Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM by spelmancoemws

A Vision for the Future

Ranked as the number one HBCU in the country for the 15th year in a row, number one baccalaureate institution for Black women who go on to receive PhDs in STEM, and the highest percentage of tenured faculty who are Black women, Spelman College has a long history of recognizing and nurturing the brilliance of women of color in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Spelman’s accomplishments, considered against the current national backdrop, illustrates the critical role this unique institution plays in preparing STEM professionals and leaders that are representative of the diversity of our nation. This track record led the Department of Defense (DoD) to provide seed funding for the development of the Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM.

The mission of the Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM (Center) is to be an exemplar for the nation as we equip, empower, and elevate women of color from historically underrepresented groups in STEM to thrive and lead.

We equip by providing opportunities for our students to gain the skills and expertise needed to pursue STEM careers. We empower by facilitating leadership development programs focused on the unique challenges faced by women of color from historically underrepresented groups in STEM, with a focus on Black women. We elevate by valuing and uplifting the voices, research, and intersectional experiences of women of color from historically underrepresented groups in STEM.

The overall vision for the COE-MWS is to become the leading global hub for the development and dissemination of research, data, and curriculum focused on the recruitment, retention, experiences, and advancement of Black women in STEM.

The initiatives that have been implemented support the following goals:

Strengthen faculty and student research opportunities and engagement in emerging STEM fields, through collaboration with higher education, industry, and government partners

Fund scholarships for students who show interest in pursuing graduate degrees in STEM as well as potential for long-term success in STEM research careers

Host conversations showcasing cutting edge, interdisciplinary research being conducted by prominent women of color in STEM disciplines.

Goal 1:

Expand financial and academic support to Spelman College students aspiring to doctoral degrees in emerging STEM fields.

Through extensive analysis of our student body, we have determined that the number one barrier to degree completion for our students is financial, making access to scholarships and paid research opportunities critical. In addition, within the gates of Spelman College students feel respected, nurtured, and valued, a rare combination for Black women — but that experience often ends when students transition to graduate school. By creating a bridge of support between Spelman and graduate school, we will not only maintain our position as the number one baccalaureate institution for Black women who receive doctoral degrees in STEM fields, but double the number of students continuing on to graduate school each year.

We seek a $13M endowment to support Spelman STEM students through academic scholarships and graduate school transitional support.

Goal 2:

Become the leading global hub for the development and dissemination of research, data, and curriculum focused on the recruitment, retention, experiences, and advancement of Black women in STEM.

The Future is Intersectional: Black Women Interrogating Technology (TFI) was launched in March 2021 by the Center. This groundbreaking initiative elevates the research by Black women to raise awareness about issues at the intersection of racial justice, algorithms, and emerging technologies, and to highlight Black women as innovative leaders. There is a lack of a central hub of research and data from Black women scholars and/or about Black women in STEM. The Center endeavors to serve as the global hub focused on the development, collection, analysis, and dissemination of data and research that tell the story of the success of Black women in STEM.

We seek a $10M endowment to expand this groundbreaking work to include policy briefs, white papers, data dashboard, curriculum and programming for K-12 and higher education, and an annual summit.

Goal 3:

Create a self-sustaining, rebranded Center that has financial resources to meet its annual core operational costs.

A critical component of the success of the Center is the development of a strong, self-sustaining financial foundation. Having access to financial resources for the core operational costs of the Center allow us to grow our capacity and scale our work. In addition, it is important that the individual leading the Center is not responsible for raising annual funds for her salary.

We seek an $8M endowment to cover the Center’s annual operational costs, including the directorship.

Internal Steering Committee

The Internal Steering Committee (ISC) includes one representative from each of the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics departments and programs. They are charged with championing the initiatives of the COE-MWS with their colleagues and students, as well as providing feedback regarding future plans.

Tasha Inniss, Ph.D. Associate Provost for Research Principal Investigator Viveka Brown Associate Professor Valeisha Ellis Assistant Professor Leyte Winfield Division Chair for Natural Science and Mathematics, Professor, Chair of COE-MWS Internal Steering Committee Tinaz Pavri Division Chair for Social Sciences and Education, Chair of Asian Studies Program, Professor, Political Science Celeste Lee Assistant Professor Shanina Sanders Johnson Associate Professor Sandra Patterson Associate Professor Psychology Na'Taki Osborne Jelks Assistant Professor Elethia Tillman Vice Chair, Senior Lecturer

Year 1 2019-2020

COE-MWS Collaboratory Suite: The PI (Inniss) wrote a proposal seeking funding from the College’s Title III grant to fund renovations for the Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM Collaboratory Suite as well as a percentage (50%) of the salary and fringe for the Director of the COEMWS. After the proposal was funded, the PI immediately began working with Facilities Space Management Services and the Spelman Technology Services to design the Collaboratory Suite and determine the equipment needed. Modifications were made after input from the DoD and President Mary Schmidt Campbell during the mini kick-off in December 2019. See the design of the layout of the COE-MWS Collaboratory Suite on the next page.

Renovations included the building of a glass wall partition (see below). Title III funds were also used to purchase student workstations, glass markerboards, power tower, and a 75’Cleartouch HD touch panel with embedded PC. Renovations were delayed because of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, but are almost complete (see pictures included). Equipment will be installed the first two weeks of September 2020. The final item will be signage for the front door (bold lettering with logos for Spelman and DoD, which has been approved by DoD).

Once funding was received in July 2019, the PI wrote the job description for the position of the Director of the Center of Excellence, which was reviewed/rated by Spelman’s Office of Human Resources. Since Title III funding did not begin until October 1, 2019, the open position was not posted until October 2019.

The search process commenced in October 2019. The top candidate was offered the position in January 2020, but declined due to the salary amount. After the job description was modified to include a requirement of a doctoral degree, the position was reposted at the end of January 2020. After interviews were conducted in May 2020, the top candidate, Dr. Tamara Pearson, was offered and accepted the position. Dr. Pearson is a Spelman Alumna and received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics (minor in computer science). She brings a wealth of experience working with many different constituents and effectively raising funds to support a center and branding it as a world-class entity. She began on August 3, 2020 and was highlighted on Spelman’s webpage.

