Bios

CAMP Facilitator

Bruce Birren

Bruce Birren, PhD, is an Institute Scientist at the Broad Institute and Director of the Broad’s Genomic Center for Infectious Diseases. In 2003 Bruce founded the Broad’s Diversity Initiative and its still-running summer undergraduate research program. He facilitates workshops for faculty and trainees to increase the effectiveness of research mentoring relationships. Bruce also designs and leads workshops and longer-term interventions to help organizations promote a culture of belonging and inclusion. He worked with the Scientific Mentorship Initiative of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, co-directs the Center for Mentorship Excellence at Harvard Medical School, and served as part of the core facilitation team for Angela Byars-Winston’s NRMN-funded, randomized, controlled trial of a Culturally Aware Mentoring workshop.

Bruce and his wife met in graduate school, and are thrilled that their two adult married children and two grandchildren live nearby. Bruce’s chief hobbies are adding items to lists of things he hasn’t yet acknowledged he won’t do, and buying books that he can’t admit he won’t read. In 2019 he participated in the Social Justice Training Institute, holds a certificate in Social Justice Mediation and is enrolled in a professional coach training program.

CAMP Facilitator

Chris Pfund

Christine Pfund, Ph.D is a distinguished senior scientist and deputy directors of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW). Chris earned her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology, followed by post-doctoral research in Plant Pathology, both at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work focuses on developing, implementing, documenting, and studying interventions to optimize research mentoring relationships. Chris co-authored the original Entering Mentoring curriculum and co-authored many papers documenting the effectiveness of this approach. Chris is the principal investigator of the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) Coordination Center. She is also director of the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experience in Research at UW-Madison (CIMER). Chris is a member of the National Academies committee that published the consensus report and online guide, The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM.

Chris is originally from Chicago where her parents still live. Chris has two children who are both currently pursuing advanced degrees and regularly sharing their up and downs with that experience. She lives near the UW-Madison campus with her husband of 31 years, her two cats, and bookshelves full of books she is planning to read, puzzles waiting to be assembled and board games she is hoping someone will play with her now that her children have moved away.

CAMP Facilitator

Mica Estrada

Mica Estrada, Ph.D is the Associate Dean of Opportunity & Engagement and Professor at the University of California at San Francisco’s School of Nursing in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Institute for Health and Aging. Her research program focuses on social influence, including the study of identity, values, kindness, well-being, and integrative education. She has been Principal Investigator on several longitudinal studies, which implement and assess interventions aimed to increase student persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Medicine (STEMM) careers (funded by NIH, NSF, and HHMI). Mica's research focuses on populations that are historically excluded, marginalized, and challenged to persist in higher education, most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and are providing creative solutions to the pressing challenges of our day. She remains committed to advancing the science and practice of kindness for all people. She has served as a member of two National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) census studies and on the Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education member. Mica earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Harvard University.

She is mother to three grown children and lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her sweetheart of many years. She enjoys gardening, walking in nature, and sharing meals with her extended family.

CAMP Program Manager

Taylor Ajamian

Taylor Ajamian is a Program Manager with the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). She has worked in higher educational settings for many years and as a worker describes herself as someone who works to create processes and spaces that help human connections thrive.

As a human, Taylor describes herself as laid-back, creative, and intuitive. When she is not working, you can find her lifting weights, reading Faulkner, or rooting for the Packers.

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