2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Ashleigh R. Wright, PhD is the Associate Director of the Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Grainger College of Engineering. She is responsible for collaborating with college and departmental leaders and stakeholders to identify needs and priorities, developing and implementing evidence-based strategies, and measuring progress and effectiveness quantitatively against key metrics that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and access to the undergraduate and graduate student communities. She also conducts research that analyzes trends, driving factors, barriers, and best practices to educate others and support organizational improvement.
Prior to joining the University, Ashleigh managed and directed many training and pathway programs that support students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM, and facilitated workshops that enhance the academic, personal, and professional development of students at North Carolina State University and Louisiana State University. She is a member of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She holds degrees in chemistry from Wofford College (B.S.), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (M.S.), and Louisiana State University (Ph.D.).

Dr. Holly Golecki (she/her) is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an Associate in the John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. She holds an appointment at the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine in the Department of Biomedical and Translational Sciences. She is also a core faculty member at the Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access in the College of Engineering. Holly studies biomaterials and soft robotics and their applications in the university classroom, in undergraduate research and in engaging K12 students in STEM. Holly received her BS/MS in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University and her PhD in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University.

Dr. Jacqueline Henderson is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Bradley University where she teaches courses in mechanical and biomedical engineering courses. Her research interests connect students to the medical field through research of musicians, musculoskeletal biomechanics and human resting muscle tone through engineering application. Additionally, the development of a course integrating human centered design principles and biomedical engineering has provided an opportunity for students to interact with professionals, organizations or users with cognitive or physical limitations who are looking for product designs. As a faculty, she remembers the mentorship and support as a participant in the MI-LSAMP Alliance and Bridge to Doctorate activities while a graduate student at Wayne State University. Dr. Henderson has served as the Faculty Champion in the Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence (LSMRCE). She has encouraged students that she has mentored in research along with other underrepresented students who participated in REUs or are conducting research with her colleagues to present their work at LSMRCE conferences. She is currently an NSF LSAMP Institutional Coordinator and looks to provide positive opportunities for students which will impact their educational and professional goals. Dr. Henderson also serves as the Director of the Bradley University/Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering (DAPCEP) STEM Program which offers STEM inspired and college preparation courses to local 4th-12th grade students and the Director of the Bradley University Aviation Careers Education (ACE) Academy for 9th – 12th grade students.

Rebekka Darner, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Mathematics, Science, and Technology (CeMaST) at Illinois State University (ISU). As the leader of CeMaST, her work involves immobilizing broader impacts of ISU scholars' research to extend the benefits of scholarship to the public, enabling evidence-based STEM teaching methods across the K-16 continuum and in informal learning spaces, and supporting broad representation of many perspectives within STEM disciplines. Her research focuses on fostering non-STEM majors' motivation toward informed decision-making, iteratively developing instructional methods that foster critical evaluation of evidence, and fostering STEM majors' motivation toward scientific civic action. Rebekka advises graduate students in these areas of inquiry through ISU's School of Biological Sciences, where she holds tenure. Beyond her professional career, Rebekka enjoys practicing and teaching yoga, teaching childbirth education, gardening, hiking, and traveling with her family to seemingly random locales to support her marathon-running partner.

Nafisa Ibrahim, PhD, is a Career Exploration Fellow with the Graduate College, where she supports the launch and coordination of the Southern and Central Illinois Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (SCI-LSAMP) program at the Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and
Access at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In this role, she helps students navigate their research journeys, connecting them with faculty mentors, and creating spaces for meaningful professional development. Nafisa earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in March 2025, where her dissertation focused on designing, synthesizing, and characterizing redox-active polymers with tunable electrochemical properties for use in sustainable, bio-integrated redox flow batteries. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and Graduate College Fellow, she advanced materials chemistry research to improve energy storage technologies for more efficient and adaptable power systems. She is also completing a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, focusing on science education and policy. Originally from Minnesota and a first-generation college graduate, Nafisa has a strong commitment to mentorship and community-building. She has been active in organizations like National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation University Center for Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM) community and has found purpose in helping students access the same kind of support that shaped her own path.