Department of Defense (DoD) Academic Scholars

Eligible students were incoming first-year students who had an overall high school GPA of 3 5 or higher and declared a STEM major. To be eligible for the DoD Academic Scholarship, students must have placed in Calculus 1 (or Applied Calculus 1) or above This criteria was decided in consultation with the Senior Leadership Team of Spelman College All students who satisfied all three of the eligibility criteria were invited to apply for the scholarship

For each of the scholars, up to $10,000 was posted to their account to pay off any remaining balance or displace loan amounts (for loans in their names) Since some of the selected scholars did not have a balance of $10,000 or more, the remaining funds are being posted to their accounts in the 2020-2021 academic year in addition to their $10,000 annual scholarship This was approved by DoD To remain in good standing with the program, scholars must maintain an overall GPA of 3 2 (checked at the end of the Spring semester) Only one student did not have a 3 2 GPA after the 2019-2020 academic year This student received a notification of being on probation for one semester after she had one-on-one meetings with the PI and the Director With additional funding from DoD, seven (7) additional academic scholars have been selected by the COE-MWS Internal Steering Committee

1st Row: Maya G Blasingame

2nd Row: Alondra C Stafford, AnaSimone Guillaume, Jayna C Bryant, Demi N Browder

3rd Row: Brianna N Latham, Starr L Holmes, Cheyenne U Heyward, Olivia Duever

4th Row: Jiya Z Fowler, Kersten J Pierre, Jayla R Driver, Olivia B Bruce

Taylor Beverly,

Not pictured: Kiera Daughtery, Adia Haynes, Meagan Hodge, Alexis Parker, Lauren Waller, and Ciera Williams

Department of Defense (DoD) Research Scholars

Seven NSM Faculty Members participated in the DoD National Laboratory Visitation in February 2020, where they learned about the DoD research priorities and current projects at the Army Research Lab. The faculty who participated are: Dr. Mentewab Ayalew, Dr. Davita Camp, Dr. Mary Van Vleet, Dr. Nirajan Dhakal, Dr. Raquel Hill, Dr. Marta Dark McNeese, and Dr. Bhikari Tharu. These faculty were eligible to receive support to mentor Spelman undergraduate students Summer 2020 on research projects. Dr. Davita Camp, Dr. Nirajan Dhakal, Dr. Raquel Hill, and Dr. Marta Dark submitted descriptions of the research projects and names of the students with whom they would work. Two of these students were accepted as the first group of DoD Research Scholars. Raven Rousseu was selected to work with Dr. Nirajan Dhakal and Maya Tyson was selected to work with Dr. Marta Dark. They were expected to meet at least weekly with their faculty mentors, develop a research plan in collaboration with their mentors, participate in the ORICeLearn Professional Development Series, and create and submit final product/project at the end of the six weeks to the Virtual Research Showcase platform. The summer research experience was held from Monday, June 8, 2020 until Friday, July 17, 2020. These students did final oral presentations on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. The Internal Steering Committee in collaboration with the Director of the COE-MWS have developed the guidelines for the academic year DoD Research Scholars and refined the guidelines for the summer scholars.

Launching weekly community learning sessions for the DoD Academic Scholars

Organizing and implementing the COEMWS Official Launch in October 2020

Selecting and launching the Leadership Advisory Board

Developing and launching the Women in STEM Speaker series

Identifying and selecting 13 additional DoD Academic Scholars

Selecting eight (8) students as DoD Research Scholars

Launching the COE-MWS website

Accomplishments

Acquiring additional funding to support the long-term sustainability of the COE-MWS

Working collaboratively with the DoD COEMWS Cooperative Agreement Managers Invited PI to attend the Year 1 Annual Review of the Hampton University COE (November 2019)

Participated in the Mini Kick-Off of the COE-MWS (December 2019)

Organized Visit of Spelman Faculty to ARL’s Adelphi Laboratory Center (February 2020)

Invited DoD S&Es with related research areas to participate in DoD Lab Visitation

Facilitated Research Collaborations with Spelman STEM Faculty

Recommends DoD S&Es and established scholars to Serve on COE-MWS Leadership

Advisory Board (LAB), as a Speaker for the Women in STEM Speaker Series, and as a DoD Scholar-in-Residence (ongoing)

Year 2 2020-2021

Program Modifications Due to Covid-19

Due to Spelman’s on-going safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, several programs of the COE-MWS were impacted. Below is a description of program modifications made by the COE-MWS leadership during year 2.

DoD Academic Scholars. During what was a very challenging academic year for our scholars, it was critical that we continue to support them. To do that, instead of meeting in person, we met virtually with the academic scholars weekly to share strategies for success in a remote learning environment as well as expose them to Black women who are STEM leaders.

DoD Research Scholars. In addition to suspending all on-campus faculty-mentored research collaboration, Spelman also significantly shortened the academic calendar during the 202021 academic year. These two modifications drastically reduced the research activity of faculty, as well as their ability to advise students or host them in their labs. To adapt to this change, we only required academic year research scholars to complete four (4) weeks of collaborative research in the fall semester and six (6) weeks in the spring semester. In addition, to allow for virtual research mentorship, we temporarily approved research scholar applications that focused on the development of literature reviews. Even though we were not able to fund as many research scholars as we would have liked, we believe that these changes are what allowed us to fund four (4) scholars during the academic year, and four (4) scholars during the summer.

Faculty Supplemental Travel Awards. Because of the College’s suspension of domestic and international travel during year 2, we were unable to make travel awards during year 2. We did offer to cover registration fees beginning in November 2020, however, no faculty submitted applications. We believe that faculty burnout related to the many additional responsibilities they were juggling contributed to the lack of applications. Spelman has resumed in-person domestic travel, with restrictions, therefore we are hopeful that more faculty will request funds in year 3. In the future, we might investigate a budget modification to re-allocate unused faculty travel funds.

Evaluation Summary

Pre- and post-survey data collected from scholars show that participation in the program has begun to make strong impacts, especially in the areas of knowledge and interest for STEM advanced degrees and careers and STEM identity.

COE-MWS Scholars maintained or increased their knowledge on how to go about pursuing an advanced STEM degree.

95%

Scholars indicated that they liked their major and probably wouldn’t change it.

80%

Scholars indicated that they had found their true calling as they reflected on their current major.

45%

60%

Scholars sustained or increased their STEM identity when analyzed across four validated survey items that served as proxies for measuring STEM identity.

90%

Scholars indicated that participation had deepened their interest in actually pursuing an advanced STEM degree, with 100% indicating that participation had deepened their interest in actually pursuing a STEM career.

Focus group data showed that our scholars truly value the ability to meet with and learn from mentors, such as the Director (Pearson), Spelman alumnae, and other Black women in STEM.

To enhance this component of the program, we are incorporating more opportunities to engage with outstanding Black women in STEM through inviting guest speakers to our community learning sessions, matching each scholar with a Spelman alumnae mentor, and offering more small group conversations with invitees for the Women in STEM Speaker series. As our scholars transition into their 3rd year at Spelman, it is critical that they have the opportunity to learn from others that have been successful.

Speakers within the series identified as women of color working in STEM disciplines, surpassing the team’s stated goal of recruiting at least 90%.

