Taylor Randall is the 17th president of the University of Utah, the state’s flagship institution of higher education. He joined the U in 1998 as a professor of accounting and led the nationally ranked David Eccles School of Business for 12 years prior to his appointment as the president in 2021. President Randall has set a bold goal for the University of Utah to become a top 10 public university with unsurpassed societal impact. He believes the U can revolutionize the student experience, change the world through research, and serve our state to improve the lives of all 3.4 million Utahns.

Claudia Geist, an associate professor jointly appointed in the Department of Sociology and the Division of Gender Studies, studies the intersection of gender, family and inequality. Geist’s examinations of constructions of family and gender, life-course decisions about pregnancy and family planning and gendered division of labor come at a time of transition and expansion of genders. Her ongoing research analyzes ways to appraise nuance in gender expression in survey research and help future health care providers understand gender and incorporate gender identity in their interactions.

Ramón Barthelemy is an associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Utah. Previous to his faculty position Ramón was a Fulbright Scholar in Finland, a Science Policy Fellow in the U.S. Department of Education and a private sector consultant. His work focuses on the lives, educational experiences, and career paths of marginalized students in physics and STEM. This has included work on LGBT+ people, graduate Students of Color, and women in physics. He was the 2020 recipient of the Fulbright Finland Alumni Award, the 2021 recipient of the AAPT Doc Brown Futures award, the 2022 WEPAN Research recipient, and became a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2022.

Dr. Brenda Bowen is an interdisciplinary geoscientist whose work focuses on how changing environmental conditions influence the composition of sediments, authigenic minerals, and fluids in both modern dynamic systems and ancient lithified strata.

Myra Washington holds a faculty position as Associate Professor in Ethnic Studies. She received her doctorate in communications research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012, and has substantial experience with the design and leadership of professional development and support organizations for faculty of color, including the Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies, where she is a founding member. Her research includes analyses of race and gender in popular culture—across television, film and digital media.

Dr. Mercedes Ward is a design thinker and facilitator who collaborates with individuals and organizations to develop impactful projects, programs, and policies to advance sustainable development. Mercedes believes in the importance of creating enabling environments to support human flourishing. She accelerated her professional evolution from ecological anthropologist to design thinker when she joined an interdisciplinary, multicultural team to establish a research center for water security in Pakistan. Over a five-year tenure with the USAID-funded U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water, she led a Pakistan-based research team to deliver policy recommendations to improve participatory irrigation management, facilitated workshops to support community-based research and policy impact, and designed and managed quality assurance mechanisms for international education and capacity strengthening programs.

Camila Manni has experience with the analysis of Social Networks of women and LGBT+ physicists and brings this expertise to the Social Science Research team on this project. Combining her academic and professional background in the social sciences and physics, Camila is currently part of the Physics and Astronomy department, where teach courses and research in the area of physics education.

Amy has a B.S. and M.S. in Geography. Post graduate school, she was a physical scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey. She worked on the National Watershed Boundary Dataset as well as Utah County groundwater level research. She has spent most of her career in non-profit development. She has worked for the International Rescue Committee, TURN Community Services, CTA Community Supports, and the People's Health Clinic. At the University of Utah she has been the administrative manager for the USAID/U of U Higher Education System Strengthening Activity (HESSA) Pakistan, and has now moved to assist the ADVANCE IT project.

Taylor Randall is the 17th president of the University of Utah, the state’s flagship institution of higher education. He joined the U in 1998 as a professor of accounting and led the nationally ranked David Eccles School of Business for 12 years prior to his appointment as the president in 2021. President Randall has set a bold goal for the University of Utah to become a top 10 public university with unsurpassed societal impact. He believes the U can revolutionize the student experience, change the world through research, and serve our state to improve the lives of all 3.4 million Utahns.

