Potential STEM MENTORS
In the STEM fields,good mentorship is vital to success. Withnout one, it can be difficult to navigate a space where you are rare and/or undervalued. These are people in the trenches who are more than happy to aid you in your journey. Do not hesitate to contact one of them!
THERESA NYABEZE
P.ENG MINING ENGINEER
Born in Zimbabwe, she is now a mining engineer working at Vale. She recently published 'Underground! My Mining adventure' and is dedicated to increasing diversity in STEM.
Email: Theresa@diversitystem.ca
Po-Ju Chen
Graduate Student
Born in Taichung, Taiwan, she is currently a 4th year Ph.D. student in MCDB at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the stability of acetylcholine receptor and the associated scaffolding proteins at neuromuscular junctions.
Email:pojuc@umich.edu
Shyama Nandakumar
Graduate Student
Born in Madras (Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India, she is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan trying to understand how and why some cells increase their DNA content.
Tweet her @shyama13 or email shyama@umich.edu
Dr. SOKOL V. TODI
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, Wayne State University
Born in Albania, he not only navigated moving up in the world of science but also dealt with coming out at the same time. He openly discusses his thoughts on being gay in academia, imposter syndrome, and offers advice to students thinking about following in his footsteps during our interview with him.
Ph.D. (2005): University of Iowa
Post-Doctoral Training (2005-2007): University of Iowa
Post-Doctoral Training (2007-2010): University of Michigan
Email: stodi@wayne.edu
Dr. Kevin Jones
Assistant Professor, University of Michigan
From his injury that cut short his track career, to his time as a postdoc in Spain, to his decision to quit a teaching-heavy tenure-track position to return to a postdoc position to redirect his career to be more research focused; Dr. Jones’s career has taken many twists and turns and lends evidence to the idea that everyone’s path is different and that’s okay.
Email: kevjon@umich.edu
Dr. Carla Ramos
Postdoctoral Researcher
Raised in Los Angeles, her path to graduate school wasn't a straight one. However, with a strong sense of pride in who she is and where she comes from, she refused to let the difficulty she encountered define or dictate where she’ll go. She recently graduated from the University of Michigan. Listen to this strong independent salvadoreña discuss her struggles and how she overcame them, here.
Email: cjram@umich.edu
University of Michigan, Cellular and Molecular Biology Program (Ph.D.)
Nicholas Silva
Graduate Student
Born in California, he openly discusses being a gay Latino graduate student in the neuroscience program at the University of Michigan during our interview with him.
Email: njsilva@umich.edu
San Francisco State University (SFSU), B.S (Biology: Physiology)
San Francisco State University (SFSU), M.S (Biology: Physiology)
Alena Mohd-Yusof
Neurophysiologist
A fully certified neurophysiologist. She primarily focuses on complex orthopedic spine surgery cases as well as vascular (carotid endarterectomy) cases. She uses various modalities such as somatosensory evoked potentials, electroencephalography, and electromyography in order to ensure patient’s safety during surgery.
To hear her tell her story about deciding not to go to grad school, listen to our podcast episode featuring her discussing her journey in STEM.
Questions? Feel free to email her at alenayusof@hotmail.com
Irene Park
Graduate Student
Irene is currently a sixth-year human genetics Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan. While she enjoys benchwork, she enjoys telling people about science more. She was a news reporter at The Michigan Daily for almost three years (and was the only graduate student on the news staff). She also helped to establish Michigan Science Writers, a student organization that trains students and postdocs to write about science for the general public.
She sits down with us to discuss why she considered leaving her Ph.D. program and what made her decide to stay in this podcast episode
Want to contact her? Email her at sohae@umich.edu and check out her twitter!
Elizabeth Rodriguez. Ph.D
After graduting from Hunter College (CUNY), with a B.A. in psychology, Elizabeth went on to receive her Ph.D in neuroscience at the University of Michigan.
As a single mom, grad school was no tough but she never let that stop her. Through her tireless outreach efforts and dedication to research, she has become a role model to so countless people around her. She is now a contributor to science in Color and has no qualms telling it like it is, which is refreshing in a field where people are afraid to speak up.
Listen to her talk about her journey in Ep 06: Doing the Impossible
Elizabeth Rodriguez. Ph.D
Post-doctoral Researcher
After graduting from Hunter College (CUNY), with a B.A. in psychology, Elizabeth went on to receive her Ph.D in neuroscience at the University of Michigan. As a single mom, grad school was no tough but she never let that stop her. Through her tireless outreach efforts and dedication to research, she has become a role model to so countless people around her. She is now a contributor to science in Color and has no qualms telling it like it is, which is refreshing in a field where people are afraid to speak up.
Listen to her talk about her journey in Ep 06: Doing the Impossible