100%

Topics covered within the Speaker series aligned to DoD research priorities and/or emerging topics, surpassing the team’s goal of at least 80%.

DoD Academic Scholars Program

In May 2020, funding was approved for an additional seven (7) scholars to join the cohort in fall 2020. To fill these slots, a list of rising second-year students who met all of the original program qualifications and earned a GPA of 3.2 or higher as first-year students were invited to apply. Applications were collected during July and August 2020, and a total of fourteen (14) applications were received. The applications were reviewed and ranked by the Internal Steering Committee (ISC) and final selections were made on August 27, 2020.

In December 2020, a budget modification was approved to allow for unused scholarship funds to be allotted for the addition of five (5) new academic scholars to join the cohort in fall 2021. To fill these slots, a list of rising third-year students who met all of the program qualifications and earned a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher were invited to apply. Applications were collected in February and March 2021, and a total of twenty (20) applications were received. The applications were reviewed by the Internal Steering Committee (ISC) and final selections were made on April 6, 2021.

Seven (7) scholars added in Fall 2020

Two (2) scholars replaced in Spring 2021

Five (5) scholars added in Fall 2021

MAJOR/PROGRAM NUMBER OF SCHOLARS Biology 3 Chemistry/Biochemistry 8 Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) 8 Environmental Sciences 1 Health Sciences 2 Mathematics 2 Physics 2 Dual Degree Engineering Program (DDEP) 9

DoD Academic Scholars Program

The scholars continue to show excellent academic progress. As can be seen in the table below, our scholars have maintained cumulative GPAs well within the required range to maintain their scholarships. In addition, nine (9) of our scholars hold a cumulative GPA of 3.75 to 4.0.

CUMULATIVE GPA NUMBER OF SCHOLARS 4.0 1 3.75 – 3.99 8 3.50 – 3.74 11 3.25 – 3.49 5 Below 3.25 0 MAJOR/PROGRAM NUMBER OF SCHOLARS Biology 3 Chemistry/Biochemistry 8 Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) 8 Environmental Sciences 1 Health Sciences 2 Mathematics 2 Physics 2 Dual Degree Engineering Program (DDEP) 9

DoD Academic Scholars Program

During year 2, we met with the scholars on a weekly basis for the purpose of building community, as well as providing guidance on the many opportunities available to them. As you can see in the table below, the Fall 2020 semester focused on community building as students acclimated themselves to virtual learning. During the Spring 2021 semester, we focused on academic and career preparation.

COE Women in STEM Speaker Series – Up Close and Personal

DoD HBCU/MI Summer Internship Program Info Session

COE Women in STEM Speaker Series – Up Close and Personal

Selecting the Right Summer Research/Internship Opportunities for You

COE Women in STEM Speaker Series – Up Close and Personal

Why I Chose to Go to Graduate School –Spelman College Alumnae Panel

Maintaining Your Identity as a Black Woman in STEM

STEM Major Tracking Session – Want to Be a Junior?

“You Made it Through Midterms” Celebration

How to Network and Build Professional Relationships

The Value of a PhD in STEM with Leadership Advisory Board Members

Date Topic

2020 9/21/20

9/28/20 Midterm

Success 10/5/20 Ready Set Go… 10/12/20 Free

10/26/20

FALL

What's the 411

Examination Prep

Your Mind Wellness Session

11/2/20

11/9/20

Introduction to iBioSketch

11/10/20

2021 2/8/2021

SPRING

2/15/2021

3/8/2021

3/1/2021

3/15/2021

3/22/2021

3/29/2021

4/12/2021

4/19/2021 Spring

4/26/2021

of Year Celebration

Focus Groups

End

DoD Academic Scholars Program

Summer 2021 Internship/Research Experiences: Below are the list of where scholars spent Summer 2020:

Name Internship Location

Adia Haynes

Alexis Parker

Alondra Stafford

AnaSimone Guillaume

Lockheed Martin Software Engineer/C2BMC program

U.S. Department of Energy Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship

Columbia University and Amazon Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program

U. S. Department of Defense HBCU/MI Summer Internship ProgramHarvard Medical School Systems Biology Summer Internship

Ayanna Woodfolk Spelman College MathRaMP

Brianna Latham Facebook Internship

Cheyenne Heyward

U.S. Department of Defense HBCU/MI Summer Internship Program

Ciera Williams MITRE Internship - Cybersecurity

Demi Browder Mentorship in high school summer program

Jayna Bryant

Jiya Fowler

U.S. Department of Defense HBCU/MI Summer Internship Program

Rosetta Commons REU – Kuhlman Lab – UNC Chapel Hill

Kersten Pierre Baylor College of Medicine SMART program

Kiera Daughtry Seaspire Skincare Internship

Laila Hayes MIT Summer Research Program

Lauren Waller NVIDIA Summer Immersion Program

Maya Blasingame

Olivia Bruce

UCLA Bruins-In-Genomics Summer ProgramSpelman College Microbiology Summer Research

University of Notre Dame Research Experience for Undergraduates

Olivia Duever Spelman College WiSTEM Advisor/Mentor

Starr Holmes

Taylor Beverly

United Health Group Summer Internship – Data Science

Estee Lauder Companies Research and Development Internship

DoD Research Scholars Program

The DoD Research Scholars program is open to all students in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and seeks to provide introductory research experiences for our Spelman College students.

ACADEMIC YEAR RESEARCH SCHOLARS:

Applications for DoD Academic Year Research Scholars were launched on September 29, 2020 and closed on October 19, 2020. We received six (6) applications through the application system and selected the four (4) projects listed below.

All academic year research scholars are required to commit to conducting research for 12 hours per week, as well as present the results of their research at Spelman’s Annual Research Day at the end of the spring semester.

Project Title

Flood Risk and Artificial Intelligence: A Case Study in the Metropolitan Region of Atlanta, GA

Tropospheric Ozone Column Trends Over India from 20042020

The Evolutionary History of Amoeba-associated Bacteria PUBLICATIONTekle, Y.I., Lyttle, J.M., Blasingame, M.G. et al. Comprehensive comparative genomics reveals over 50 phyla of free-living and pathogenic bacteria are associated with diverse members of the amoebozoa. Sci Rep 11, 8043 (2021).

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598021-87192-0

Projection on traffic volume through the use of machine learning and the estimation of impacts of traffic volume on air quality in Atlanta during COVID19 PUBLICATION:Accepted for publication in Aerosol and Air Quality Research

Student Name

Faculty Mentor

Raven Rousseau Dr. Nirajan Dhakal Shakirah Rogers Dr. Guanyu Huang Maya Blasingame Dr. Yonas Tekle Reyla Ponder Dr. Guanyu Huang

DoD Research Scholars Program

The DoD Research Scholars program is open to all students in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and seeks to provide introductory research experiences for our Spelman College students.