Mitzi Montoya is the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost for the University of Utah. She is a leader in her field, having served in dean and provost positions at several universities in the U.S., including the University of New Mexico, Oregon State and Arizona State University. Throughout her career, Montoya has supported student and faculty success and led collaborative initiatives to find solutions for social, technical and political challenges. As provost, Montoya seeks to inspire students, faculty and staff; lead innovation efforts toward operational excellence; and help the U become a top 10 public university.

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Dr. Erin Rothwell received her B.S. degree in Recreation Therapy and M.S. degree in Park & Recreation Management from the University of South Alabama. In 2004, Dr. Rothwell moved to Salt Lake City to pursue her PhD in Recreation Therapy at the University of Utah. She served her Postdoctoral Training in the College of Nursing at the U while studying clinical trials and public health. In 2010, Dr. Rothwell received a competitive fellowship opportunity in the Medical College of Wisconsin where she studied Bioethics. Dr. Rothwell’s research focus is on ethical, social, and legal implications of genetic and technological advancements on individuals and families specifically within newborn screening, prenatal testing, and biobanking.

In 2018, Dr Rothwell was hired as the associate vice president for research integrity & compliance (AVPRIC) in the Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR). In 2021, Dr. Rothwell became the associate vice president for research (AVPR) to help lead the U’s grant support pipeline, research education expansion, and environmental health and safety offices. Under Dr. Rothwell’s leadership, the U’s research portfolio has grown substantially each year and reached a record-high of over $600M in research funding and 2,400 grants in FY21. In addition to research growth, the U was invited into the Association of American Universities, a prestigious group that limits memberships to institutes at the forefront of scientific discovery.

As vice president for research, Dr. Rothwell currently oversees 18 research administrative units that support research compliance, regulation policies, grant development pipeline, and safety procedures across campus. In addition, Dr. Rothwell serves as the President of the University of Utah Research Foundation. Dr. Rothwell is dedicated to finding impactful solutions  through innovative and inclusive research practices to solve critical real-world challenges.

Myra Washington holds a faculty position as Associate Professor in Ethnic Studies. She received her doctorate in communications research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012, and has substantial experience with the design and leadership of professional development and support organizations for faculty of color, including the Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies, where she is a founding member. Her research includes analyses of race and gender in popular culture—across television, film and digital media.

Dean Musgrave provides leadership to the College in strategic planning, administration, academic programs, faculty career development, and external relationships. He works closely with the department chairs and college staff on development, outreach and public relations.

Dr. Frankie Santos Laanan is the Dean of the College of Education. He is also a Professor in the Departments of Education, Culture, & Society and Educational Leadership and Policy. Prior to this role, Laanan was appointed as the college’s inaugural Associate Dean for Faculty and Student Affairs (July 2021). Before coming to the University of Utah, he was Department Head of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Technology Studies at The University of Alabama and Professor of Higher Education Administration. Dr. Laanan is currently Principal Investigator (PI) of a Spencer Foundation Grant (Ingram State Technical College: Exploratory Case Study of Incarcerated Adults in Career and Technical Education). He has participated in the University of Utah’s Higher Education System Strengthening Activity (HESSA), a $19 million project funded by United States Agency for International Development to improve Pakistan’s colleges and universities to address the country’s mismatched skills and workplace needs. Laanan is affiliated with the New Leadership Academy (NLA), a nationally recognized leadership development program to help leaders meet the complex challenges associated with equity, diversity, and inclusion in higher education. He is a frequent presenter and facilitator for different NLA sessions at the state and national levels. Laanan was born and raised on the island of Guam. A Pacific Islander scholar and first-generation college student, he is passionate about engaging in educational research to investigate critical questions about college access and the success of students with differing viewpoints. He is also committed to translating research into practice and policy to affect transformational change in colleges and universities. He earned his B.A. in Political Science, M.A., and Ph.D. in Higher Education and Organizational Change from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He believes in education as a tool for social good and has dedicated his career to advancing educational access and ensuring equal opportunities through evidence-based policies and procedures.

