Tanya Dapkey is a co-founder of the Pod. She was a 500 Women Scientists National Leadership Board Member from 2017 - 2020, coordinating the Pods Team. She is the Macroinvertebrate Section Lead at the Patrick Center for Environmental Research in the Academy of Natural Sciences studying freshwater stream ecosystems. Tanya is a very active member of her community, participating in local STEM events as a women scientist spreading the knowledge of entomology to children. Her goal is to help raise awareness of the beauty, importance and joy of insects. She is a nerd, mother, entomologist, and a partly cloudy Gonzo Patriot. Tanya currently lives with her partner of 26 years, and her two children.  

Dr. JoEllen McBride is our Policy and Advocacy Director. She earned a Bachelor's in Physics from Dickinson College, a Master's in Physics from San Francisco State University, and a PhD in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduating, JoEllen worked as an AAAS Mass Media Fellow at Voice of America in Washington D.C. and an adjunct faculty member in the physics department at West Chester University. She was an Assistant Editor for Outpatient Surgery Magazine and an Astronomy Subject Matter Expert for Cengage.

While at UNC, JoEllen was active in graduate student government, including holding positions as treasurer and secretary and successfully advocating on issues related to graduate student well-being. She also became an AAS Astronomy Ambassador and gave birth to her first child, Carina, during her sixth year of graduate school. She finished her degree remotely in 2016. She now works at the Graduate Student Center at Penn as the Associate Director for Student Programs. She came to this role from Penn Medicine Development and Alumni Relations, where she served as a Communications and Stewardship Writer. As the Associate Director of the Graduate Student Center, JoEllen manages the Navigating the Academy programs and the Center’s publicity and communications.

JoEllen is passionate about science communication and remains active in the science community through her advocacy work, and has been a past member of the AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy, and the chair of the Education Committee at the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester. She also raises her two daughters, Carina and Alessa, with her partner Ed, and the help of her parents, brother, and kitty, Thelma. JoEllen has recently made it her personal mission to abolish her lawn in Downingtown and turn it into a productive garden that includes native plants.

Dr. Laura Guertin is a Professor of Earth Science at Penn State Brandywine in Media, PA. In 2015, Dr. Guertin was elected as a GSA Fellow and was named one of 100 women nationwide as an INSIGHT Into Diversity Inspiring Women in STEM. She is the Penn State Brandywine campus coordinator for the environmental inquiry minor and Earth sustainability certificate. 

Katie Horn was the Outreach Director. She is a software developer from West Chester. She mainly works with Java and JavaScript, but her favorite language is still Python. She is a graduate of Temple University's College of Science and Technology. When she's not coding, she likes crafts and iced coffee.

Sarah Davidson was the Associate Director of Local Organizations. She finds and watches local organizations whose mission aligns with ours and works with Advocacy Director to set up meetings and promote their on-the-ground activities. She also finds ways to support local activity (volunteering, promoting events, etc.) and reaches out to local institutions about support for women.

Dr. Lexi Moore Crisp is a co-founder of the Pod. She was a 500 Women Scientists National Leadership Board Member from 2017-2018. Her PhD research was on the biomechanics of burrowing rodents (cool videos here: www.biologyunderground.com) and her scientific interests include biomechanics, vertebrate anatomy and physiology, functional morphology, and digging animals. Outside of biology, Lexi has a broad background with degrees in philosophy, psychology, and history and philosophy of science. Lexi and her husband, Larry, moved to Philadelphia from Las Vegas, Nevada in 2015. Lexi enjoys listening to podcasts, playing video games, and all cat-related media.

Jillian Roamer was a Pod Leader from 2017-2018. She works as an analytical chemist, specializing in characterization of biologic and biosimilar pharmaceuticals by chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques. Her work focuses on peptide mapping and sequencing, characterization of glycans, and post-translational modifications. Jillian’s involvement with 500 Women Scientists grew from her desire to create career development tools to make science inclusive. Outside of the lab, Jillian enjoys playing chamber music, reading, and an occasional TV binge. She and her husband relocated to the Philadelphia area from Reno, NV in 2013.