Blog Archives

Dr. Eileen Gonzales is an assistant professor at San Francisco State University. She uses observational and theoretical techniques to understand the atmospheres of low-mass stars, brown dwarfs, and directly imaged exoplanets. Using atmospheric retrievals, her work aims to understand cloud properties as well as key chemical processes shaping the formation and evolution of directly imaged exoplanets and brown dwarfs.

Before coming to SF State, Dr. Gonzales was a 51 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell. She received her PhD from the City University of New York Graduate Center. She completed her master’s at SF State and her bachelor’s at Michigan State. She is also a co-founder and director of Black In Physics, a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the contributions of Black physicists to reveal a more complete picture of what a physicist looks like.

Marge Musumeci is a Senior Talent Advisor with a passion for going beyond the ordinary and connecting people with jobs they love. As a Talent Acquisition professional in Pharma Research and Development, she brings a consultative aspect to work, describes the market landscape, networks with passive candidates, and utilizes a variety of social media techniques to drive high-impact projects to completion. She has experience with Colleague Resource Groups in the Inclusion and Diversity space, with particular emphasis on HBCUs, all of which she leverages to brand organizations. Marge holds a graduate degree in Organizational Psychology from New York University and resides in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Kishana Taylor is a virologist, president, and co-founder of the Black Microbiologists Association (BMA), co-founder of Black In Microbiology (BIM) Week, and an assistant professor at Towson University in the Department of Biological Sciences. She is passionate about improving the outlook for scientists from historically excluded groups through tangible solutions to removing systemic barriers in all but, especially academic spaces. Her work with BIM and BMA has garnered national recognition via The New York Times and the American Society for Microbiology. She has also served on the DEI committee and as a councilor for trainees for the American Society for Virology (ASV).

Dr. Taylor earned a BS in Animal Science and an MS in Public Health Microbiology and Emerging Infectious Diseases before earning her PhD in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences from The University of Georgia.

Lorelle L. Espinosa, PhD, is program director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, where she develops and implements evidence-based strategies for grantmaking to advance DEI in STEM higher education. Her portfolio includes the University Centers of Exemplary Mentoring, Sloan Centers for Systemic Change, Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership, and Creating Equitable Pathways to STEM Graduate Education. Previously, she was Vice President for Research at the American Council on Education and committee co-chair of NASEM. She contributes to the national conversation on issues pertaining to college access and success for underrepresented students and on the need for equity-minded leadership in postsecondary settings. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and was cited before the US Supreme Court. 

A Pell Grant recipient and first-generation college graduate, Espinosa earned her PhD in higher education and organizational change from the University of California, Los Angeles; a BA from the University of California, Davis; and an AA from Santa Barbara City College.

Mandë Holford, PhD, examines venoms and venomous animals as agents of change and innovation in evolution and in manipulating cellular physiology in pain and cancer. Her work combines scientific research, education, and diplomacy by leveraging our planet’s marine biodiversity for the benefit of human and planetary health. Her honors include the inaugural endowed Anne Welsh McNulty Chair in Science Innovation and Leadership, an NIH Pioneer Award, an Allen Institute Distinguished Investigator Award, an NSF CAREER award, a WINGS Women of Discovery Fellowship, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, being selected as a World Economic Forum Champion Young Scientist and Sustainability Pioneer, a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, and a member of the NASEM Roundtable on Science Diplomacy, and the Council of Foreign Relations. She is cofounder of Killer Snails, LLC, an award winning EdTech company that uses tabletop, digital, and XR games as a conduit to advance scientific learning in K-12 classrooms. Her PhD is from The Rockefeller University.

Magdia De Jesus, PhD, is Director, Scientific Strategy and Portfolio Lead at Pfizer’s Chief Medical Office. Previously, she was a professor in Microbiology and Immunology, conducting research at the New York State Department of Health. Her work focused on developing fungal derived vaccine delivery vehicles and studying medically important fungi. In 2019, she joined Pfizer’s Vaccine Research and Development team to pursue her passion for vaccines and infectious diseases. In 2021, she transitioned to the Chief Medical Office, contributing to the scientific portfolio across Pfizer. Dr. De Jesus recognizes the importance of mentors in her career and credits her success to pipeline mentorship. She developed the “A Scientist Looks Just Like You” program to inspire youth to pursue science regardless of background and volunteers with the Rise High STEM program for underserved students in Schenectady, New York. At Pfizer, she led and participates in various STEM initiatives, including Growing STEM Futures and The Pfizer School of Science, to inspire the next generation of scientists.

Marcus Lambert, PhD, is the Associate Vice President for Research at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. He oversees efforts to expand the university’s extramural research portfolio in health equity and clinical research and co-leads programs focused on recruiting and training underrepresented scientists in health disparities research. He is one of the Principal Investigators of the TRANSlational Program Of health disparities Research Training (TRANSPORT) and the Clinical Research Scholars Training Program (CREST).

Dr. Lambert is one of New York’s Life Sciences Power 50 and one of Cell Press’ 100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America. He is a member of HHMI’s Center for the Advancement of Science Leadership and Culture Advisory Board and the NIH Training, Workforce Development, and Diversity (TWD) Study Section. He has a PhD in biomedical science from NYU Grossman School of Medicine, an MS in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research from Weill Cornell, and a BS from Howard University.