Chinonye Nnakwe Whitley

Chinonye "Chi-Chi" Nnakwe Whitley, Ph.D. is a molecular biologist and her studies of DNA repair and DNA damage signaling pathways offer insights toward the molecular biology of neuroscience, immunology and cancer biology.  Dr. Whitley obtained her B.Sc. in Biochemistry with Departmental Distinction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her Ph. D. in Pathology from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Whitley joined the Office of Integrative Activities in September 2017 and serves as a Program Officer for the NSF Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).   She currently manages a $107M portfolio of 26 standard grants and cooperative agreements, and focuses on building basic science research infrastructure, promoting economic development and broadening participation in STEM. 

Prior to her current role, Dr. Whitley was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the NSF in the Computer Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate where she worked on innovation policy programs such as I-Corps™ and SBIR / STTR.After obtaining her doctoral degree, Dr. Whitley was a management consultant for the health-care consulting company Campbell Alliance (now inVentiv), where she facilitated product launches and conducted pricing studies of pharmaceutical products. Later, she was appointed the inaugural Director of Graduate Diversity Initiatives in the Office of the Provost at the University of Chicago.In this role she led in-reach and outreach programs to promote diversity and inclusion in higher education and the research workforce. She fostered multi-institutional partnerships that led to initiatives like the SPINES Neuroscience Symposium with the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and the National Research Mentoring Network-CIC Academic Network (NRMN-CAN) with the Big Ten Academic Alliance.

Dr. Whitley participates in her personal capacity.  Her participation does not constitute an endorsement by the National Science Foundation or the United States Government.

Bibi Hidalgo

Ms. Hidalgo has been selected to serve as the Associate Administrator for the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development (GCBD), of the U.S. Small Business Administration. In this role, Ms. Hidalgo will be responsible for providing expert advice, guidance, and assistance to the Administrator and other key agency officials in oversight of the Office of Government Contracting, Office of HUBZone Empowerment Contracting, Office of Business Development, and Office of Policy, Planning and Liaison programs of the Agency.

In her prior role, she was a Policy Lead for the Biden-Harris Transition Team developing proposals on government contracting with an emphasis on underserved communities that President Biden could execute in the first 100 days, including the general thrust of which was cited in his Executive Order on January 26. Ms. Hidalgo was the Co-Founder of Future Partners, LLC, advising Fortune 50 corporate executives on procurement and minority business strategy, generating $1.3 million in gross receipts and creating jobs; advising the CEO of a group purchasing organization on strategy for partnering with underrepresented minority businesses and engaging NY State government and labor organizations on the issue, facilitating over $2 million in contract opportunities for four Black and Latino-owned businesses in NYC; conducting data analysis and formulated minority business strategy for the Walt Disney Company and AARP, resulting in a new approach for mobilizing around procurement in both organizations.

In addition to her experience, Ms. Hidalgo has a B.A. in Spanish for International Services, Cum Laude, Catholic University of America, School of Arts and Sciences and a Master’s in Public Policy, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.

She is dedicating her work to the memory of her brother Patrick who passed away suddenly at the age of 41 in March of 2020.

Chike Aguh

On January 20, 2021, Chike Aguh (Chee-kay Ah-Goo) was sworn in as Chief Innovation Officer (CInO) at the United States Department of Labor, appointed by President Joe Biden. Reporting to the Deputy Secretary and also serving as the Senior Advisor for Delivery, he leads efforts to use innovative technologies, partnerships and practices to accelerate the Department’s mission of delivering a future of work that includes and dignifies every American.

Previously, Chike was the inaugural Head of Economic Mobility Pathways at the Education Design Lab where he launched the Community College Growth Engine Fund, an innovative multimillion dollar effort turning community colleges into bridges to careers in high growth fields for thousands. He has been a Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Harvard Carr Center for Human Rights Policy where he focused on the future of work and racial equity, Venture Partner at Maryland-based New Markets Venture Partners where he focused on workforce technologies, member of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Future of Work Taskforce, Lecturer at Columbia University and guest speaker at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.

