The Florida AGEP Pathways Alliance (FL-AGEP) proposes to advance a partnership among four universities with the goal of developing, implementing, and studying a model focused on increasing the number of minority women faculty in STEM.
Our alliance is led by Dr. Allyson Watson, Dean of the College of Education at Florida A&M University and consists of three Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), one Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), and one Historically White Institution (HWI).
- HBCUs: Florida A&M University, Florida Memorial University, and Bethune Cookman University
- HSI: Florida International University
- HWI: University of South Florida
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History Made in STEM Through BCU to USF Pathway |
Dr. Shamaria Engram, a University of South Florida and Bethune Cookman University alumna has made history as the first Black woman to graduate with a doctoral degree in Computer Science and Engineering. Dr. Engram shared that she is hopeful she will not be the last woman to conquer this feat but credits the strong cultural exchange she had at Bethune Cookman to prepare her for her academic success at the University of South Florida.
Read the news story here. Dr. Engram is now a new faculty at MIT and accepted the position in January.
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Principal Investigator to Program Director HRD | Dr. Montas Hunter Shares Expertise with NSF HSI Programs |
We celebrate the accomplishments of Dr. Montas-Hunter. In a recent interview with our support staff, Dr. Montas-Hunter shared, "My trajectory has not been traditional or linear and I am very grateful that my passions and values are aligned with what I do every day which is an advocate for equity and access. I tell young people all of the time that you never know where that opportunity will take you, so be open to take risks and allow yourself some flexibility. Stay true to who you are and what you believe and eventually everything will line up! Who would’ve thought that a young Dominican girl from Crown Heights would be a Visiting Educator at the National Science Foundation."
Dr. Sonja Montas-Hunter currently serves as a Program Officer at the National Science Foundation while on professional leave from her role as the Assistant Vice Provost of Student Access and Success at Florida International University in Miami. Her portfolio at FIU includes leading initiatives and programs which provide increased access for underrepresented minorities and eliminate the achievement gap between majority and underrepresented students. In addition, she currently provides supervision to TRIO programs, college bridge programs, and graduate access program.
Dr. Montas-Hunter has been recognized for her work in supporting to increase the number of underrepresented students that pursue graduate education. And most recently, has expanded her efforts to participating in projects that support the pipeline to graduate education through collaborations with the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) and the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU). She has published several articles on the advancement of equity and inclusion for academic excellence and is an alumni of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) Fellowship program and the American Council of Education (ACE) Spectrum Executive Leadership Program. She believes the mentoring is the cornerstone for success in higher education and essential to professional and personal development. She has mentored students from all over the United States and her commitment to diversity, openness and ensuring access and equity for all students is rooted throughout her work.
Dr. Montas-Hunter earned a B.A degree in English from Hunter College-CUNY; MA in English from Radford University; and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from Barry University.
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Principal Investigator Dr. Bhansali Uses Influence to Enhance NSF ERCCS Programs |
Dr. Bhansali is currently Alcatel-Lucent Professor and Distinguished University Professor in the Florida International University (FIU) Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. At FIU, which he joined in 2011, Dr. Bhansali served nine years as department chair and two years as the interim director of the school of electrical, computer, and enterprise engineering. Previously, he spent 11 years as a professor at the University of South Florida, and he was a researcher at the University of Cincinnati and the National Research Laboratory of Metrology in Japan.
Dr. Bhansali’s main research interests are in nanotechnology, biosensors, and microfluidics. He holds 40 patents, has published over 300 publications, and has advised more than 40 Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows in research.
Dr. Bhansali earned his B.E. in metallurgical engineering at Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, his M.Tech. in aircraft production engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at RMIT University in Australia.
Dr. Bhansali is an active member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and other professional societies. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Inventors. His dedication to mentorship has been recognized with several awards.
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USF PI Sylvia Thomas Provides Outreach in STEM Presentation to Tampa Community |
Recently, PI-Dr. Sylvia Wilson Thomas provided a STEM community outreach presentation to students in K-12 and served as a guest speaker for the Gamma Theta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Dr. Sylvia Wilson Thomas is an Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering, affiliate faculty in Medical Engineering, and former Assistant Dean (Engineering) at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Engineering in Tampa, Florida. She is a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, where she was a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow. Dr. Thomas received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Howard University, as a NSF Materials Research Center of Excellence Fellow and was a National Science Foundation (NSF) EAPSI research fellow in Korea at Chonbuk National University during her doctoral program.