Peter E. Trapa is an American mathematician and the dean of the College of Science at the University of Utah. His research focus is on the representation theory of reductive Lie groups. Trapa received his bachelor of arts in mathematics and integrated science from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed postdoctoral work at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, and Harvard University and was named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2019. He previously served as the chair of the Department of Mathematics and the chair of the Department of Physics & Astronomy. During his tenure as Dean of the College of Science, Trapa has overseen the fundraising for the completion of the Crocker Science Complex, including the renovation of the historic Stewart Building and the construction of the L.S. Skaggs Applied Science Building. He has raised record-level funding for the College of Science and expanded student scholarships and opportunities, including implementing the Science Research Initiative, a landmark experiential learning program for College of Science students. With Dean Darryl Butt, he spearheaded the merger of the College of Science and the College of Mines and Earth Sciences, with the overarching goals of increasing student enrollment and encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration across STEM disciplines. In 2022, he led the formation of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy. He was reappointed as dean of the merged College of Science in 2024.

Myra Washington holds a faculty position as Associate Professor in Ethnic Studies. She received her doctorate in communications research from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012, and has substantial experience with the design and leadership of professional development and support organizations for faculty of color, including the Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies, where she is a founding member. Her research includes analyses of race and gender in popular culture—across television, film and digital media.

Ann E. Austin is University Distinguished Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University (MSU). She has previously served at MSU as Interim Vice Provost and Associate Vice President for Faculty and Academic Staff Affairs, Interim Dean of the College of Education, and Assistant Provost for Faculty Affairs. She has been a Program Director at the National Science Foundation, a U.S. Fulbright Fellow (1998, South Africa), and President of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, and she is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. Her research concerns organizational change in higher education; academic work, careers, and professional development; creating more inclusive and equitable academic workplaces; teaching and learning issues in undergraduate education; doctoral education; and STEM education. Her current and recent National Science Foundation-funded projects have focused on gender equity in academe, teaching preparation of future STEM faculty, teaching evaluation, and organization-focused change networks. Dr. Austin has published extensively, including her book on Building Gender Equity in the Academy: Institutional Strategies for Change (Johns Hopkins, 2020, with Laursen).

Dr. Cochran is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at The Ohio State University specializing in equity-oriented physics education research. Cochran is a member of the Inclusive Graduate Education Network, a fellow of the American Physical Society, and a fellow of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Cochran earned her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with a cognate in physics and her Ed.S. in science education with a specialization in teacher preparation from Florida International University in Miami, FL and her M.A.T. with a specialization in secondary school physics, her B.S. degree in physics and her B.S. degree in mathematics from Chicago State University in Chicago, IL.

Dr. Erika Tatiana Camacho is the inaugural holder of the Manuel P. and María Antonietta Berriozábal Endowed Chair and Professor with joint appointments in the departments of Mathematics and Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology (NDRB).

Camacho was a Fulbright Research Scholar at the Institut de la Vision (IDV) - Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm) and Sorbonne Université in Paris 2022-2023 and a faculty at Arizona State University 2007-2023. Camacho had three impressive years (from 2019-2022) of work at the National Science Foundation (NSF) as Program Director co-Lead of the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program and Program Director of the ADVANCE and the Racial Equity in STEM Education Programs where she contributed significantly to impactful initiatives dedicated to equity across the agency. As the co-Lead of the HSI Program, Camacho revamped and expanded the NSF HSI Program to create robust funding mechanisms, including multiple tracks and Hubs and Centers, that speak to and reflect the heterogeneous HSI landscape. Camacho has a long and successful career in and outside of academia as a mathematical biologist, researcher, educator, mentor and advocate for equity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Dr. Nancy López is professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico. Dr. López directs/co-founded of the Institute for the Study of "Race" and Social Justice. Her scholarship, teaching and service are guided by the insights of intersectionality--the importance of examining the simultaneity of race, gender, class, ethnicity and other systems of inequalities across a variety of social outcomes, including education, health, employment, housing, for developing contextualized solutions that advance social justice. Dr. López is author of Hopeful Girls, Troubled Boys: Race & Gender Disparity in Urban Education (2003); co-editor of, Creating Alternative Discourses in the Education of Latinas & Latinos (2003), Mapping "Race": Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research (2013); and, QuantCrit: An Antiracist Approach to Education Equity (2023). Her current research, “Intersectionality as Inquiry and Praxis: Race-Gender-Class-Ethnicity for Student Success in STEM,” is funded by the NSF HSI program. Dr. López is a Black Latina, New York City-born daughter of Dominican immigrants with a second grade education rich in cultural wealth. She is the first woman of color tenured in Sociology and the first woman of the African Diaspora tenured in the College of Arts and Sciences (2008) and promoted to full professor (2018) at UNM.