Additionally, Chike has worked as an education policy official in America’s largest school system, 2nd grade teacher and Teach For America corps member, Fulbright Scholar in Thailand researching education and skills, director of corporate strategy and performance technologies at Education Advisory Board (EAB), CEO of a national social enterprise which helped connect 500,000 low-income Americans to affordable internet and digital skills, and Senior Principal and Future of Work Lead at the McChrystal Group, a business advisory firm founded by Gen. (ret.) Stanley McChrystal.

Chike holds degrees from Tufts University (B.A.), Harvard Graduate School of Education (Ed.M), Harvard Kennedy School of Government (MPA), and University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (MBA). He is a Presidential Leadership Scholar; past Council on Foreign Relations term member; 40 under 40 honoree from Wharton and the Washington Business Journal; and former board member of the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Board.

Beth Ruedi

Beth Ruedi, PhD, serves as the director of operations for SEA Change, an initiative promoting systemic transformation in higher education to support true equity and inclusion. She previously served as the director for AAAS Science in the Classroom, a collection of annotated research papers. Ruedi received her PhD in behavior genetics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007. She has been involved in the STEM professional society sector for a decade, first serving as the founding Director of Education and Professional Development at the Genetics Society of America. There, Dr. Ruedi helped cultivate an educational mission for GSA, resulting in a complex portfolio of over 20 activities, initiatives, partnerships, and awards, many of which worked to address systemic issues underlying the lack of diversity in STEM. In 2016 she joined the Education and Human Resources Directorate, now ISEED, working with Shirley Malcom to direct multiple projects related to STEM literacy, education reform, and diversity & inclusion.

Jamie Bracey Green

Jamie Bracey Green, PhD is an award winning educational psychologist and expert in STEM talent development, equity and policy who founded and led Temple University’s College of Engineering Office of STEM Education, (and more recently the Center for Inclusive Competitiveness) for more than a decade, serving thousands of children in programs replicated across the US.   Now the leader of the National Institute for Inclusive Competitiveness, Bracey Green has been recognized by the Philadelphia Business Journal as a regional “change agent” for her work leading intergenerational teams domestically and abroad providing teacher training and pre- college STEM education programs to increase diversity in engineering, science and data analytics.  She actively encourages entrepreneurship in sustainability industries (agriculture, energy, water, and waste management) where STEM can be applied to improve quality of life around the world.

With that in mind, Jamie is also a practicing hydroponic farmer and licensed industrial hemp processor who (which her family) owns Think and Grow Farms in Philadelphia, PA.  TGF is an urban ag-tech start up growing plants and food in controlled environments that rely on STEM.

Dr.Bracey-Green attended Oberlin College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and Temple University. She serves on the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, the Governor’s Advisory Board for Diverse, Inclusive & Small Business Opportunities, the University of Pittsburgh National STEM PUSH initiative, and is a member of the global African Scientific Institute.

Mike Green

Mike Green is a Cultural Economist, Consultant and Chief Strategist at The National Institute for Inclusive Competitiveness® (The NIIC: niicusa.org). Mr. Green is also Co-founder of Common Ground Conversations on Race in America (commongroundconversations.com).

Mr. Green co-authored “A Playbook for Improving Diversity and Inclusion in Entrepreneurship Centers” published by InBIA.org in the spring of 2021.

Mr. Green co-founded ScaleUp Partners more than a decade ago, which pioneered IC strategies nationwide and published, “The Future Economy and Inclusive Competitiveness: How Demographic Trends and Innovation Can Create Prosperity for All Americans,” authored by Johnathan Holifield, the Architect of IC and inspiration for The NIIC.

In partnership with Dr. Jamie Bracey-Green, who operationalized IC strategies at the Center for Inclusive Competitiveness at Temple University, Mr. Green helped co-found The NIIC, which assists HBCUs in leveraging IC strategies to build greater capacity and scale up their individual and collective productivity.