Dr. Thomas serves as President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Engineering in Medicine and Biology Florida West Coast Section, advisor for Society of Women Engineers and National Society of Black Engineers, and member of the Board of Directors for Black Girls Code and Florida Senate Appointee to the Florida Education Fund Board of Directors.
Dr. Thomas is a motivational speaker/consultant for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, continued/graduate education, K-12 efforts, career transitioning, mentoring and professional development. Her involvement and constant dedication to STEM education, diversity, and professional development have led to her recognition in local and national news and publications, including the most prestigious 2020 US Black Engineer BEYA Educational Leadership Award, 2018 USF Undergraduate Teaching Award, 2018 Women in Leadership and Philanthropy Award, 2016 STEM Woman of the Year Award-Pinellas Cty Girls Inc., and 2015 USF Graduate Faculty Mentor Award. Read more about PI-Thomas here.
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Consultant Highlight | Women of Color in the Professoriate | Sisters of the Academy
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Founded in 2001, the mission of Sisters of the Academy (SOTA) Institute is to facilitate the success of Black women in the Academy. Specifically, the organization aims to create an educational network of Black women in higher education in order to foster success in the areas of teaching, scholarly inquiry, and service to the community; facilitate collaborative scholarship among Black women in higher education, and facilitate the development of relationships to enhance members’ professional development.
SOTA Celebrates 20 Years of Service! Read more about SOTA here.
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Project Intervention | Increase the Faculty Pipeline Through Mentorship |
The intervention of our project is to provide professional development, mentoring, and a supportive environment, virtually and in person for women of color in STEM. We aim to do this by providing opportunities for multi-day "Research BootCamps" (Sisters of the Academy), a network of peer mentors, resources, and membership coverage with faculty development organizations. If you are or know a female graduate, postdoc, and Junior faculty member in a STEM Field, this program is for you!
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Publications & News | Dissemination and Sustainability |
Featured Publications of the Month | Co-PI
Dr. Monique Ross, Florida International University
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Ross, M. S., Huff, J. L., & Godwin, A. (2021). Resilient engineering identity development critical to prolonged engagement of Black women in engineering. Journal of Engineering Education.
Ross, M., Hazari, Z., Sonnert, G., & Sadler, P. (2020). The intersection of being black and being a woman: Examining the effect of social computing relationships on computer science career choice. ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), 20(2), 1-15.
Zahedi, L., Ebrahiminejad, H., Ross, M. S., Ohland, M. W., & Lunn, S. J. (2020). Multi-institution study of student demographics and stickiness of computing majors in the usa. Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity (CoNECD).
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STEM in the News Across the Alliance
Bethune Cookman University and Florida Memorial University
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Florida International University
University of South Florida
Virginia Tech University
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Topic:
While collaboration is an essential component of a successful alliance, it has also been a big challenge to evaluate. We will discuss how to define, create, support, and monitor collaborative practice within your alliance using the lens of the Collaborative Evaluation Improvement Framework by Woodland and Hutton (please review the attached article).
Come prepared to engage in conversation about your Alliance’s strategies and challenges when evaluating collaboration. If it’s helpful for discussions, please have your alliance model or any other documents easily available which you think would be useful during the webinar.
We look forward to seeing on March 8th at 3.30pm ET. Don’t forget to register by March 4.
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Meet the Face Behind Our Social Media! |
Anya Rambaram is a junior nursing student at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Anya is from the beautiful city of Orlando, Fl. This academic year, Anya had the pleasure of working in the FAMU College of Education and was honored to be nominated as Student Employee of the Year. Aside from work and classes, Anya enjoys adventures in nature, reading and building her podcast for student success, The Pupil 2000.
Giving back to the community is an integral part of Anya’s values. In Tallahassee, she volunteers with the local food pantry and University Housing and in her hometown, she volunteers with her teenage girl’s mentorship program, LANES.
Having a love for the sciences early on, Anya completed the four-year nationally accredited medical magnet program at her high school and obtained her certification as a bio technician assistant. Anya wishes to support the health of her community as an oncology research nurse. Recently, Anya completed her Certified Nurse Assistant prep course and is excited to be interning this summer in the Florida- California Cancer Research, Education and Engagement (CaRE2) program. She is also a research student for the Southside Tallahassee Rotary COVID-19 Impact Youth Mentor program.
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NSF | HRD Project Information
"This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under the following Grant Numbers: Florida A&M University (FAMU) (2055302); Bethune Cookman University (BCU) (1916086); Florida International University (FIU) (1916094); Florida Memorial University (FMU) (1916044); University of South Florida (USF) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VT). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation."
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