ACADEMIC YEAR RESEARCH SCHOLARS:

Project Title

Flood Risk and Artificial Intelligence: A Case Study in the Metropolitan Region of Atlanta, GA

Tropospheric Ozone Column Trends Over India from 20042020

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598021-87192-0

Student Name

Faculty Mentor

Raven Rousseau Dr. Nirajan Dhakal Shakirah Rogers Dr. Guanyu Huang Maya Blasingame Dr. Yonas Tekle Reyla Ponder Dr. Guanyu Huang

DoD Research Scholars Program

SUMMER RESEARCH SCHOLARS:

Applications for DoD Summer Research Scholars were launched on Monday, March 1, 2021 and closed on March 26, 2021. We received one (1) application through the application system. In addition, the Director (Pearson) partnered with the chair of the Environmental and Health Sciences Program to fund three (3) additional research scholars that will focus on biotechnology. Summer research scholars are required to create a presentation or paper showcasing the results of their work.

Alternative Energy Sources and Their Effectiveness for Defensive Use

Dr. Rosalind Gregory Bass

Project Title Student Name Faculty Mentor

Raven

the Impact of Biotechnology on Healthcare Nya BrownChelsea WeaverJasmine Freeman

Rousseau Dr Nirajan Dhakal Examining

Women in STEM Speaker Series

The Women in STEM Speaker Series brings Black women who are prominent in their field to engage with the Spelman community. Each invited guest gives a public lecture and is also asked to participate in small group conversations with our students and faculty to share the story of their personal journey to success.

During this unprecedented time of a global pandemic, Spelman College and many others around the nation have been greatly interested in the on-going developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our desire to stay at the forefront of education and research led us to create opportunities that allowed our students, faculty and the larger community to engage in conversations with Black women in STEM that are at the forefront of vaccine development and deployment.

Rapid SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccine Development

Enabled by Pandemic Preparedness

Kizzmekia S. Corbett, Ph.D.

• Scientific Lead

10/29/2020

• In partnership with the Environmental and Health Sciences Program

Zoom: 247 attendees

Youtube: 2,367 views

• Coronavirus Vaccines and Immunopathogenesis Team

• National Institutes of Health

• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Vaccine Research Center

11/10/2020

Spelman on the Front Line

• In partnership with the RISE program

Zoom: 159 attendees

Youtube: 317 views

Jessica Coates, C’13

• Insight Health Data Science Fellow

• Emory University

Dawn Griffin, Ph.D., C’90

• Program Manager

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Janina Jeff, Ph.D., C’07

• Senior Bioinformatics Scientist, Illumina

• Host, In Those Genes Podcast

Shelby Wilson, Ph.D., C’06

• Senior Data Scientist, Johns Hopkins University

• Applied Physics Laboratory

2/15/2021

Now What? The Complexity of COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

Lola Williams

• Product Manager

• Warfighter Protection and Acute Care (WPAC)

• U.S. Army Medical Material Development Activity (USAMMDA)

Date Title Speaker(s)

COE-Affiliated Faculty Research Enhancement Program

FACULTY FELLOWS: Applications for the summer 2021 DoD Faculty Fellows were launched on Monday, March 1, 2021 and closed on March 26, 2021. We received two (2) applications; however, both applications were transferred to the Spelman AI/ML program due to a higher summer stipend. We believe the stress and travel restrictions related to the continuing COVID19 pandemic impacted faculty interest in summer professional development, resulting in such a small applicant pool. We are hopeful that there will be an increase in applications for summer 2022. To make our Faculty Fellows Program more competitive, it would be beneficial if we could do a budget modification to make the summer faculty stipends more competitive and in line with similar opportunities.

In an effort to encourage more faculty to apply for the Faculty Fellows program, the COE-MWS hosted an information session for faculty to learn about the research interests of the Army Research Laboratory (ARL). On Thursday, February 25, 2021, eleven (11) faculty in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics participated in the ARL Information Session. Led by Dr. Jaret Riddick, ARL Director of Strategic Initiatives, faculty were able to learn more about the priorities of the ARL, as well as ask questions about how their current research may connect to those priorities. We plan to work with the CAMs to schedule another session for Spelman students and faculty.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND SKILLS WORKSHOPS: The COE-MWS hosted two (2) emerging technologies and skill workshops this summer (2021) for faculty. The workshops are intended to be an intensive primer on emerging technologies or on a specific skill useful to the research agenda of the participants and aligned with a competency for the Army Essential Research Programs and/or DoD modernization priorities.

Workshops

Topic: Introduction to Data Visualization with Tableau

The workshop was engaging. The information in the workshop contributed to new knowledge and ideas.

100%

Scope of information presented was appropriate and beneficial.

94.1%

Topic: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS:

The workshop was engaging.

75%

100%

Scope of information presented was appropriate and beneficial.

The information in the workshop contributed to new knowledge and ideas.

87.5%

COE-Affiliated Faculty Research Enhancement Program

NEW FACULTY FUNDING OPPORTUNTIES: COE-MWS is committed to supporting faculty as they seek to expand their research in areas of alignment with the Department of Defense. To that end, in December 2020, we received approval to re-allocate funds for the implementation of two new faculty development initiatives: Publication and Proposal Fund and Interdisciplinary Seed Grants. These two opportunities were posted on the COE-MWS website and sent, via email, to all faculty in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

Faculty Member

Funding Request

This proposal seeks funding to support a writing workshop and editing services for Dr. Nias to support the development of a competitive proposal to the National Science Foundation’s HBCU-UP Program. In particular, funds will be used to allow Dr. Nias to hire an editor for her grant proposal as well as participate in a grant writing workshop.

This proposal seeks funding to support a course release and editing services for Dr. Sanders Johnson to allow her the time and support needed for the development of a competitive proposal to the National Science Foundation’s Facilitating Research at Undergraduate Institutions & Chemical Synthesis Program. In particular, the course release will allow for the necessary time to research and plan the mechanistic studies needed for a competitive proposal.

Interdisciplinary Seed Grants: Interdisciplinary Seed Grants are intended to fund pilot research that will generate preliminary data to leverage external research grant opportunities and contribute to a sustainable program of research or scholarship. Proposals are sought for projects from interdisciplinary teams that show promise for the development of new ideas and approaches, as well as potential for future sustained funding from outside sources. All faculty at Spelman College are eligible to apply, however one member of the research team must be faculty in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM). The deadline for applications is August 2, 2021.