Dr. Justin A. Gutzwa (they/them) is an Assistant Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education at Michigan State University. Shaped by their experiences as a queer, nonbinary, trans scholar, Justin employs critical theories and qualitative methods to dismantle deficit-based understandings of queer and trans communities in postsecondary education, particularly trans Communities of Color. Justin’s research has also interrogated systemic minoritization in postsecondary STEM education spaces. Their work has been published in a range of prominent education and science journals, including PLOS ONE, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Physical Review Physics Education Research, and Harvard Educational Review. Justin currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education, a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Women & Gender in Higher Education, and as the Program Co-Chair for the Queer Studies Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Damani White-Lewis (he/him) is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies racial equity issues in academic careers and contexts using theories and methods from organizational behavior and social psychology. Dr. White-Lewis' research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and has been published in leading education journals such as The Journal of Higher Education, The Review of Higher Education, American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Research in Higher Education, among others. His research has garnered several national awards and honors from organizations such as the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). As a public scholar he has been featured in outlets such as Inside Higher Ed and Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, and regularly consults with college campuses and external organizations to address issues related to racial equity, institutional transformation, and systemic change in higher education.

Michael Woolcock is Lead Social Scientist in the World Bank's Development Research Group, where he has worked since 1998; he is the Group’s first and only sociologist. For eighteen of these years, he has also been an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. His current research focuses on strategies for enhancing state capability for implementation, on transformations in local social institutions during the development process, and on using mixed methods to assess the effectiveness of "complex" interventions. In addition to more than a hundred journal articles and book chapters, he is the author or co-editor of fourteen books, including Contesting Development: Participatory Projects and Local Conflict Dynamics in Indonesia (with Patrick Barron and Rachael Diprose; Yale University Press, 2011), which was a co-recipient of the 2012 best book prize by the American Sociological Association's section on international development, and Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action (with Matt Andrews and Lant Pritchett; Oxford University Press, 2017). Most recently, he has co-edited three scholarly volumes on case studies, popular culture, and the future of multilateralism, and written a book (International Development: Navigating Humanity’s Greatest Challenge) for a broader audience. An Australian national, he has a PhD in comparative-historical sociology from Brown University.

Claudia Geist, an associate professor jointly appointed in the Department of Sociology and the Division of Gender Studies, studies the intersection of gender, family and inequality. Geist’s examinations of constructions of family and gender, life-course decisions about pregnancy and family planning and gendered division of labor come at a time of transition and expansion of genders. Her ongoing research analyzes ways to appraise nuance in gender expression in survey research and help future health care providers understand gender and incorporate gender identity in their interactions.

Dr. Michael Barber is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has over 30 years of experience in hydrology and water resources working in academics and in private consulting. His responsibilities include teaching water-related classes, advising undergraduate and graduate students, and mentoring and publishing technical papers and reports. Dr. Barber's research has field investigations and numerical modeling studies of water, nutrients, and primary productivity in rivers and lakes with focus on estimating consumptive use requirements, stream¬groundwater interaction, climate change implications, and human adaptation. He is currently working on investigation of climate change and land development impacts on water quantity and quality, using remote sensing techniques to determine crop water requirements at the watershed scale, and improving water security in Pakistan. Michael is very involved in multi-stakeholder projects where consensus building and information transfer are vital components of the research.