LaKisha Greenwade

LaKisha Greenwade (better known as coach L), is an international brand strategist, and wearable tech eco system founder. She promotes and develops wearable innovations with Wearable Tech Ventures. She believes life is enjoyable when it’s lived on our own terms and given everything we’ve got. As a result, she focuses on establishing personal and business brands through innovation while implementing strategies to support tech startups with female and underrepresented founders. Her business and leadership tips have been featured in the U.S., China, UAE, UK, and Brazil. Her honors include Baltimore City Innovator of the Year, two-time 40 under 40 Honoree, a three-time SXSW presenter, featured Forbes.com contributor, Black Enterprise Tech Connext Fellow, and best-selling author of 40 Days to Unshakable Self- Confidence. Greenwade resides in Maryland, and is a graduate of The Ohio State University (BS), University of Maryland (MBA), and Johns Hopkins University. @luckifit

Joyce Ward

Joyce is the Director of the Office of Education and Outreach for the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She is tasked with expanding the reach of the USPTO’s outreach offerings to provide educators and students with unique USPTO learning experiences and resources designed to integrate knowledge of invention, innovation, entrepreneurship, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Her office encourages both the creation as well as the protection of intellectual property. Under Joyce’s leadership the USPTO has launched several projects for educators and students such as the Science of Innovation series, a collaboration between the USPTO, the National Science Foundation, and NBC Learn; a national summer institute for teachers with a focus on intellectual property and the resources of the USPTO; intellectual property and STEM/STEAM professional development workshops for K-12 educators, an Intellectual Property patch with the Girl Scouts organization, and the first USPTO Inventor Trading Card series. Prior to her current position Joyce served as the Director of Program Support and Intellectual Property for the National Inventors Hall of Fame. From 1994 to 2002, she worked for the USPTO as a Trademark Examining Attorney and later as an Education Specialist in the Office of Public Affairs. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC.

Neela White

Neela White is a Project Director in the ISEED department at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Her portfolio of work at AAAS include managing the AAAS HBCU Making & Innovation initiatives, and working on the AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador Program, and the AAAS Marion Milligan-Mason Awards for Women. She has served as an external evaluator for multiple projects including the NSF INCLUDES Early STEM Engagement for Minority Males (eSEM) project and the Verizon Innovative Learning Summer Program for Minority Males at Morgan State University. She has also served as a Program Associate for the AAAS District of Columbia program. Her areas of focus have been within the sectors of invention; innovation; entrepreneurship; HBCUs, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education; Maker movement; international research collaboration; and diversity, equity and inclusion in science.

Iris Wagstaff

Dr. Iris R. Wagstaff is a scientist, educator, mentor, researcher and STEM advocate. She currently serves as a STEM Program Director in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Department of AAAS where she manages programs a ~$20 Million Dollar portfolio focused on broadening participation in STEM, workforce development and inclusive innovation at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels. She served as a 2015-2017 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the DOJ National Institute of Justice Office where she led an agency-wide diversity and inclusion initiative. She is a native of Goldsboro, NC with a BS and MS in Chemistry from UNC-Greensboro and NC A&T State Universities respectively; and a PhD in Science Education from North Carolina State University. She worked as a research chemist at the Dow Chemical Company for 15 years where she led analytical project teams and company-wide diversity initiatives. She has over 20 years of STEM outreach and advocacy developing strategic partnerships between industry, academia, and community organizations.

Iris is also a social scientist with a research focus on examining factors that predict science self-efficacy, science identity, and STEM career intent in students. She serves on the Boards of several organizations that include the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE), the Chemical Society of Washington (CSW), and Science, Engineering, and Math Links (SEM). She also serves as an adjunct chemistry professor at UNC-Greensboro. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Wagstaff STEM Solutions, an education and diversity consulting company. She has received several honors that include the 2020 DC Metro HBCU Alumni Alliance Education Award, the 2019 BEYA Science Trailblazer Award, and the 2018 NOBCChE Presidential Award for Mentoring.

Lori Gillen

As Director of the Office of the HUBZone Program at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Lori Gillen leads a team of professionals dedicated to assisting small businesses in historically under-utilized business communities succeed in the federal procurement marketplace and was recently asked to lead SBA’s effort to establish a new hub focused on supporting small manufacturers. 

Prior to joining the HUBZone Program, Lori served as the Director of the All Small Mentor-Protégé Program, where she helped expand a new program designed to enhance the capacity of small businesses to compete for federal government contracts through formal Mentor-Protégé Partnerships.  She joined SBA in 2014 as a career senior executive in the Office of Entrepreneurial Development to help administer SBA’s primary counseling and training programs, including Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, SCORE, and SBA’s on-line Learning Center.

