Lynford L. Goddard
Lynford L. Goddard (UIUC) is Professor of ECE. To promote diversity in engineering, he has spearheaded the creation of several outreach programs and has advised numerous URSs in research. He received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2010, the AAAS Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science in 2011, and the Larine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Award for leadership in diversity in 2016. His seminal engineering outreach is GLEE, a week-long summer camp that engages rising 10th-12th grade girls in ECE activities. The camp has been offered annually since 2010 and 167 girls have participated. He has also co-developed tracks for four other immersive STEM summer camps: (1) statistics for BFFs (Brain Fitness Fridays), a 4 week program for 5-14 year old kids to explore STEM concepts through sports; and ECE for the (2) ISA, (3) ICANEXSEL, and (4) I-STEM summer camps. Prof Goddard is also co-PI of the NSF nano@Illinois RET site and the NSF Redshirt in Engineering consortium. A total of 317 students and 41 teachers with diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds have participated in these various efforts. Prof. Goddard’s long-term goal is to substantially grow the size of these immersive outreach efforts in order to impact the development and career trajectories of even more people.
Meagan Pollock
Meagan Pollock (NAPE) is a Certified Equity Instructor and former Director of Professional Development. Meagan is part of a national team of equity professionals that build educators’ capacity to implement effective solutions for increasing student access, educational equity, and workforce diversity. Before turning her focus to the intersection of education and equity, Meagan worked as an engineer for Texas Instruments. Meagan was a NSF Graduate Research Fellow. She holds a PhD in engineering education from Purdue, a MS in electrical engineering from Texas Tech, and a BS in computer science from Texas Woman’s University. As an engineer turned educator, Meagan focuses on engineering equity in education and the workforce.
Lara Hebert
Lara Hebert (UIUC) is the Outreach Coordinator for the CoE. She taught middle school math and science for 13 years. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum, Aesthetics, and Teacher Education from UIUC in 2012. Her research centers on networked professional learning systems. She has published in Action in Teacher Education, Best Practices in Mentoring for Teacher and Leader Development (Searby & Brondyk, editors), and Past, Present, and Future Research on Teacher Induction (Wang, Odell, & Clift, editors). Dr. Hebert has worked with urban and rural schools across the US to use out-of-school student activities (e.g., summer school or afterschool programs) as opportunities for educator professional learning. She coordinates numerous CoE programs that address diversity and inclusion, including the ICANEXSEL program and the mid-GLAM and GAMES camps for MS/HS girls. She also teaches the Engineering for Social Justice course, which is designed to prepare undergrads to explore the relationship between engineering and social justice.
Luisa-Maria Rosu
Luisa-Maria Rosu (UIUC) is director of I-STEM, an evaluation and development unit functioning under the Office of Provost. Dr. Rosu was part of many evaluation and research teams, including for NSF GK-12 outreach program and Mathematics English Technology Education Resources (METER) project of the Illinois Professional Learners’ Partnership (IPLP) and the Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation (CIRCE), where she collaborated with CIRCE visiting international scholars in research on computer-based collaborative learning. As I-STEM director, Dr. Rosu has focused on a new strategic approach to bring together many existing STEM collaborations into a robust institutional STEM R&D partnership among UIUC, Illinois schools/communities, and industry partners. She initiated the I-STEM multidisciplinary summer high-school program for URSs. Dr. Rosu has been lead evaluator for 4 NSF RET programs. In
2014, she received a CORE Early Career Fulbright U.S. scholar award to investigate the quality criteria in STEM teacher education. Dr. Rosu’s internal evaluation study for CISTEME365 aligns with her long-term goals, i.e., to promote the design and implementation of innovative STEM curriculum and instruction and to involve school policy leaders in enhancing the learning experiences for URM students.
Lorenzo Baber
Lorenzo Baber (ISU) is an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State University. Dr. Baber’s scholarship focuses on diversity and equity in postsecondary education, including specific research on experiences of underrepresented students in STEM education. Dr. Baber was a Co-PI for NSF Award 0856309 (2008-2014): Underrepresented Undergraduates in STEM at Large Research Universities: From Matriculation to Degree Completion that produced over 30 book chapters, journal articles, and research briefs. Dr. Baber’s journal article, Interest-Convergence Dilemma in Postsecondary STEM Education received national media attention and was featured on the NSF website. The ITEST proposal aligns with Dr. Baber’s long-term scholarly plans for using sociocultural frameworks to investigate experiences of underrepresented students in STEM education. Using theoretical concepts from sociology and education, Dr. Baber challenges universalist norms in STEM culture to 1) reveal subjective practices related to racism and sexism in STEM contexts; 2) based on empirical evidence, support transformation of STEM contexts towards practices of equity for URSs.
Irfan Ahmad
Irfan Ahmad (UIUC) is an Associate Director for CoE Interdisciplinary Initiatives and former Executive Director of CNST. He spearheads incubation of innovative ideas for large multidisciplinary / multi-institution projects for research, education, entrepreneurship, and information dissemination. His expertise is in biosensors, agricultural machinery design and manufacturing, communicating science to the public, and promoting university-industry partnerships. He has considerable experience in conceiving, organizing and managing REUs, RETs, hands-on summer institutes, and annual nanotechnology workshops. He will liaise with industry through his existing projects and connections, and advise on outreach efforts for CISTEME365.
Ayesha Boyce
Dr. Ayesha Boyce (UNCG) is an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro within the Educational Research Methodology Department. Dr. Boyce has over ten years of evaluation experience. Dr. Boyce has evaluated many programs funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, Arizona Department of Education, Title VI, Illinois P-20 Council, and Spencer and Teagle foundations. From 2014-2016, she was the Chair of the American Evaluation Association STEM Education and Training TIG. She will utilize her expertise to provide formative data to guide program improvement and summative assessment of program quality and potential impact. Additionally, her expertise in STEM evaluation and cultural responsiveness will assist to ensure that the proposed interventions are indeed effective in achieving the stated program goals and objectives.