Jaye NiasCIS Shanina Sanders JohnsonChemistry

COE Scholars in Residence Program

FALCONER SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE: The COE Falconer Scholar in Residence position for the 2021-22 academic year was posted in April 2021, and we received two (2) applications. Unfortunately, after deliberation with the Chair of the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (Winfield), The Director (Pearson), PI (Inniss) and CAMs (Hall and Nichols) decided that neither candidate met the criteria for the position. The Director then met with Dr. Kristala Jones-Prather, one of the members of the COE-MWS Leadership Advisory Board (LAB), to gain her feedback on the position description, as well as a timeline and strategies for recruitment. Based on her feedback, it was decided that stipulations within the job posting hindering the candidate from maintaining consulting positions would be removed. In addition, upon further conversations with the department chairs in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, it was decided that the position would include a requirement to teach a seminar or research course. Applications for this position will open in September 2021 to allow for a more competitive pool of applicants. With the permission of the DoD, we would also like to explore the possibility of hosting two (2) Falconer Scholars in Residence during the 2022-23 academic year.

DoD SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE: The CAMs, PI (Inniss) and Director (Pearson) have met several times regarding recruitment for the DoD Scholar in Residence. Because of the requirement that the person holding this position be a female, there have been challenges finding someone. We continue to partner and brainstorm on how to fill this position for the 2021-22 academic year. The funding from the DoD that is required for individuals to participate in this opportunity has become a bigger issue than originally anticipated.

Leadership Advisory Board (LAB)

In fall 2020, Pearson (Director) and Inniss (PI) collaborated with Dr. Mary Schmidt Campbell, President of Spelman College, on the identification of individuals for the COE-MWS Leadership Advisory Board (LAB). Each member of the Leadership Advisory Board was selected to assist the COE-MWS with the following:

• Identifying corporate, academic and technology partners active in relevant research fields (e.g. artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum science, bioinformatics, nanotechnology);

• Facilitating research collaborations and partnerships for faculty;

• Identifying and creating research opportunities for students;

• Connecting the COE-MWS to your network of national and international stakeholders as you are able; and

• Partnering with the COE-MWS Leadership team and/or other Leadership Advisory Board members on identifying resources (financial or human) to augment the Center.

The LAB is a stellar group of external advisors. The LAB met twice over the course of the year (October 2020 and April 2021). During these meetings, members were given brief updates on the current programs within the COE-MWS. Most of the meeting time was spent brainstorming the LAB members regarding the long-term direction of the COE-MWS, as well as developing opportunities for collaboration.

LAB ENGAGEMENT:

The Value of a PhD in STEM Webinar. On Monday, April 12, 2021, four (4) of our LAB members (Janina Jeff, Kayla Lee, Kristala Jones-Prather, and Cynthia Taylor Small) participated in an evening discussion with the DoD Academic Scholars focused on the stories of Black women with PhDs in STEM. Through conversation with these amazing women, our scholars were able to gain insight into how a PhD has helped them be successful in their careers.

MITRE Partnership: In December 2020, MITRE published a press release about the on-going development of a partnership between Spelman College and MITRE. The release included an interview with LAB member, Dr. Cynthia Taylor Small. Dr. Small and the Director (Pearson) have met several times during this academic year and are working together to develop opportunities for Spelman faculty and students to engage in research opportunities at MITRE. One DoD Academic Scholar, Ciera Williams, participated in the MITRE summer internship program in summer 2020 and has been invited to return in summer 2021.

Leadership Advisory Board (LAB)

Name Title

Bruce Birren, Ph.D.

Organization/Company

Director of the Genomic Center for Infectious Diseases Broad Institute

Global Lead for Diversity Strategy and Research Google

Kamau Bobb, Ph.D.

Founding Senior Director, Constellations Center for Equity and Computing

Georgia Institute of Technology

Sylvia Bozeman, Ph.D. Professor Emerita, Mathematics Spelman College

Janina Jeff, Ph.D. Staff Bioinformatics Scientist Illumina

Evelyn Kent Director, HBCU/MI Program and Outreach

Department of Defense

Vice President and Chief AI Scientist Facebook

Yann LeCun, Ph.D.

Silver Professor, Courant Institute of Math, Sciences & Center for Data Science, New York University

Kayla Lee, Ph.D.

Kristala Jones Prather, Ph.D.

Cynthia Taylor Small, Ph.D.

Major General Cedric Wins

Product Manager, Community Partnerships IBM Quantum

Arthur D. Little Professor and Executive Officer, Chemical Engineering

Department Head, Data Analytics

Superintendent, Virginia Military Institute (VMI); Retired Major General, U.S. Army

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The MITRE Corporation

Retired, U.S. Army

Leyte Winfield, PhD(ex officio)

Stacey Dixon, Ph.D. (pending)

Chair, Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Associate Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence

Spelman College

Office of the Director of National Intelligence

COE-MWS Engagements and Sustainments

THE FUTURE IS INTERSECTIONAL: BLACK WOMEN INTERROGATING TECHNOLOGY:

In March 2021, the COE-MWS, in collaboration with the Atlanta University Center Data Science Initiative, UCLA’s Center for Critical Internet Inquiry and the Mozilla Foundation, launched a series of discussions highlighting the unique intersectional lens Black women bring to the development and utilization of technology in our society. This speaker series, which included top scholars from across the country, covered both the vast contributions of Black women to this field as well as the challenging and demoralizing experiences Black women have in a field where they are highly underrepresented and often undervalued.

The success of this series led to the COE-MWS being selected as one of the inaugural recipients of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry Impact Fund Award. The award of $30,000 will allow the COE-MWS to continue this ground-breaking speaker series into the fall 2021 semester, as well as fund two Spelman students as The Future is Intersectional (TFI) Fellows. The TFI Fellows will be mentored by Spelman faculty as they develop and complete research projects that critically examine the impact of technology on historically marginalized people and communities, in general, and Black women, in particular.

CVP@SPELMAN:

Customer Value Partners (CVP) is an award-winning business and next-gen technology consulting company that helps organizations navigate disruption and prepare for a culture of continuous change. CVP has a long history of community involvement through CVP Cares, the company’s corporate initiative, which empowers the organization and the individual employees of CVP to impact four pillars: Education, Health, Veteran/Military, and Human Services. The CVP Cares partnership with the COE-MWS includes an endowed scholarship and an event series. The first event in the series was hosted on April 13, 2021 and was a fireside chat between Tamara Pearson and CVP Director of Customer Success, Mo Adeyoju, focused on exposing students to the world of government consulting.

