2020

James H. Stith is Vice President Emeritus for the American Institute of Physics (AIP). An officer of the Institute, he has oversight responsibilities for AIP’s Magazine Division, the Media and Government Relations Division, the Education Division, the Center for the History of Physics, the Statistical Research Center and the Careers Division. Throughout his career, James has been an advocate for programs that ensure ethnic and gender diversity in the sciences.

Earning his doctorate in Physics from Pennsylvania State University, he received his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in physics from Virginia State University. An internationally known physics education researcher, his primary interests are in Program Evaluation and Teacher Preparation and Enhancement. He was a Professor of Physics at The Ohio State University and Professor of Physics at the United States Military Academy. A retired Colonel, Stith was the first African American to earn tenure at West Point.

Stith is a past President of the American Association of Physics Teachers (first African American), past President of the National Society of Black Physicists, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Fellow of the American Association of Physics Teachers, and a Chartered Fellow of the National Society of Black Physicists. Stith was named a Distinguished Alumni of The Pennsylvania State University, an Honorary Member of Sigma Pi Sigma, the physics honor society (its highest award) and a National Academies Education Mentor in the Life Sciences. He was recognized by Science Spectrum Magazine as one of the 50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science and was named a ScienceMaker, a MilitaryMaker and an EducationMaker by HistoryMakers. In 2018, Stith was presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis’s “Who’s Who”. Additionally, he serves on several national and international advisory boards and has been awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters by his alma mater, Virginia State University. His military awards include the Legion of Merit Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal W/Oak Leaf Cluster and the Air Force Commendation Medal.

Iris R. Wagstaff, PhD, 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 initiatives at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels focused on broadening participation in STEM and workforce development. She is also a Principal Investigator of several National Science Foundation (NSF) grants the include: Preparing Diverse STEM Researchers to Address Global Challenges, Developing an Evidenced-Based Best Practices Community for Supporting Low-Income, High-Achieving Students in STEM Education and the Workforce, and The Impact of Making and Innovation at HBCUs. She served as a 2015-2017 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the DOJ National Institute of Justice Office where she developed and 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 informal science programs, mentoring, resourcing parents, facilitating professional development for K-12 science teachers, and building strategic partnerships between industry, academia, and community organizations. Additionally, she has expertise in program evaluation, STEM curricula development, and pedagogy. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Wagstaff STEM Solutions; an educational, professional development, and diversity consulting company.

Wagstaff is also a social scientist with a research focus on employing statistical modeling to examine factors that predict science self-efficacy, science identity, and STEM career intent in high school and college students who are underrepresented in STEM. 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 is an adjunct chemistry professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she leads diversity and inclusion efforts to broaden participation in the chemical sciences. She has received several honors that include the 2019 DC Metro HBCU Alumni Alliance Award for Education, the 2019 AERA Science Teaching and Learning Research Award, the 2019 BEYA Science Spectrum Trailblazer Award, the 2018 NOBCChE Presidential Award for Mentoring, the 2017 Women of Color in STEM K-12 Promotion of Education Award, and a 2016 nomination for the NSF Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM).

Yolanda Scott George served as the Deputy Director and Program Director for STEM education at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for more than 30 years. Prior to
joining AAAS, she was Director of Development, Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), Washington, DC; Director, Professional Development Program, University of California, Berkeley; and a research biologist at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory involved in cancer research and cell cycle studies using flow cytometry and cell sorters.

George has conducted evaluations, workshops and reviews for the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation (NSF), as well as for private foundation and public agencies, including the European Commission. She worked with UNIFEM, UNESCO, L’Oreal USA and Paris and non-governmental organizations on gender, science, and technology initiatives related to college and university recruitment and retention and women’s leadership in STEM.

She has served as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on several NSF grants, including Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education; National Science Education Digital Library Biological Sciences Pathways; Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Programs; Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program; Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM (TUES) and Virtual Faculty Workshops; and Women’s International Research Collaborations at Minority Serving Institutions. George was the lead AAAS staff person for the L’Oreal USA Fellowships for Women in Science Program (postdoctoral fellowships) and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation HBCU Graduate Scholars Program (graduate school fellowships).

George served as a board or committee member for the following organizations: PBS NewsHour Science Advisory Committee; Burroughs Wellcome Fund Science Enrichment Program Grants Advisory Board; The HistoryMakers, ScienceMakers, Advisory Board; and the National Advisory Board of the American Physi- cal Society Physics Bridge Program.

George has authored or co-authored over 50 papers, pamphlets, and hands-on science manuals. She received her BS and MS from Xavier University of Louisiana and Atlanta University in Georgia, respectively.

