Meet our team

Dr. Gordy joined the faculty at NC State in 2016 after a postdoctoral fellowship at UNC-Chapel Hill, Ph.D. training at Duke University, and visiting professorships and instructorships at UNC-Pembroke, Meredith College, and Durham Technical Community College. Her wet lab research interests focus on using S. cerevisiae as a model organism to understand how eukaryotes adapt to stress on both cellular and population levels. As a scientist with disabilities, she is passionate about inclusive science teaching, and her educational research interests center on improving teaching methods and identifying ways to improve the recruitment and  retention of students with disabilities and students from other marginalized communities in STEM.

Dr. Ramirez is a microbiologist and an associate teaching professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. She grew up in Virginia and went to VA Tech for her bachelor's and Ph.D. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the CDC in Atlanta working on the bacterial pathogen that causes tuberculosis. She later worked at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO before joining the faculty at NC State in 2014. Dr. Ramirez loves so many things about her career - students, colleagues, NC State, and the opportunity to always learn new things. Currently, Dr. Ramirez's research centers on building inclusive STEM education by utilizing Universal Design for Learning with instructional technologies to enhance student success. 

Dr. Jason Painter is the Director of the NCSU Science House. Through his role at the Science House, as a PI or Project Director for many projects and programs, and the Director of the North Carolina Science Olympiad for 10 years, Dr. Painter has extensive experience in developing and administering programming for K-12 science students. 

Dr. Carlos Goller is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and teach in the Biotechnology Program (BIT) at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. His research interests include molecular microbiology, metagenomics, epidemiology, history of diseases, science education, and open educational practices. 

My name is Paloma Knobloch and I am from Fayetteville, North Carolina. I am a senior majoring in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Human Biology and a minor in Microbiology. I love the huge variety of clubs and activities at NC State which have given me the opportunity to meet so many people. I plan on applying to physician assistant school and want to work in rural medicine.

Hi! My name is Ashley Goetz and I am from Apex, North Carolina. I am a senior majoring in Human Biology with minors in nutrition and Spanish. I have really enjoyed meeting new people through the various clubs that NC State offers as well as watching all the sports games! I plan to apply to medical school after graduation as I am really interested in medicine.