Launching weekly community learning sessions for the DoD Academic Scholars

Organizing and implementing the COE-MWS Official Launch in October 2020

Selecting and launching the Leadership Advisory Board

Developing and launching the Women in STEM Speaker series

Identifying and selecting 13 additional DoD Academic Scholars

Accomplishments

Selecting eight (8) students as DoD Research Scholars

Launching the COE-MWS website

Acquiring additional funding to support the long-term sustainability of the COE-MWS

Working collaboratively with the DoD COE-MWS Cooperative Agreement Managers

Year 3 2021-2022

DoD Undergraduate STEM Scholars Program

SCHOLAR ACADEMIC STANDING: The scholars continue to show excellent academic progress. As can be seen in the table below, our scholars have maintained cumulative GPAs well within the required range to maintain their scholarships. In addition, six (6) of our scholars hold a cumulative GPA of 3.75 to 4.0.

Year 3 Cumulative GPA and Scholars

Year 2 Cumulative GPA and Scholars

3.50-3.74 3.75-3.99 3.25-3.49 4.0 3.00-3.24 13 5 5 1 1 3.50-3.74 3.75-3.99 3.25-3.49 4.0 11 8 5 1

DoD Undergraduate STEM Scholars Program

SCHOLAR LEARNING SESSIONS: During year 3, we met with the scholars on a bi-weekly basis for the purpose of building community, providing guidance on the many opportunities available to them, and supporting them as they begin to plan for the transition out of Spelman College.

9/7/2021

We’re Back Together: In Person Gathering and Welcome Meeting

What's Next: Selecting and Applying to Graduate/Medical School

Guest Speakers:

9/21/2021

• Dr. Rosalind Gregory Bass – Director, Health Careers Program

• Latonya O’Neal – Spelman College Graduate School Counselor

Making the Most of Junior Year

Guest Speaker: Brandi Taylor – Undergraduate Research and Training Programs Manager 10/19/2021

Everything You Wanted to Know about Georgia Tech Guest Speaker: Dr. Felicia Benton Johnson, Georgia Tech –Director, Center for Engineering Education and Diversity 11/4/2021

Where Do We Go from Here: A Fireside Chat with Dr. Safiya Noble

Guest Speakers:

• Dr. Safiya Noble, UCLA – Co-Founder and Faculty Director of theUCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry

• Princess Sampson – Senior Computer Science major 11/30/2021

Visioning for the Spring

Date Topic

FALL 2021

10/7/2021

DoD Undergraduate STEM Scholars Program

2021 Reflection: What Did You Learn from Your Internship?

Being Black, Female, and Brilliant Guest Speaker: Dr. Fay Cobb Payton, Kapor Center – Chief Programs Officer

Wrapping up the Semester with Self Care Guest Speakers: The Worth, Wisdom, and Wellness Center

Date Topic

2022 1/27/2022 Welcome Back 2/17/2022

3/3/2022

SPRING

Summer

3/17/2022 COE-MWS

3/31/2022 Washington

4/14/2022 Understanding

4/225/2022

Photoshoot

DC Visit Information Session

and Updating iBiosketch

DoD Undergraduate STEM Scholars Program

SUMMER 2022 INTERNSHIP/RESEARCH EXPERIENCES: Below you will see a list of where our scholars spent summer 2022. As can be seen, our scholars had the opportunity to participate in research and industry internships at some of the most selective universities, government agencies and companies across the country. Any student participating in two summer internship programs received permission to do so.

Name Internship Location

Adia Haynes

Digital Assets Internship- Apollo Global Management

Alana Burrell TMCF Apple HBCU Scholars Program

Alexis Parker

Department of Defense HBCU/MI Summer Internship Program

Alondra Stafford Optics in the City of Light - Paris, France

AnaSimone Guillaume Harvard University Systems Biology Summer Internship

Ariana Richardson MIT Summer Research Program in Biology

Ayanna Woodfolk North Carolina A&T University REU in Synthetic Biology

Brianna Latham Meta Product Design Internship

Cheyenne Heyward Walgreens Pharmacy Technician Apprenticeship

Ciera Williams

Demi Browder Health Careers Connection Equity Scholars Program

Destinee Whitaker City of Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management Internship

Erin Ojeda Boeing Hardware/Software Engineer Intern

Jayna Bryant Meharry Medical College Cancer Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Jiya Fowler

Kersten Pierre

Kiera Daughtry

Laila Hayes

Genentech Outstanding Student Award Internship Program

Duke University Mentoring to Increase Access to Health ProfessionsProgram

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Summer Internship

Platt Lab Undergraduate Research Assistant

Lauren Waller NVIDIA Software Engineering Internship

Maya Blasingame

Icahn School of Medicine Summer Undergraduate Research Program for Underrepresented Scholars

Olivia Duever Spelman College Summer REU

Olivia Bruce Texas A&M Cyclotron Institute Research Experience for Undergraduates

Starr Holmes Procter & Gamble Sales Internship

Taylor Beverly

Zindzi Griffin

Estee Lauder Research and Development Intern

Stanford University Computer Science LINXS Summer Research Internship

DoD Undergraduate STEM Scholars Program

DUAL DEGREE ENGINEERING PROGRAM: Many of the DoD Academic Scholars are enrolled in Spelman’s Dual Degree Engineering Program. Founded in 1969 through a cooperative agreement between the Atlanta University Center and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), the Dual Degree Engineering Program (DDEP) at Spelman College is a program that provides an opportunity for Spelman students to obtain both a liberal arts and engineering education where they earn two bachelor’s degrees. Students’ complete graduation requirements for a science or mathematics major at Spelman College in three years and matriculate at one of our 15 partner engineering institutions for two years to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. This program has proven to be a successful path with over 300 hundred Spelman women completing the program. We are excited to report that five (5) of our scholars are making the transition to their engineering institution in fall 2022.

Engineering Institution Engineering Major

Alexis Parker Physics

Ariana Richardson Mathematics

Erin Ojeda

Ayanna Woodfolk

Computer Science

Mathematics

Georgia Tech

North Carolina A&T University

Civil Engineering

Biomedical Engineering

Aerospace Engineering

Biomedical Engineering

Laila Hayes

Chemistry

Georgia Tech

Biomedical Engineering

Student Name Spelman Major

DoD Research Scholars Program

Applications for DoD Academic Year Research Scholars were launched on September 8, 2021 and closed on October 8, 2021. We received six (6) applications through the application system and chose to fund all six projects.