Maureen Kearney, AAAS Chief Program Offi cer, joined AAAS in February 2018. Kearney brings an extensive mix of academic, management and public engagement experience to the center’s programs. Prior to joining AAAS, she served as Associate Director for Science at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. Before that, she served as program director and acting division director in the Division of Environmental Biology at the National Science Foundation. Previously, she worked as a research curator at the Field Museum of Natural History and a member of the Committee of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago. She received her PhD in Biological Sciences, with a research focus on phylogenetics, evolution and biodiversity science. As the Chief Program Officer at AAAS, Kearney oversees programs such as Science and Technology Fellowships; Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights & Law; Science Diplomacy; STEM Education; and Dialogue on Science, Ethic and Religion.

Jonathan Lambright is a professor in the department of Engineering Technology at Savannah State University. Lambright served as the Dean of the College of Sciences and Technology at Savannah State University from 2012 to 2017. In this role, he led over 75 faculty and staff in a college of over 1,500 students majoring in 9 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. He has also served as the interim Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Chair of the Engineering Technology and Mathematics department.

Lambright obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University in 1985. After working for 3 years as a Mechanical Engineer at the Department of Defense, he returned to graduate school at North Carolina A&T State University and received his MS in Mechanical Engineering in 1990 with a focus in Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing. He then attended the Georgia Institute of Technology’s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 1996. While at Georgia Tech, Jonathan focused his studies and research on design methodology and manufacturing automation. During the period between 1992 and 1996, Jonathan worked for the Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems Co. in Marietta GA. At Lockheed, he worked on various research and development projects within the Advanced Design department. Between 1996 and 2002 he consulted with Fortune 500 and other companies in areas of Enterprise Applications including Manufacturing Execution Systems and Customer Relation Management Systems. During the 2010–2011 academic year, Lambright participated in and became a graduate of the University System of Georgia’s Executive Leadership Institute. In the summer of 2008, he was selected as a NASA ESMD Summer Faculty Fellow at the NASA Stennis Space Center. In 2006, he received the Savannah State University NROTC teacher of the year award. He has taught courses for the Georgia Tech Regional Engineering Program at Savannah State and has been involved in engineering education research targeted at increasing the numbers of minority students majoring in and graduating from engineering disciplines.

Kelly Mack is the Vice President for Undergraduate STEM Education and Executive Director of Project Kaleidoscope at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Prior to joining AAC&U, Mack was the Senior Program Director for the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Program while on loan from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) where, as a Professor of Biology, she taught courses in Physiology and Endocrinology for 17 years.

Mack earned the BS degree in Biology from UMES and, later, the PhD degree from Howard University in Physiology. She has had extensive training and experience in the area of cancer research with her research efforts focusing primarily on the use of novel antitumor agents in breast tumor cells. Most recently, her research focus has involved the use of bioflavonoids in the regulation of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and estrogen receptor negative (ER-) breast tumor cell proliferation.

Mack has served as a member of the Board of Governors for the National Council on Undergraduate Research and is a current member of the National Institutes of Health Review Subcommittee for Training, Workforce Development and Diversity. She also recently completed a brief stint as Executive Secretary for the NSF Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering, which is the Congressionally mandated advisory body that focuses on efforts to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in the STEM disciplines.

Shirley M. Malcom, Senior Advisor, and Director of SEA Change at AAAS, has served as a program officer in the NSF Science Education Directorate; an assistant professor of biology, University of North Carolina, Wilmington; and a high school science teacher. Malcom received her PhD in Ecology from the Pennsylvania State University; Master’s in Zoology from the University of California, Los Angeles; and Bachelor’s with distinction in Zoology from the University of Washington. In addition, she holds 17 honorary degrees.

Malcom serves on several boards, including the Heinz Endowments, Public Agenda, Digital Promise, and the National Mathematics and Science Initiative. She serves as a trustee of Caltech and as a Regent of Morgan State University. In 2003, Malcom received the Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, the highest award given by the Academy. She was a member of the National Science Board, the policy-making body of NSF, from 1994 to 1998, and of the President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology from 1994 to 2001.

Karen Marrongelle is the Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Education and Human Resources (EHR). She leads the EHR directorate in supporting research that enhances learning and teaching to achieve excellence in U.S. science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Prior to joining NSF, Marrongelle was dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Portland State University and Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, where she oversaw 24 departments and programs across the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

In addition to her work as dean, Marrongelle has served as a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Portland State University since 2001. Prior to her appointment as dean, she held positions as the Vice Chancellor for Academic Strategies and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Standards and Collaboration with the Oregon University System. From 2007-2009, Marrongelle served on a rotation as a program officer at NSF and led numerous grants, collaborating with researchers nationally and internationally to improve undergraduate mathematics education and K-12 mathematics professional development. Marrongelle has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and philosophy from Albright College, a master’s degree in mathematics from Lehigh University and a doctorate in mathematics education from the University of New Hampshire.

Claudia Rankins is a Program Officer in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources at the National Science Foundation, where she manages the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program and the Centers for Research Excellence in Science and Technology. Prior to this post, Rankins served at Hampton University for 22 years in a number of capacities, including Chair of the Department of Physics, Assistant Dean for Research, and dean of the School of Science. Rankins holds a PhD in Physics from Hampton University. She is the co-founder of the Society of STEM Women of Color, Inc.