Lisa M. Diamond is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies at the University of Utah, and president of the International Academy for Sex Research.  She received her Ph.D. in Human Development from Cornell University in 1999, and has spent nearly 3 decades studying the development and expression of gender and sexuality across the life course.  Her current work focuses on the biobehavioral mechanisms through which social stigma, social stress, and social safety shape the health and well-being of sexually-diverse and gender-diverse individuals at different stages of development.  Dr. Diamond is best known for her research on sexual fluidity, which describes the capacity for individuals to experience unexpected shifts in sexual identity and expression over time.  Her 2008 book, Sexual Fluidity, published by Harvard University Press, has been awarded the Distinguished Book Award from the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Study of LGBTQ Issues. Dr. Diamond is also co-editor of the first-ever APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology, published in 2014, and is a fellow of two divisions of the APA.  She has published over 140 articles and book chapters, and has been invited to present her research at over 150 national and international Universities and conferences. Dr. Diamond has received awards for her work from the Developmental Psychology and LGBT Psychology Divisions of the APA, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the International Association for Relationship Research, the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Her current work focuses on the importance of social safety (unconditional social connection, inclusion, and protection) for the human immune system, and the negative long term health implications of living with chronic unsafety in one’s day-to-day life. Dr. Diamond also studies religious trauma among sexually-diverse and gender-diverse individuals raised in the Mormon church, and the factors that promote adjustment and acceptance among this population and their families.

Dr. Annie Isabel Fukushima is the interim associate dean of research for the School for Cultural & Social Transformation. She also serves as associate dean of Undergraduate Studies, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research. She is an associate professor in the Division of Ethnic Studies, and author of the award-winning book "Migrant Crossings: Witnessing Human Trafficking in the US" (Stanford University Press, 2019), which examines the experiences and representations of Asian and Latina/o migrants trafficked in the United States into informal economies and service industries. As an interdisciplinary scholar, she committed to praxis, therefore she has worked at all levels of organizations, where her expertise is nationally recognized; she has served as an expert witness for human trafficking cases in courts in California, Colorado, and Utah, provided expert reports for immigration cases submitted to USCIS, and a consultant for national and local organizations in California and Washington. She has authored multiple community-based studies that focus on domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, labor, and migration. In 2023, she was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to create a postdoctoral training program. To learn more visit: https:queeringstem.com.

Cynthia M. Furse is a Fellow of the IEEE, the National Academy of Inventors, and the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society. She is a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. She was previously the Associate Vice President for Research for the University of Utah from 2009-2019. Her research interests are the application of electromagnetics to sensing and communication in complex lossy scattering media such as the human body, geophysical prospecting, ionospheric plasma, and complex wiring networks. Dr. Furse is a founder of LiveWire Innovation, Inc., a spin-off company from her research, commercializing devices to locate intermittent faults on live wires. She has taught electromagnetics, wireless communication, computational electromagnetics, microwave engineering, antenna design, introductory electrical engineering, and engineering entrepreneurship and has been a leader in the development of the flipped classroom.

Tino Nyawelo, a Professor (Lecturer) in the University of Utah’s Department of Physics & Astronomy, has been at the U since 2007. In 2012, Tino founded the REFUGES program which supports underrepresented students through an after-school program (grades 7-12) and a summer science “bridge” experience for incoming college freshmen. Tino the Director of Undergraduate Research, and also coordinates the Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

In 1998, Tino obtained his master’s degree in theoretical high energy physics at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the Free University of Amsterdam in 2004. His main area of research deals with (quantum) field theory, supersymmetry and gravity.