DoD Academic Scholars

Erin Ojeda – CIS

Alana Burrell – CIS

Laila Hayes – Mathematics

DoD Research Scholar: Kathleen Bostick – Biology

Both Academic & Research Scholar: Maya Blasingame – Biology

Project surface UV irradiance over the U.S. using satellite observations and machine learning

The Effect of OCT6 Mutants on Metal Uptake in Arabidopsis thaliana

An Analysis between the Relationship of Amoeba and Viruses: The Role of Amoeba in the Spread and Transmission of Viral Diseases

Neuroinflammatory Processes Seen During HIV and PTSD May be Reduced by Estrogen Signaling

Variation and trends of high temperature in ATL; attributions and projections using machine learning

The Implications of Location in Giant Virus-Infected Amoebae

Kathleen Bostick(Research Day – 1st place –Biology)

Maya Blasingame(Researc h Day – 2nd place –Biology)

Dr. Mentawab Ayalew

Dr. Yonas Tekle

Dr. Kimberly Williams

Jada Amor Jenkins

Dr. Guanyu Huang

Adrianna Richardson

Dr. Yonas Tekle

Project Title Student Name Faculty Mentor

Alana Burrell Dr. Guanyu Huang Ayanna Fourte

DoD Research Scholars Program

DoD Academic Scholars

Erin Ojeda – CIS

Alana Burrell – CIS

Laila Hayes – Mathematics

DoD Research Scholar: Kathleen Bostick – Biology

Both Academic & Research Scholar: Maya Blasingame – Biology

Project surface UV irradiance over the U.S. using satellite observations and machine learning

The Effect of OCT6 Mutants on Metal Uptake in Arabidopsis thaliana

An Analysis between the Relationship of Amoeba and Viruses: The Role of Amoeba in the Spread and Transmission of Viral Diseases

Neuroinflammatory Processes Seen During HIV and PTSD May be Reduced by Estrogen Signaling

Variation and trends of high temperature in ATL; attributions and projections using machine learning

The Implications of Location in Giant Virus-Infected Amoebae

Kathleen Bostick(Research Day – 1st place –Biology)

Maya Blasingame(Researc h Day – 2nd place –Biology)

Dr. Mentawab Ayalew

Dr. Yonas Tekle

Project Title Student Name Faculty Mentor

Alana Burrell Dr. Guanyu Huang Ayanna Fourte Dr. Kimberly Williams Jada Amor Jenkins Dr. Guanyu Huang Adrianna Richardson Dr. Yonas Tekle

DoD Research Scholars Program

DoD Academic Scholars

Erin Ojeda – CIS

Alana Burrell – CIS

Laila Hayes – Mathematics

DoD Research Scholar: Kathleen Bostick – Biology

Both Academic & Research Scholar: Maya Blasingame – Biology

Project surface UV irradiance over the U.S. using satellite observations and machine learning

The Effect of OCT6 Mutants on Metal Uptake in Arabidopsis thaliana

An Analysis between the Relationship of Amoeba and Viruses: The Role of Amoeba in the Spread and Transmission of Viral Diseases

Neuroinflammatory Processes Seen During HIV and PTSD May be Reduced by Estrogen Signaling

Variation and trends of high temperature in ATL; attributions and projections using machine learning

The Implications of Location in Giant Virus-Infected Amoebae

Kathleen Bostick(Research Day – 1st place –Biology)

Maya Blasingame(Researc h Day – 2nd place –Biology)

Dr. Mentawab Ayalew

Dr. Yonas Tekle

Project Title Student Name Faculty Mentor

Alana Burrell Dr. Guanyu Huang Ayanna Fourte Dr. Kimberly Williams Jada Amor Jenkins Dr. Guanyu Huang Adrianna Richardson Dr. Yonas Tekle

DoD Research Scholars Program

SUMMER RESEARCH SCHOLARS: Applications for DoD Summer Research Scholars were launched on Monday, April 25, 2022 and closed on May 6, 2022. We received six (6) applications through the application system and chose to fund four (4) of the projects. Summer research scholars are required to create a presentation or paper showcasing the results of their work.

Project Title

Learning Physics in Virtual Reality Environments

Feasibility of a Four-State Bit in Quantum Computing

Estrogen signaling may regulate PTSD induced neuroinflammation

Student Name

Reygan JonesHaley

McKoy

Sade Fisher

Faculty Mentor

Dr. Christopher Oakley

Dr. Derrick Hylton

Kersten Pierre

Dr. Kimberly Williams

RESEARCH PRODUCTION: Over the past three years, our funding has resulted in two research scholars publishing alongside their faculty mentors. Below you can find a list of those publications.

Student Name

Maya Blasingame

• DoD Academic Scholar

• DoD Research Scholar

Faculty Name Publications

Yonas Tekle

Tekle, Y I , Lyttle, J M , Blasingame, M G 2021 Comprehensive Comparative Genomics Reveals Over 50 Phyla of Free-living and Pathogenic Bacteria are Associated with Diverse Members of the Amoebozoa Sci Rep 11, 8043 (2021) https://doi org/10 1038/s41598-021-87192-0

Reyla Ponder

• DoD Research Scholar

Kersten Pierre

• DoD Academic Scholar

• DoD Research Scholar

Olivia Bruce

• DoD Academic Scholar

Jiya Fowler

• DoD Academic Scholar

Guanyu Huang

Huang, G , Ponder, R , Bond, A , Brim, H , Temeng, A , Naeger, A R , Zhu, L (2021) Unexpected Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on the Air Quality in the Metro Atlanta, USA Using Ground-based and Satellite Observations Aerosol Air Qual Res 21, 210153 https://doi org/10 4209/aaqr 210153

Kimberly Williams

17beta-Estradiol May Suppress HIV Induced Neurotoxicity in Human Macrophages 2022 SACNAS National Diversity in STEM (NDiSTEM) Conference

Non-Spelman Mentor

Measuring Ions Per Bunch in the RFQ 2022 Division of Nuclear Physics Conference for Undergraduates

Non-Spelman Mentor

De Novo Design of a Novel pH Sensitive Protein Switch 2022 SACNAS National Diversity in STEM (NDiSTEM) Conference

Davita Camp

Computational Drug Design of IsdBN2 Neat Protein of Staphylococcus Aureus 2022 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS)

Women in STEM Speaker Series

In honor of the many historic “firsts” for Black women this year, we selected the theme of “Breaking Barriers” to highlight the many Black women who continue to pave a new path in STEM. In addition, this theme allowed us to expose our students to the plethora of opportunities that are available to them with a STEM degree, especially in areas that they might not think about.

2/16/22

3/22/22

What Does Diversity Have to Do with Science(cosponsored by CVP) Youtube Views: 151

The Science of Beauty Zoom attendees: 49Youtube Views: 184

Marie Bernard, PhDNational Institutes of HealthChief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity (COSWD)

Markaisa Black, PhDProctor and GambleSenior Scientist

Date

Title Speaker(s)

COE-Affiliated Faculty Research Enhancement Program

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND SKILLS WORKSHOPS: In collaboration with the Office of Research, Innovation and Collaboration (ORIC) we have contracted with Innovative Learning Center, LLC and Dr. Angelicque Tucker Blackmon for five (5) webinars on research and evaluation designs and methodologies that include evaluation planning, building strategic research plans, and understanding the grant funding cycle. All webinars will be pre-recorded so that faculty can access them at their convenience and as often as needed versus only one time during the summer. Webinars will be posted by September 1, 2022.

