Donna Castañeda is a professor in psychology at San Diego State University-Imperial Valley. Her training is in social and health psychology and her research publications focus on the interconnections between gender, ethnicity, close relationships, women’s sexuality and mental and physical health. More specifically, she has investigated the impact of close relationship factors, such as intimacy and commitment in HIV sexual risk behavior, particularly among Latinas/os; the HIV/AIDS prevention needs of women factory workers in Mexico and among rural Mexican American women in the U.S.; the close relationship context and how it affects intimate partner violence among young adults and adolescents; the relationship between mental health and marital satisfaction; women’s friendships, and LBGT+ health and mental health in rural communities. She received her B.A. in psychology from the University of Washington and her M.A. and Ph.D. in social psychology from University of California, Davis.

 

John Crockett is the Senior Director of Research Advancement at San Diego State University. He identifies ways in which SDSU can help fulfill priority missions on the state and national scale. Dr. Crockett maintains two research programs, one focused on the commercialization of energy technologies, and the other focused on faculty diversity in STEM and Geosciences. Dr. Crockett maintains an active role in education, research and is co-author on over 20 professional publications, including recent book chapters on facilitating innovation within the university environment, understanding the challenges involved in assessing the commercialization potential of new technologies, and the roles of research development professionals in cross-disciplinary team science. Dr. Crockett received a Bachelor of Arts in Earth and Environmental Science from Wesleyan University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Marine Geology from the University of Washington.

 

Andrés Hernández is the Director for Inclusive Research and Academic Opportunities in the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. He works campus wide to develop, lead, and facilitate inclusive success through grant proposal development and community and student engagement. Dr. Hernández represents UC Merced on the inaugural President’s Chicano/Latino Advisory Council for the University of California, the inaugural UC Hispanic Serving Institution Advisory Board, and the Advisory Committee for the UC Chicanx/Latinx Leadership Summit. He is a UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy Center for Studies in Higher Education – Executive Leadership Academy Fellow, United States Department of Agriculture Hispanic Serving Institutions National Program – E. Kika De La Garza Fellow, and a Karolinska Institutet Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Hernández earned his B.S. and M.A. in Exercise Science from Fresno State University, and his Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from Auburn University. He has been at UC Merced since 2014.

 

 

Rebecca Lewison is a professor of Biology and serves as the Chair for Research and Scholarly Excellence for the Division of Diversity and Innovation. Her research focuses on innovating applied conservation science as it relates to resource and land use, working to develop actionable science in partnership with practitioners and policy makers. Dr. Lewison has also been working to support diversity, inclusion and excellence in the academy.

 

Anne-Marie Nuñez (she/her/ella) is a professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs Program in the Department of Educational Studies at The Ohio State University. Her award-winning research examines how to advance equitable postsecondary educational opportunities for historically underserved groups in higher education. Her scholarship has focused on: (1) postsecondary trajectories of Latinx, first-generation, migrant, and English Learner students; (2) institutional diversity in the U.S., including the role of HSIs in promoting college opportunities; and (3) building inclusive and equitable environments in STEM disciplines and HSIs. Her articles have appeared in Educational Researcher, American Educational Research Journal, Harvard Educational Review, and Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, among many other outlets. She co-edited Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Advancing Research and Transformative Practice (2015), an International Latino Book Award winner that is the first book to focus on HSIs as organizations and their role in the American higher education system. She served as a co-author of the 2018 National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report Minority Serving Institutions: America's Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce. Her current research is funded by over $10 million in grants from the National Science Foundation to strengthen STEM capacity in HSIs.

 

 

Kim Patten is Director of Research Development Services at the University of Arizona and has experience submitting to (and receiving awards from) most federal sponsors and many prestigious foundations. She brings more than 10 years of experience managing projects and programs in conservation, renewable energy, and distributed data systems both nationally and internationally. Prior to joining the UA, she was Associate Director at the Arizona Geological Survey and project manager of a $22m U.S. Department of Energy funded project.

Barbara Endemaño Walker is the Director of Research Development in the Office of Research, and the Special Assistant to the Executive Vice Chancellor (Provost) for Diversity Initiatives at University of California, Santa Barbara. She is responsible for catalyzing research innovation and excellence through strategic planning, as well as professional development and mentoring activities with faculty members. She also leads a portfolio of diversity and inclusion initiatives. She serves as the Lead PI on a UC-CSU collaborative NSF ADVANCE award “Center for Research, Excellence, and Diversity in Team Science (CREDITS)” and UCSB’s Department of Education Title V Hispanic Serving Institution grant “Opening New Doors to Accelerating Success (ONDAS).” She has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Geography from UC Berkeley and a B.A. in Anthropology and African Studies from UCLA. Her research and publications focus on the political ecology of marine resources, gender and the environment, and broadening participation in higher education and STEM. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, NOAA Sea Grant, the Social Science Research Council, and the Department of Education, among others. She was a founding board member of the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP), and she is co-author of the book Funding Your Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences: A Practical Guide to Grant and Fellowship Proposals (Routledge 2017).