Christne A. Pomeroy is an Associate Professor in the Urban Water Engineering & Sustainability Group in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Utah, where she teaches courses in hydraulics, open channel flow, stormwater management and design, water distribution system analysis, and urban watershed management. She has more than 15 years of academic and consulting experience in stormwater management, watershed management, permitting and compliance, modeling, GIS applications in water resources, hydraulics and hydrology. Dr. Pomeroy earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University in 1995, a M.S. in Civil Engineering in 2004, and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in 2007 from Colorado State University. She is a registered professional engineer in Michigan.

David Stroupe is an associate professor of teacher education, STEM education, and the learning sciences at the University of Utah. He also serves as the Director of Research at the Usable STEM Research and Practice Hub. David has three areas of research interests anchored around ambitious and equitable teaching. First, he frames classrooms as science practice communities. Second, he examines how beginning teachers learn from practice in and across their varied contexts. Third, he studies how teacher preparation programs can provide support and opportunities for beginning teachers to learn from practice.

Claudia Geist, an associate professor jointly appointed in the Department of Sociology and the Division of Gender Studies, studies the intersection of gender, family and inequality. Geist’s examinations of constructions of family and gender, life-course decisions about pregnancy and family planning and gendered division of labor come at a time of transition and expansion of genders. Her ongoing research analyzes ways to appraise nuance in gender expression in survey research and help future health care providers understand gender and incorporate gender identity in their interactions.

Luis is a Ph.D. candidate studying comparative politics and international relations. His dissertation examines authoritarian regime change and democratization. His research interests also include Latin American politics, democratic backsliding, U.S. foreign policy in Cuba, and transnational criminal organizations. Luis has worked as a graduate teaching assistant, research assistant, and university instructor for the past several years. Luis also has experience serving on the graduate student advisory council for the department of Political Science. Currently, he is the honors program teaching assistant for the department of Political Science at the University of Utah. Luis received an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Utah.

Cami Rives is Director of the University of Utah’s Office for Faculty. Prior to her transition to the Office for Faculty in 2021, she worked for 10 years in the U’s College of Fine Arts – Dean’s Office. Her past experience includes administration and support roles at several institutions of higher education—including over five years in University Admissions/Recruitment and within a School of Business.

Dr. Brenda Bowen is an interdisciplinary geoscientist whose work focuses on how changing environmental conditions influence the composition of sediments, authigenic minerals, and fluids in both modern dynamic systems and ancient lithified strata.

Prof. Tabitha M. Benney, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Director of the Utah Radon Lab. She is also affiliated faculty in the Environmental and Sustainability Studies Program, Public Policy Program, Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, International Studies, and the Center for Genomic Medicine at the University of Utah. Dr. Benney is also a Research Fellow for the Earth Research Governance Network and Tribal Liaison for the U.S.-Canada Center on Climate-Resilient Western Interconnected Grid (WIRED). She received her BSFS (2001) and MA in International Affairs (2007) from Georgetown University and her PhD in Political Science in the subfields of International Political Economy, Environmental Governance, and Advanced Research Methods from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2013). From 2001-2007, she was also a Junior Program Officer in the Policy and Global Affairs Division of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Dr. Benney’s interdisciplinary research focuses on mapping interactions between human and natural systems to develop research-based policy applications that address a range of scientific, technical, and governance issues with an emphasis on inequality in developing and tribal communities. Her current research agenda is focused on the social, economic, and health disparities caused by energy, climate, and air quality. She also investigates areas of international political economy that focus on dynamic systems of the global economy, such as: low carbon energy transitions, varieties of capitalism, energy coalitions, and production systems. Dr. Benney’s work has been published in Review of International Political Economy, Review of Keynesian Economics, Science of the Total Environment, Energy Policy, Environmental Research, Atmosphere, Environmental Sociology, and Wiley’s Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change – among others. Her books include: Making Environmental Markets Work: The Varieties of Capitalism in Emerging Economies (Routledge Press, 2015) and Agency in Earth System Governance - coedited with Michele, Betsill and Andrea Gerlak (Cambridge, 2020). In addition, she has received numerous awards, fellowships, and grants including The Distinguished Teaching Award (2022), the International Studies Association’s Catalytic Research Workshop Award, the Louis G. Lancaster’s International Relations Award, and most recently, the NSF-Cohort Fellowship from the University of Utah.

Dr. Birgenheier is a sedimentary geologist and geochemist. Her research studies fluvial, shallow marine and lacustrine systems, shedding light on the processes that shaped our planet's past with a view toward implications for energy development, critical mineral exploration, carbon storage and paleoclimate reconstruction. Previously, Birgenheier served as Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Chair for the Department of Geology & Geophysics. Birgenheier currently serves as a Faculty Fellow for the College of Science.

Dr. Udita Gupta is career-line associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Utah. In her academic role, she teaches and mentors pre-service teachers in both STEM and non-STEM field. Along with, Dr. Gupta also teaches secondary math methods class. Dr. Gupta also plans and executes projects related to supporting in-service teachers and induction programs for her newly hired teachers in school districts in Utah and also in other states. Through all her work and teaching, Dr. Gupta strives to build a diverse community of teachers committed to understanding, acknowledging and addressing diverse needs (both cultural and linguistic) of their middle and high school students. Recently, Dr. Gupta has started working in the areas of global education and internationalization of teacher education. As a result, she is incorporating global competencies in her secondary math methods class and licensure classes. Dr. Gupta’s research interests include looking at issues of cognitive load, professional development opportunities that reduce burnout and increase job satisfaction, reflective practices that teachers (pre-service and in-service) incorporate in all aspects of their teaching and ways to build global competencies in both STEM and non-STEM content areas. When Dr. Gupta is not working, she enjoys cooking world cuisines, baking, embroidery and spending time with her two kids.

Dr. Angela Rasmussen is the Director of Mentoring and Advising and Professor(Lecturer) in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Utah. Dr. Rasmussen graduated with a B.S. in Computer Engineer(1996), summa cum laude and top student in her graduating class. She completed her doctorate in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Mechanical Engineering, George Washington University (2002). She teaches a number of core electrical and computer engineering courses and has previously supervised approximately 700 seniors during their capstone projects. She has received both an outstanding Teaching Award and an outstanding Service Award during her work at the University of Utah. Previous to joining the University of Utah she was an Assistant Professor at San Diego State University where she received an outstanding teaching award in 2002. Dr. Rasmussen’s interests lie in improving engineering education with an emphasis in recruiting and retaining women and other underrepresented groups. As part of her efforts, she has worked recently on creating a more interactive and engaging online experiences for students during COVID restrictions. She also co-wrote a proposal to expand the Electrical and Computer Engineering degrees to the University of Utah’s Asia Campus. These programs were accepted and began Spring 2021. She has also led efforts and worked collaboratively with committees for improving the undergraduate laboratory experience. As part of those changes, renovation of the undergraduate laboratory space started in 2018 and three new labs have been completed. Ongoing work is still in progress to complete additional laboratory spaces for this multimillion dollar endeavor.

Dr. Mercedes Ward is a design thinker and facilitator who collaborates with individuals and organizations to develop impactful projects, programs, and policies to advance sustainable development. Mercedes believes in the importance of creating enabling environments to support human flourishing. She accelerated her professional evolution from ecological anthropologist to design thinker when she joined an interdisciplinary, multicultural team to establish a research center for water security in Pakistan. Over a five-year tenure with the USAID-funded U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water, she led a Pakistan-based research team to deliver policy recommendations to improve participatory irrigation management, facilitated workshops to support community-based research and policy impact, and designed and managed quality assurance mechanisms for international education and capacity strengthening programs.

Andrea K. Rorrer, PhD., is the UEPC Director and professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy in the College of Education at the University of Utah. Andrea has over 35 years of professional experience in education, including professional experiences as a researcher, policy analyst, school administrator, and classroom teacher. She has extensive experience (22 years) working with local and state leaders and decision-makers, including the promotion and use of research to inform decisions, improve educational programs, and build research and practice partnerships to increase access to information and resources. Her professional areas of expertise include: leadership; policy development, implementation, analysis, and evaluation; research utilization; strategic planning; and organizational and systems change. Her collaborative research and evaluation projects utilize both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Ellen Altermatt, PhD., is the Assistant Director for Research and Evaluation at the UEPC. Ellen holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology and an M.S. in educational psychology, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has over 20 years of experience conducting basic and applied research focused on understanding how students’ experiences in classrooms, in the home, and in out-of-school time settings impact their achievement outcomes. Much of this work has employed cross-sectional and longitudinal designs and quantitative methods (e.g., multilevel modeling) to examine how students’ outcomes and experiences differ over time (e.g., Altermatt, 2015, 2017a) and by students’ prior academic or demographic characteristics (e.g., Altermatt, 2017b; Altermatt & Painter, 2016; Altermatt & Rorrer, 2023a, 2023b).

Rachel Barnett, Ph.D., is an Evaluation and Research Associate who works with the UEPC research and evaluation team to support the development and continuous improvement of data-informed educational policies, programs, and practices. She has over eight years of experience working in postsecondary educational institutions, conducting research and supporting initiatives focused on equity, inclusion, and student success. Rachel holds a Ph.D. in higher education leadership from the University of Dayton and is a Certified Associate Project Manager (CAPM). She has written several scholarly publications on topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education (Barnett, 2020; Barnett & Witenstein, 2020; Barnett & Hunter, 2023) and is currently a reviewer for two peer-edited journals – Diaspora and Indigenous Minority Education and Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Dr. Mariko Chang, founder of Mariko Chang Consulting, Inc., is a researcher and independent consultant specializing in external evaluation of grants that seek to increase diversity and inclusion STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), with a particular focus on higher education. She specializes in National Science Foundation grants such as ADVANCE, NRT, S-STEM, BII, GOLD, ATE, and RED but has worked with other grants such as NASA MIRO. As an external evaluator, she has worked with a broad range of associations, universities, and colleges such as the University of Connecticut, University of Utah, Association for Women in Science, University of New Hampshire, Stanford University, Bristol Community College, Howard University, American Institute of Physics, Clemson University, Florida International University, and Seattle University. Dr. Chang is also a national expert on the wealth gap, especially the gender and racial dimensions of wealth inequality, and is the author of Shortchanged: Why Women Have Less Wealth and What Can Be Done About It. Other key publications on the wealth gap include: Women and Wealth: Insights for Grantmakers, The Color of Wealth in Boston, and Lifting as We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth, and America’s Future. Dr. Chang has a Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University and was an Associate Professor of Sociology at Harvard University from 1998 to 2007 where she published work on occupational sex segregation across countries, the use of social networks for gathering financial information, and began her work on the gender wealth gap. She is a founding member of The Closing the Women’s Wealth Gap Initiative and member of the Insight Center’s Experts of Color Network.

Sadie Davis, MPP is an experienced program evaluator specializing in the external evaluation of federally funded grant programs intended to enhance institutional climate and expand participation at universities, community colleges, and non-profit associations. Ms. Davis has served as the Director of Evaluation for Mariko Chang Consulting, Inc. since 2018. In that role she has contributed to external evaluations of more than 50 programs, primarily those associated with National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE (IT, Adaptation, Catalyst, and Partnership), NRT, and S-STEM at institutions such as Stanford University, Clemson University, Iowa State University, and the Association for Women in Science (AWIS), among others. Ms. Davis has been involved in efforts to promote inclusion and equity for more than 15 years and has worked with a broad range of organizations including the Office to Advance Women, Equity, and Diversity at Florida International University, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and UN Women Australia. She earned a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia and bachelors’ degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.