Brenda Anne Wilson, PhD, is currently Professor of Microbiology and Associate Director of Undergraduate Education in the School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Inaugural Professor of Biomedical and Translational Sciences in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine; Professor of Pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine; and Senior Faculty Fellow for National Labs in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) and a member of the AAM Selection Committee, and an American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Distinguished Lecturer. She earned her BA degree in Biochemistry and German from Barnard College. She was a DAAD graduate exchange Fellow in Biochemistry at Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Germany. As an AAUW doctoral fellow studying antibiotic biosynthesis, she earned her MA-PhD degrees in Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University. She then undertook her NIH postdoctoral fellowship training in Microbiology at Harvard Medical School, where she began her studies on bacterial protein toxins. Her first tenured faculty appointment was in Biochemistry at Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, Ohio. Her current research work focuses on the host-microbe interface, bacterial pathogenesis, microbiomes and their roles in health and disease. She served for 10 years on the Executive Committee of the Great Lakes Regional Center for Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases. As Co-Director of the UIUC Center for Zoonoses Research, she fosters cross-campus interactions aimed at promoting the One-Health Initiative and training DVM students in research through summer training experiences. For 20 years she has served as Biosecurity Leader of the Executive Committee of the UIUC Program in Arms Control, Domestic and International Security (ACDIS), engaging in numerous efforts and events promoting scientific literacy and bridging the gap between scientists and educators, policy makers, government officials, and the public. As Director for Undergraduate Education in the School of MCB at UIUC, she oversees the MCB undergraduate and MS graduate programs that deliver education annually to over 14,000 students, including 2,000 MCB majors, 300 Biochemistry majors, 150 Neuroscience majors, and 15 MS in MCB students. In this role, she is a strong advocate for promoting a diverse and welcoming academic community. As the Senior Faculty Fellow in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at UIUC, she fosters research collaborations in STEM disciplines including building workforce pipelines between scientists at UIUC and the National Labs.

Dr. Loralyn Cozy received her BS in Biology from Western Washington University and her PhD in Microbiology from Indiana University - Bloomington. After completing an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology at the University of Hawaii – Manoa, she joined the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University where she is now an Associate Professor of Biology. She teaches and advises undergraduates at all levels and maintains a research lab focused on the discovery of secondary metabolites from environmental bacteria and fungi. Currently she is also the PI for a Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program award at IWU.

Dr. Mahua Biswas is an Associate Professor of Physics at Illinois State University. She earned her Ph.D. in Physics from Dublin City University, Ireland, and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey, USA and Argonne National Laboratory, IL, USA. Dr. Biswas’s research focuses on nanopatterning inorganic materials for microelectronic and optoelectronic applications. Her work emphasizes spectroscopic characterization techniques to gain mechanistic insights into material growth and properties. She has been the recipient of multiple grants from the National Science Foundation, including the LSAMP award. A strong advocate for STEM education, Dr. Biswas is deeply committed to mentoring and inspiring students in scientific research and academic pursuits.

Alejandro Lleras is the Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. He is a standing member of the US National Committee for Psychological Science, and a US delegate to the International Union for Psychological Science. He is a founder and governing board member of the Spark Society, a non-profit to increase the participation and visibility of historically-excluded minorities in the cognitive sciences. He received an Early Career Award from the National Science Foundation and a Mid-Career Award from the Psychonomic Society. He is a Fellow in the Association for Psychological Science and in the Psychonomic Society. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from the Pennsylvania State University and was an NSF-funded minority postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia.

Terrance Bishop MS is the Director of Success in Engineering Through Excellence and Diversity (SEED) at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He also serves as a Diversity Faculty Fellow, assisting ADEI with Math Supplemental instruction courses. As SEED director he coordinates the efforts of the Minority Engineering Program, as well as the Engineering Success Center. His efforts focus on enhancing belonging and success rates of all STEM students at SIU. Terrance has Bachelors degrees in biomedical engineering and chemical engineering, and a Master's degree in Bioengineering. He recharges by enjoying the nature in Southern Illinois with his dog Bronte, playing video games, reading and cuddling with his cats Cappuccino and Huxley

Catherine (Kate) Lipovsky, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Bradley University. Kate received her BS in Biology from Bradley University and her PhD in Developmental, Regenerative, and Stem Cell Biology from Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). During her time as a graduate student, Kate served two years as a Teaching Assistant for undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups interested in scientific careers in the NIGMS-funded Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (U-STAR) Program at WUSTL. After earning her PhD, Kate received an NIH K12 Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) and worked as an IRACDA Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, San Diego. The IRACDA program combines research-driven postdoctoral research training with mentored teaching experiences, preparing scholars for academic careers while also promoting diversity in the biomedical sciences through partnerships with institutions serving underrepresented students. In her current role, Kate leads an undergraduate-driven research program that uses zebrafish as a model organism to identify potential teratogens and investigate their effects on cardiac development and function, with the broader goal of advancing our understanding of how chemical exposures impact early developmental stages.