Prior to joining the federal government, Lori co-founded a Women’s Business Center, started her own W/MBE-certified consulting business, ran a small business incubator, established a micro-loan fund with regional banks, and led several high impact economic development initiatives focused on boosting local entrepreneurial ecosystems and job creation. 

Lori earned an MBA from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in Urban Affairs from George Washington University. As a recent “empty nester” with two children in college, she and her husband have been traveling and getting reacquainted with the D.C. region’s many treasures.

Nina Archie

Nina is the founder of The Innovator-Connector™, an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the tech ecosystem, encompassing intellectual property, economic development, social justice, small business, and access to resources for innovators in underrepresented groups.  Ms. Archie launched The Innovator-Connector™ which is an innovative consulting firm creating access to resources, initiatives, and solutions for client’s projects involving intellectual property, commercialization, government funding, small business ownership, and diversity gap issues. Ms. Archie has held positions as a Former Patent Examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as well as a Technology Transfer Specialist at National Institute for Health’s Intellectual Property Office. Ms. Archie's expertise includes creating initiatives, providing strategies, and advocating for policy and programs to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in the patent and commercialization process. Ms. Archie holds a Bachelor of Science and Master’s of Science degrees. Ms. Archie holds a Technology Transfer Certification. Ms. Archie is a candidate for the Master’s in Public Policy at George Mason University. 

C. Paige-Anderson

Carleitta Paige-Anderson currently serves as Program Director for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) in the Division of Human Resource Development at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Her academic journey began at Virginia Union University (VUU), where she developed a passion for basic science research and earned a BS in Biology. After obtaining a PhD from Wake Forest University and completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, she returned to VUU. Over the years, she established a research program investigating biochemical signaling mechanisms in disease-causing bacteria and viruses. By leveraging her scientific expertise to integrate research into the academic curriculum, she was selected as a 2013-2014 Senior Fulbright Scholar in Surabaya, Indonesia at Universitas Airlangga. At VUU, she also served as the founding director of the VUU Center for Undergraduate Research, Dean of the University College, and Vice-President for Student Development and Success. Her collective efforts are rooted in enhancing the research and education capacities of HBCUs, a community she is excited to serve in her current role. Paige-Anderson attributes much of her success to the support of her family and friends.

Emanuel Waddell

Emanuel Waddell joined the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Department of Chemistry in the Fall of 2004, where he is a member of the Biotechnology and Materials Science Faculty. He is a graduate of Morehouse College (I.B.S., Chemistry, Physics) and Louisiana State University (PhD, Analytical Chemistry). His research at LSU was in the area of near infrared time-resolved fluorescence. Following the receipt of his doctorate, Waddell completed a National Research Council PostDoctoral Fellowship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD where he became interested in the laser ablation of polymer substrates and its application in microfluidic (lab-on-a-chip) devices. Emanuel was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor at UAH in 2010. From 2010 to 2019, Waddell served as the campus coordinator for the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. In 2015, Waddell was appointed as Associate Dean for the College of Science at UAH. From 2017 to 2019, Emanuel served as the national president for the National Society for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). Emanuel joined the National Science Foundation in July 2019 where he is a Program Officer with the HBCU-UP, CREST and HSI programs.

Travis York

Travis T. York, Ph.D., is the Director of Inclusive STEM Ecosystems for Equity & Diversity (ISEED) at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  Dr. York’s research and work focus on catalyzing and sustaining systemic change and transformation to achieve inclusive and equitable access and progress through STEM pathways into the STEM workforce.  Within AAAS, Dr. York provides leadership to a talented team who collaborate to create change in over 20 grant-funded projects and initiatives spanning all STEMM fields and the entire educational pathway including AAAS’s SEA Change Initiative, Science in the Classroom, ARISE Network, S-STEM Initiative, L’Oreal USA Women in Science Fellowships, and HBCU Making & Innovation Showcase.       