Many junior faculty on tenure track must get off to a good start and sometimes can face difficulty with how to strategize their 5-year research plan to make tenure In this workshop, participants will learn about how to structure a 5-year strategic plan The workshop will focus on building an infrastructure within their research lab to advance their research line of inquiry using internal and external funding resources

Proposal Capture: Identifying external funding resources

Now that faculty understand how to create functional evaluation plans, build strategic research plans, and have gained insights into the funding process, this workshop will provide insight into how to search for funding opportunities that align with their research line of inquiry In this workshop, facilitators will help faculty identify external funding resources across multiple disciplinary areas, primarily STEM disciplines

Understanding the funding process

This presentation will focus on what it really takes to orchestrate the coordination of a competitive proposal A discussion about emerging technologies will be included to increase faculty members’ awareness on how online platforms can assist with orchestrating and coordinating competitive proposals

Building Functional External Evaluation Plans

External evaluation reports too often function as bookshelf decoration Instead of serving as a notebook that collects dust, evaluation plans need to be put to work Evaluation plans need to work for the person developing or refining a program or product This workshop will provide deep insight on how to build functional evaluation plans that work for the Principal Investigator or Program Director

Understanding the Difference Between Educational Research and Program Evaluation

In this module, subject matter experts will focus on key differences between educational research and program evaluation The prospective positions dictate the functionality of researchers’ and evaluators’ roles Different functions result from maintaining narrow perspectives versus broad perspectives Often researchers take a narrow perspective on one aspect of a program based upon an interest in a slice of the program story Program evaluators usually take a broad view of the program and narrate all aspects of program implementation, even program aspects that generate research

Module Title Description Developing 5-Year Strategic Research Plans

COE-Affiliated Faculty Research Enhancement Program

NEW FACULTY FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES: COE-MWS is committed to supporting faculty as they seek to expand their research in areas of alignment with the Department of Defense’s Modernization Priorities. To that end, in December 2020, we received approval to re-allocate funds for the implementation of two new faculty development initiatives: Publication and Proposal Fund and Interdisciplinary Seed Grants. These two opportunities were posted on the COE-MWS website and sent, via email, to all faculty in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

Publication and Proposal Fund: The Publication and Proposal Fund gives support to faculty who are struggling to make it over the finish line with a publication or grant proposal. Faculty can utilize funds, up to $4,500, to cover the cost of publication fees, transcription and editing services, data visualization support, course releases, writing workshops and other applicant identified needs to allow faculty to be able to successfully complete publications or grant proposals. We received six (6) applications and funded two faculty members. Their funding began on August 1, 2021.

COE-Affiliated Faculty Research Enhancement Program

Funding Outcomes

Funding was provided to support a writing workshop and editing services for Dr. Nias to support the development of a competitive proposal to the National Science Foundation’s HBCU-UP Program. In particular, funds were used to allow Dr. Nias to hire an editor for her grant proposal as well as participate in a grant writing workshop. We are currently awaiting Dr. Nias’ final report.

Funding was provided to support a course release and editing services for Dr. Sanders Johnson to allow her the time and support needed for the development of a competitive proposal to the National Science Foundation’s Facilitating Research at Undergraduate Institutions & Chemical Synthesis Program.

Instead of submitting the proposal, Dr. Sanders Johnson used the time to revise and resubmit two manuscripts that had been submitted in spring 2021. The first manuscript was accepted and published online October 6, 2021. The second manuscript went through two revisions and was published online November 29, 2021. The citations for the manuscripts are below.

Sanders Johnson, S., “Embracing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy to Engage Students in Chemistry: Celebrating Black Women in the Whiskey and Spirits Industry” J. Chem. Ed. 2022, 99 (1), 428-434.

Younge, S.; Dickens, D.; Winfield, L.; Sanders Johnson, S. "Moving Beyond the Experiment to See Chemists Like Me: Cultural Relevance in the Organic Chemistry Laboratory" J. Chem. Ed. 2022, 99 (1), 383-392.

Amount

$4,500

Faculty Member Jaye Nias Computer & Information Sciences (CIS) Shanina Sanders Johnson Chemistry

COE-Affiliated Faculty Research Enhancement Program

Faculty teams are in the process of completing their projects, and final reports are due on September 15, 2022.

Faculty Member(s) Project Title/Abstract Amount Derrick Hylton

- Physics Peter

Feasibility Study

$20,000 Jeticia Sistrunk (PI) - Biology Enaharo Iboi - Mathematics Insights from Case and Mortality Data of Malaria and COVID-19 Co-Infections in South Africa $20,000

(PI)

Chen

Chemistry

for a Four-State Qubit for Quantum Computing

COE Scholar in Residence Program

Dr. Candace Price is an applied mathematician who can bring her expertise to a wide range of disciplines. Her current research focuses on applications in the biosciences. This fits well with the DoD biotechnology priority. Specifically, Dr. Price was a National Academies Davies Fellow with the Army Research Labs and West Point where she collaborated on a project in biofuels. She has proposed to extend her prior work on the yeast fuel-cell model by focusing on Clostridium acetobutyclium that metabolize multiple agents (sugars, starch and cellulose) to create butanol and ether. Dr. Price has proven that she is well-suited to do this work given her continued engagement in applied research in the biosciences that includes mathematical modeling of the protein and nucleic acid interactions and the effect of ectoparasitic (i.e. ticks, fleas, and lice) defense of the evolutionary success of social animal groups. In addition, her work with DNA-protein interactions was recently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dr. Price’s work is multi-disciplinary and can potentially include students and faculty from mathematics, computer science, chemistry, environmental science, and biology.

Leadership Advisory Board (LAB)

Leadership Advisory Board met twice during the 2021-2022 academic year (fall and spring).

Agenda items included:

COE-MWS Updates

The Future is Intersectional initiative

Women in STEM Speaker Series – 2022

SMASH @ Spelman

New Faculty Funding Opportunities

Discussion: Planning for the Future

Over the next five (5) years, we hope to grow the Center’s profile and programming to truly encompass the breadth of the topics that impact the recruitment and retention of women of color from historically underrepresented groups in STEM. Through bold steps and clear vision, we can make sure that Spelman College continues to be recognized for its unique role in the creation of a bright future for all.

GOAL 1: Expand opportunities at Spelman College in order to prepare our students to become future leaders in emerging STEM sectors and solve society’s most pressing issues.

GOAL 2: Be recognized as the leading global incubator for research, data, and best practices about the recruitment, retention and experiences of women of color from historically underrepresented groups in STEM, with a particular focus on Black women.