RESEARCH TEAM

Ebony McGee, associate professor of diversity and STEM education at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, investigates what it means to be racially marginalized in the context of learning and achieving in STEM. In particular, she studies the racialized experiences and racial stereotypes affecting underrepresented groups of color. Her research also focuses on the effect of racialized experiences and bias on STEM education and career by exploring the costs of academic achievement and problematizing success.

She investigates how marginalization undercuts success in STEM through psychological stress, interrupted STEM career trajectories, impostor phenomenon, and other debilitating issues. McGee will use her recently awarded NSF CAREER grant to examine ways to broaden participation in engineering and computing through a multitiered research design that studies how race-related bias and microaggressive acts affect the career trajectories of Black, Native American, and Latino/a doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers.

Education is McGee’s second career; she left a career in electrical engineering to earn a PhD in mathematics education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. With funding from five National Science Foundation (NSF) grants, McGee co-founded the Explorations in Diversifying Engineering Faculty Initiative (EDEFI; pronounced “edify”).

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William H. Robinson, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Vanderbilt University, co-leads the Explorations in Diversifying Engineering Faculty Initiative (EDEFI; pronounced “edify”), which investigates the institutional, technical, social, and cultural factors that impact the current underrepresentation of African Americans in engineering faculty positions. He also leads the Security And Fault Tolerance (SAF-T) Research Group at Vanderbilt University, whose mission is to conduct transformational research that addresses the reliability and security of computing systems.

His major honors include selection for a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Computer Science Study Panel, both in 2008. Dr. Robinson is a Senior Member of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

He is a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and a lifetime member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). Currently, he serves as an Associate Dean in the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering.

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Dara Naphan-Kingery is an interdisciplinary social psychologist and postdoctoral researcher at Vanderbilt University with the Explorations in Diversifying Engineering Faculty Initiative (EDEFI) group. She is interested in understanding the racialized and gendered experiences of historically marginalized engineering scholars. She is particularly interested in how mental health and identity management strategies mediate the relationship between discrimination experiences and academic and career outcomes, and the role that social responsibility and social justice in engineering can play in attracting and retaining underrepresented students to the field.

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Monica L. Ridgeway is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow as part of the Academic Pathways Program at Vanderbilt University. She has joined the Explorations in Diversifying Engineering Faculty Initiative (EDEFI) research team led by Drs. Ebony McGee and William H. Robinson. Monica has recently received her Ph.D. in Science Education from the University at Buffalo.

As a former science educator, Monica is concerned with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning for historically and contemporarily marginalized students of color. Her research focuses on the role of identity, racialized experiences, and marginalization in K-12 and Higher education STEM spaces.  Her work seems to challenge and problematize traditional notions of STEM teaching and learning and present solutions for marginalized groups to have access.

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Amanda J. Brockman is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology.  She graduated with highest distinction from Indiana University, Bloomington in 2009 with a B.A. in Spanish and certificates in secondary education (B.S. equivalent) and English as a second language education.  Prior to beginning graduate studies at Vanderbilt, she worked in K-12 public education for six years as a high school Spanish teacher and school librarian.

She received her M.A. in sociology in 2017.   Her M.A. paper analyzed the gendered components of literary works read in ninth-grade English classes across the United States. Amanda’s research centers on education, social psychology, work, social movements, and inequality. Her dissertation examines the causal factors of the recent wave of teacher protests in the United States. Amanda has been a member of the EDEFI team since the fall of 2016 and is currently involved in multiple projects that examine the experience of STEM students and postdocs through a social psychological lens.

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Devin T. White is a doctoral student in the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Diversity at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College where he researches STEM Education. Devin received his B.A. in English and Philosophy from Cornell University in 2014 and his M. Ed. In Higher Education Administration from Peabody College’s department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations in 2016. His research interests include Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM), Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and the experiences of Black students in higher education broadly. 

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Philip J. Pettis received his MSW and B.A. in Psychology from Wichita State University. He additionally has an M.A. in Sociology from Vanderbilt. His Master’s thesis qualitatively explored the role of gay male culture and gay male peers in gay men’s body image formation using an intersectional informed approach to thematic analysis.

His research interests include taking an intersectionality approach to exploring topics within the domain of medical sociology and genetics, gender and sexuality, sexual health, sociology of the body, social networks, and social inequality. He is currently involved in multiple qualitative studies examining the centrality of diverse bodies to a myriad of social and health experiences and quantitative studies examining issues related to broad LGBT health.

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Ann is a currently working toward her Masters in education at Vanderbilt where she specializes in secondary ELL education and social studies. She attended the University of Alabama where she majored in Race and Gender Studies and Psychology.

She completed a Fulbright grant in Spain the 2017-2018 academic year where she taught English and did a research project on the experiences of marginalized groups in the education system there. Her work focuses on making public education a more holistic and equitable place for students of all races, gender identities, countries of origin, and sexual orientation. 

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Edward Wiggins is an undergraduate student studying History with a double concentration in English and theology at Xavier University of Louisiana. He joined the EDEFI team during the summer of 2019 and is involved in projects that study the experiences of STEM students and faculty. His research interests include equity in public education and literacy. He is particularly interested in the effects of cultural sensitivity in pedagogy as it relates to improving student learning outcomes. 

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Jordan Rhym is a rising second-year undergraduate student at Vanderbilt University studying anthropology and African American and Diaspora Studies. She is currently working for EDEFI on projects concerning the experience and inequalities faced by Women of Color faculty in engineering as well as the presence and visibility of Black-owned STEM companies.

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Lydia C. Bentley, Ph.D., is an NSF SPRF research fellow with a courtesy appointment with the Department of Sociology at Vanderbilt University. She received her Ph.D. in Learning, Teaching, and Diversity from Vanderbilt University in September, 2017. Currently, she is the principal investigator of a mixed-methods longitudinal research project which examines underrepresentation in undergraduate engineering programs.

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Stacey L. Houston II, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at George Mason University. He received his B.A. Sociology from Davidson College in 2013 and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Vanderbilt University in 2015 and 2018 respectively. His major research interests are health disparities, criminal justice, race/ethnicity, and education. His specific research projects highlight the intersections of these broad fields.

In his dissertation study, Stacey explored the link between education, interactions with the criminal justice system, and well-being. He investigated how disciplinary practices in early education contribute to involvement with the criminal justice system, which, in turn, leads to health disparities across racial groups. While at Vanderbilt, Stacey worked on the EDEFI project for four years.

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Gabriela Leon-Perez, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Vanderbilt University in March 2018. Her research focuses on international migration and the immigrant experience in the United States, as well as health disparities affecting these populations.

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Portia K. Botchway is a doctoral student in the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Diversity at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College where she studies mathematics and science education. Portia received her A.B. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard College with a secondary field in Classics.

Between her undergraduate and graduate studies she taught middle school science and high school biology and chemistry for four years at a charter school in Boston, MA. She is currently a graduate research assistant on EDEFI and additional research projects investigating how elementary students use spatial reasoning and awareness to make sense of angle, length, area, and volume measurement and teachers interpret student work as assessment evidence.

Her research interests include how elementary teachers interact with disciplinary perspectives in mathematics and how teacher learning in the context of professional learning communities impacts instruction and supports student learning.

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Jeremy Lynch is a postdoctoral researcher at Vanderbilt University with the Explorations in Diversifying Engineering Faculty Initiative (EDEFI) group. He received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and has worked at various universities in the area. In addition, he has practiced as a psychologist serving the underrepresented community for 3 years. His research interest include; exploring the interactions of vocational identity, multiculturalism, and mental health stigma in STEM students, in addition to underrepresented populations.

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Dasom Lee majored in Sociology at the London School of Economics and holds a master’s degree in Economics from Kyoto University, Japan. She completed her minor in Quantitative Methods in April 2018. She is a quantitative methods research assistant at EDIFI with a specific focus on MLM, SEM, LGCM, and analysis of categorical data.

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Ruth Boyajian is an undergraduate student studying Harp Performance and Public Policy Studies (Education Track). She has been a member of the EDEFI team since fall of 2017 and is currently involved in multiple projects that examine the experience of STEM students and faculty of minoritized identities, specifically women of color.

Her research interests include ways that minoritized identities and social structures shape experiences in higher education. She is particularly interested in social justice and human rights, and hopes to combine her research interests within a student affairs capacity, whether it be for policy and advocacy or pursued independently.

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Meaghan M. Creamer is currently working towards her Masters in Learning and Design. She received her B.A. in Elementary Education and Special Education from Providence College in 2017. Her research include inclusion learning environments, reciprocal local partnerships, and the development of sustainable makerspaces. 

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Ocheze Joseph has served as an elementary school based administrator for the past 12 years, serving diverse populations such as high poverty, high English language learners, and gifted and talented. Prior to administration, Ocheze taught students in grades K-6, was a  mentor teacher, Title I teacher, Reading Specialist, and Staff Development teacher.

She holds an Ed.D. from the University of Maryland as well as an M.S.Ed from Johns Hopkins University. Currently, Ocheze teaches courses to students in both the undergraduate and graduate reading programs. Dr. Joseph is passionate about issues of equity in education and ensuring that our most vulnerable students receive high quality instruction.  Her research interests include language acquisition, early childhood education, struggling readers, family involvement and school improvement planning.

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Monica F. Cox, Ph.D., is a Professor and Inaugural Chair of the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University. She is also the Director of the International Institute of Engineering Education Assessment (i2e2a) and the CEO of STEMinent LLC, a company that houses educational assessment, Prepared to Be a Pioneer® professional development, and Quirky Time® media offerings. In 2011, she became the first African American female to earn tenure in the College of Engineering at Purdue University.

Her research focuses on the use of mixed methodologies to explore significant research questions in undergraduate, graduate, and professional engineering education; to explore issues of intersectionality among women, particularly Women of Color in engineering; and to develop, disseminate, and commercialize reliable and valid assessment tools for use in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Dr. Cox has led and collaborated on multidisciplinary projects totaling approximately $15 million, and she has authored over 130 publications.

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Diego A. Mesa is an Academic Pathways Postdoctoral Fellow at Vanderbilt University, jointly hosted in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of California San Diego.

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Oluchi Nwosu-Randolph is a postdoctoral fellow in the Sociology department at Vanderbilt University. Her interests pertain to ways that race, ethnicity, and identity development shape individuals’ perceptions of challenges and opportunities. Her dissertation examined the utility of DuBois’ double-consciousness, black feminism, and critical race theory for understanding how families and schools shape identity development processes for young refugees resettling in the US. As a member of the Beyond the PhD Research Team, she studies how postdoctoral experiences in STEM fields influence the decisions that women and underrepresented minorities make to leave or remain in academia.

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Dr. Frances Williams is the Associate Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs and a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Tennessee State University.  Her research focus is in the areas of advanced materials and devices, biosensors, and nano- and micro-electromechanical systems processing and devices. She has received grants totaling over $14 million as a principal investigator or co-principal investigator. In 2010 she received a U.S. patent for developing a micromachined sensor for monitoring electrochemical deposition.

Dr. Williams has received various awards including the 2013 State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, the highest faculty award given out by the state. In 2012, she was named an “Emerging Scholar” by Diverse Issues in Higher Education  magazine.  She is a member of five professional and honorary societies. She volunteers in various community programs that promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education for students from elementary to college age. Dr. Williams holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from North Carolina Agricultural Technical State University, and a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

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Joe Bradley is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Bioengineering, Teaching Assistant Professor at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and Lecturer in the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He has worked in a variety of industry sectors that includes – consumer products, software, and government research. He teaches or has taught courses in engineering design, engineering projects, new product development, value chain management, and intellectual property management strategy. Joe is also a co- founder of Sun Buckets, Inc. (www.sunbuckets.com). Sun Buckets develops, builds, and commercializes thermal energy storage technologies and products primarily targeting energy scarcity in developing regions.

Sun Buckets products are being tested and used in six countries. His research focus is on technology management and product development – how information is used and managed within a product development system. He is interested in challenges at the interface of product development, technology management, intellectual property management, and entrepreneurship. Joe earned his bachelor’s in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, his master’s in Mechanical Engineering (minor Electrical Engineering) from Iowa State University, and his MBA and PhD in Systems and Entrepreneurial Engineering both from the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign.

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