concepts and practical robotics applications, giving students real-world experience in how AI systems learn and adapt to dynamic environments.

Over the course of the camp, student teams will tackle the challenge of teaching robots to "see" and respond to their environment using sensors and camera systems. Rather than programming explicit instructions for every scenario, students will collect data, train machine learning models, and deploy AI systems that enable robots to make intelligent navigation decisions in real-time.

Link to Canvas Course:  https://ncssm.instructure.com/courses/14148