Currently, Dr. York is a Co-PI on NSF INCLUDES Aspire Alliance - an effort to develop a more inclusive and diversified STEM faculty; and serves as a Co-PI on a U.S. Department of Education IES Assessment Grant titled, Affording Degree Completion: A Study of Completion Grants at Accessible Public Universities in collaboration with the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities and Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community, & Justice. Dr. York has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and his most recent article, Completion Grants: A multi-method examination of institutional practice, is available in the Journal of Student Financial Aid. Dr. York is active within several professional associations and serves on the editorial review board of the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.   

Dr. York, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, received his Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from The Pennsylvania State University, masters in Higher Education and bachelors with distinction from Geneva College. Dr. York also studied at Oxford University’s Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies through Keble College in 2003-04. Dr. York also supports AAAS’s Committee on Opportunities in Science, which advises the association on matters related to increasing the representation of women and minorities in science, engineering, and related fields.

Shirley Malcom

Shirley Malcom is Senior Advisor to the CEO and Director of the SEA Change initiative at AAAS. She works to improve the quality and increase access to education and careers in STEM fields as well as to enhance public science literacy. Dr. Malcom is a trustee of Caltech and a regent of Morgan State University, and a member of the SUNY Research Council. She is a former member of the National Science Board, the policymaking body of the National Science Foundation, and served on President Clinton’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. Malcom, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, received her PhD in ecology from The Pennsylvania State University, masters in zoology from UCLA and bachelor’s with distinction in zoology from the University of Washington. She holds 16 honorary degrees.

Malcom serves on the boards of the Heinz Endowments, Public Agenda, the National Math-Science Initiative and Digital Promise.  Internationally, she is a leader in efforts to improve access of girls and women to education and careers in science and engineering and to increase use of S&T to empower women and address problems they face in their daily lives, serving as co-chair of the Gender Advisory Board of the UN Commission on S&T for Development and  Gender InSITE, a global campaign to deploy S&T to help improve the lives and status of girls and women. In 2003, Dr. Malcom received the Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, the highest award given by the Academy.

Ron Williams

Dr. Williams has served in higher education for 35 years, spending 25 years as faculty at Coppin State University (CSU) College of Business where he served as interim dean from 2013 until 2017. Recent activity includes roles as PI on studies examining the value of makerspaces, academic consultant on the TCF-UMA Industry & Inclusion project and founding director of the Center for Strategic Entrepreneurship. Dr. Williams’s work in West Baltimore led to his introduction of ingepreneurship (inge- as in ingenuity) and a trust profile inventory for improving transcultural collaboration and relationships. He holds a Ph.D. in management and organization from George Washington University with concentrations in organization behavior and the management of science, technology, and innovation. Dr. Williams serves on the boards of Open Works Baltimore, the Urban Manufacturing Alliance where he is also the president-elect and incoming board chair, and the AAAS HBCU Making and Innovation Showcase advisory board. 

Suzan Anwar

Dr. Anwar is a computer science professor at Philander Smith College. Her research covers different aspects of using Computer Vision and Machine Learning techniques. Dr. Anwar has an impressive publication record and national and international teaching experience. She mentors students from independent study projects to M.S., groups of students that take her classes, and prospective students. In 2016, she won the first place UALR Applied Innovation award for developing a system that detects human eye blink using Android devices. In 2018 she received the Second place UALR Applied Innovation award for developing a system to detect facial emotion. Dr. Anwar is also a member of the Arkansas Council for Women in Higher Education.

Sudip Parikh

Sudip Parikh, PhD, AAAS became executive publisher of the Science family of journals in January 2020.  The son of Indian immigrants, Parikh completed undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Early in his career Parikh was a Presidential Management Intern at the NIH and was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship while earning his Ph.D. in macromolecular structure and chemistry from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.  He has spent two decades at the nexus of science, policy, and business and is an active member of the scientific advocacy community. 

Laura Collins

Laura is the Director of Intellectual Property Development and Commercialization at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and is responsible for A&T’s IP portfolio and technology transfer operations. In her eleven years as the university’s patent agent, the number of patents from campus research has grown from 11 to over 45. In the four years she has been responsible for licensing, the university’s cumulative licensing revenue has increased by over 50%. Before coming to A&T, Laura spent ten  years with an Intellectual Property law group in San Diego, supporting patent prosecution and patent litigation. She has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from UNC Chapel Hill and undergraduate degrees in Chemistry with Honors and History from Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia.