RESEARCH TEAM
Illuminating patterns, challenges, and supports for Black engineering PhDs entering the professoriate.
Meet the team

Dr. Ebony Omotola McGee
Associate Professor of Diversity and STEM education Read More As an associate professor of diversity and STEM education at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, I investigate what it means to be racially marginalized while minoritized in the context of learning and achieving in STEM higher education and in the STEM professions. I study in particular the racialized experiences and racial stereotypes that adversely affect the education and career trajectories of underrepresented groups of color. This involves exploring the social, material, and health costs of academic achievement and problematizing traditional forms of success in higher education, with an unapologetic focus on Black folk in these places and spaces. My National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER grant investigates how marginalization undercuts success in STEM through psychological stress, interrupted STEM career trajectories, impostor phenomenon, and other debilitating race-related trauma for Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx doctoral students. Education is my second career; I left a career in electrical engineering to earn a PhD in mathematics education from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Chicago, and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University. With funding from six NSF grants, I cofounded the Explorations in Diversifying Engineering Faculty Initiative or EDEFI (pronounced “edify”). I also co-founded the Institute in Critical Quantitative and Mixed Methodologies Training for Underrepresented Scholars (ICQCM), which aims to be a go-to resource for the development of quantitative and mixed-methods skillsets that challenge simplistic quantifications of race and marginalization. ICQCM receives support from the NSF, the Spencer Foundation, and the W. T. Grant Foundation. Visit the ICQCM website at CriticalScholars4QuantResearch.org. My research has been featured in prominent media outlets, including The Atlantic, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, NPR’s Codeswitch, The Hechinger Report, Christian Science Monitor, Huffington Post, US News & World Report, Inside Higher Education, Tennessean, and The UK Voice Online. Read Less

Dr. William H. Robinson
Professor of Electrical Engineering Read More 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 at the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering. Read Less

Devin White
Doctoral Student, STEM Education Read More 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. Read Less

Philip J. Pettis
Doctoral Candidate, Sociology
Read More 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. Read Less

Tianwen Li
Masters Student, English Language Learners
Read More Tianwen Li is currently working toward the Master of Education in English Language Learners at Vanderbilt University. She received her B.A. in English language and literature from the Autonomous University of Madrid in 2018. Her research interests include second language acquisition, reading development, and the educational experience of immigrant youth. She joined the EDEFI team during the fall of 2019 and currently is involved in projects that study the experiences of STEM faculty of minoritized identities. Read Less

Yibin Ni
Masters Student, Quantitative Methods
Read More Yibin is a M.Ed. student in the Quantitative Methods program from the Department of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University. Yibin received her B.A. in Social Science with a focus on Psychology from New York University Shanghai. Her research interests include prejudice and discrimination, advanced statistical models, and peer victimization and its long-term consequences. Read Less

Yuan Fang
Masters Student, Quantitative Methods
Read More Yuan is a M.Ed. student in Quantitative Methods program from the Department of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University and is currently working as a quantitative research assistant in EDEFI. Yuan received her B.S. in Psychology from Beijing Normal University in China. Her research interests focus on culture and diversity, psychological adjustment, prejudice and discrimination, and advanced quantitative methods. Read Less
Alejandro Moncayo
Undergraduate Student, African American and Diaspora Studies and Medicine, Health, and Society
Read More Alejandro is an undergraduate student majoring in African American and Diaspora Studies and Medicine, Health, and Society, with a concentration in Intersectional Inequality and Health Justice at Vanderbilt University. Alejandro hopes to go on to law or graduate school to pursue public policy and grassroots organizing. His research interests include reframing the American public education system, intersectionality and social justice, and social movements the resulted from prolonged oppression. Read Less
EDEFI Alumni

Amanda J. Brockman
Doctoral Student, Sociology
Read More 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. Read Less

Dr. Dara Naphan-Kingery
Assistant Professor at Western New Mexico University

Edward Wiggins
Undergraduate, Xavier University of Louisiana, History, English and Theology
Read More 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. Read Less

Dr. Gabriela Leon-Perez
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Virginia Commonwealth University

Hope Ervin
Master of Education, Quantitative Methods
Read More Hope currently serves as a Research Coordinator for the CIBS Center where she evaluates the long-term cognitive, physical, and emotional outcomes of critical illness while studying the psychometric properties of various mental health measures among ICU survivors. Hope is a recent graduate of Vanderbilt Peabody College with a Master’s degree in Quantitative Methods. During her time with EDEFI, she worked as a quantitative research assistant, focusing on large-scale data and utilizing appropriate techniques to analyze constructs and theories of interest. Prior to her time in Nashville, Hope obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Psychology from Birmingham-Southern College before serving as the Director of Marketing for one of the southeast’s largest real estate corporations. Read Less

Dr. Jeremy Lynch
Read More 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 interests include; exploring the interactions of vocational identity, multiculturalism, and mental health stigma in STEM students, in addition to underrepresented populations. Read Less

Lydia Bentley
Associate Director, Teaching for Learning Center, University of Missouri

Meaghan M. Creamer
Masters Student, Learning and Design

Dr. Monica Miles
Associate Director, University at Buffalo, Great Lakes Program
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Dr. Monica Miles has recently been named as the associate director of University at Buffalo’s Great Lakes Program and the Coastal Literacy Specialist through a joint appointment between UB, New York Sea Grant and Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Monica was a previously a postdoc with EDEFI, while she was an Academic Pathway Fellow. She earned a doctorate from the Curriculum, Instruction and the Science of Learning Program in UB’s Graduate School of Education, with a concentration in science education in 2017.
Monica’s research focuses on the role of identity, racialized experiences, and marginalization in K-12 and higher STEM spaces. She seeks to promote solutions for creating inclusive STEM environments for underrepresented students and boldly challenges systems of oppression. Monica maintains a commitment to social justice efforts through critical examinations of society and education.
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Portia K. Botchway
Doctoral Candidate, Learning Sciences and Learning Environment Design
Read More Portia K. Botchway is an Xbox Researcher at Microsoft in Redmond, WA and a doctoral candidate (PhD expected in Winter 2020) in the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Diversity at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. Her dissertation work explores how elementary teachers support students to use spatial reasoning and awareness to make sense of angle, length, area, and volume measurement in classroom interactions. 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. Read Less

Ruth Boyajian
Undergraduate, Harp Performance and Public Policy Studies (Education)
Read More 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. Read Less

Stephen Robinson
Masters Student, Quantitative Methods
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Jordan Rhym
Undergraduate, Anthropology and African American and Diaspora Studies
Read More 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. Read Less

Ann Varnedoe
Masters Student, Secondary Education Read More Ann is 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. Read Less

Chang Soo Park
Masters Student, English Language Learners Read More Chang Soo Park is a masters student in English Language Learner at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College focusing on secondary ELL education. He received his B.A. in English Language and Literature from University of Washington in Seattle. He is interested in exploring adolescence identity development rooting from multilingual and multicultural background, and developing pedagogies that subvert colonial narratives and linguistic imperialism. Read Less

Dr. Diego A. Mesa Read More 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. Read Less

Frances Williams
Associate Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs and
a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at Tennessee State University
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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
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
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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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Dr. Monica F. Cox
Professor and Inaugural Chair of the Department of Engineering Education
Read More 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. Read Less

Dr. Ocheze Joseph
Read More 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. Read Less
DISCLAMIER:
This work was supported by grant funding from the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.