Rory A. Cooper, Ph.D.
PVA Distinguished Professor
University of Pittsburg
Rory A. Cooper, Ph.D. is FISA Foundation & Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Distinguished Professor at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). Cooper is Founder-Director and VA Senior Research Career Scientist of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories a VA Rehabilitation R&D Center. Cooper is an adjunct professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. Cooper has authored or co-authored over 375 peer-reviewed journal publications. He has over 30 patents awarded or pending.
David Burgess, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Boston College
David R. Burgess, Ph.D., is a Professor of Cell Biology at Boston College. He was born and raised in New Mexico and moved to California when he was 11. He earned his B.S. at California State Polytechnic University, his Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis and was a postdoc at the University of Washington. He served as the first American Indian president of SACNAS from 1999-2001 and was honored as a SACNAS Founder and Elder at its 40th anniversary. He speaks regularly on mentoring underrepresented students. His research in cell biology is on the cytoskeleton and mechanisms by which cells divide and has been supported by NIH and NSF since 1977. He has published over 100 research articles and he has received a Research Career Development Award from the NIH, the E. E. Just Award from the American Society for Cell Biology and he is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Society for Cell Biology. He is currently Past-Chair for the Section of Biological Sciences for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Jack Harris, Ph.D.
Licensed Counselor
Jack Harris conducts training on a variety of topics aimed at Helping Keep Good People Good. People from large and small businesses, professional associations, non-profit organizations, the health care industry, and government agencies have benefited from his unique combination of management & behavioral science experience, exposure to organizations throughout the country and his passion for practical solutions. Jack provides results-oriented training aimed at helping people develop skills they can apply to everyday, real-life situations.
He is recognized for his work in the areas of management & leadership skill development, anger, conflict, difficult employees, communication, personal resilience, change, peer support, critical incident stress management (CISM) and trauma/critical incident response. His work around Giving Feedback That Matters is aimed at helping leaders and managers become more effective and confident when dealing with employees and personnel related matters.
He is a licensed counselor (by the Arizona Board of Behavioral Heath Examiners), a Board-Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress by the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, an EMDR trained therapist and a trained mediator. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Arizona and a Bachelor’s Degree from Western Illinois University.
Jean King, PhD
Peterson Family Dean of Arts and Sciences
Worchester Polytechnic Institute
Professor in the Department of Biology and Biotechnology
Dr. Jean King is the WPI Peterson family Dean in the School of Arts and Sciences. She also serves as a Professor of Biology and Biotechnology, affiliate Professor in Biomedical Engineering Department, Professor in the Neuroscience Program and Director, NeuroTech Suite at WPI. Prior, she was vice provost for biomedical research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School; a tenured professor of psychiatry, radiology, neurology; and director of the university’s Center for Comparative Neuroimaging. She retains a lab and Adjunct Professorship at Umass Medical School, Worcester MA. Dr. King has published over 100 original scientific publications including papers, book chapters and review articles in in highly respected international scientific journals. She served as an editor of New York Academy of Sciences Publication-Roots of Mental Illness in Children. She has been a scientific consultant for the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, as well as the Veterans Administration. Dr. King is passionate about mentoring and the diversification of the scientific workforce. She has won several mentoring awards, and serves on several Boards including acting as the Co-Chair of World Women in Neuroscience (WWN), member of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI), and the NSF- funded COBRE – Neurobiological Institute/University of Puerto Rico.
George Langford, PhD
Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences
Syracuse University
George M. Langford is Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Biology at Syracuse University and Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Sciences. As a cell biologist, he studies the role of the actin cytoskeleton and molecular motors in cells including neurons and pancreatic beta cells. He served as dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the inaugural Ernest Everett Just Professor of Natural Sciences at Dartmouth College and professor of Physiology, the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He was elected in 2021 to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was appointed in 1998 by President Clinton to the National Science Board and awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letter by Beloit College in 2001. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2013 and a Fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) in 2017. Professor Langford was the first recipient of the ASCB EE Just Lectureship Award. He served on the Science Education Advisory Board of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and was former chair of the Board of Directors of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. He is Program Director of the Syracuse University CHANcE Project funded by the HHMI Inclusive Excellence Initiative.
Beronda L. Montgomery, Ph.D.
Professor, Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
Michigan State University
Dr. Beronda L. Montgomery is a writer, science communicator, and Michigan State University Foundation Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics. She is also a member of the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory. Montgomery conducts research on how plants and cyanobacteria are able to monitor and adjust to changes in their external environments. Montgomery also conducts scholarship and training initiatives on effective research mentoring, research management, and academic leadership, including issues related to mentoring scholars from historically underrepresented and excluded backgrounds, as well as progressive approaches to faculty development. Dr. Montgomery’s scholarly efforts have been recognized by receipt of an NSF CAREER Award, being selected as a finalist in the 2014 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professors Competition, a 2015 Michigan State University Nominee for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) US Professor of the Year Award, and as an 2017-2019 American Society of Microbiology Distinguished Lecturer. Dr. Montgomery was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2018, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2020, and the American Society of Plant Biologists in 2021.
Laura Nisenbaum, Ph.D.
Sr. Director
Aducanumab Biomarkers and Diagnostic Pathways at Biogen
Proven scientific leader with 25+ years’ biotechnology industry and academia experience, currently focused on developing and executing biomarker and diagnostic strategies for neuroscience disease areas. Dr. Nisenbaum received her PhD in neuroscience in 1991 and transitioned to industry after completing postdoctoral training at NIH, the University of Tennessee, a Fulbright Scholarship in Cologne, Germany, and a faculty position in Physiology and Neurobiology at the University of Connecticut. Following 20 years of experience at Eli Lilly and Company, she joined Biogen in April 2018 as the Biomarker Strategy Lead for Aducanumab, an investigational medicine in development for Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Nisenbaum continues to lead the biomarker strategy for Aducanumab as well as the Diagnostics Pathway group within the Biomarker Organization.
Julio J. Ramirez, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Davidson College
Dr. Julio J. Ramirez earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from Clark University in 1983. He taught at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University from 1981 to 1985. He did his postdoctoral work in neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1985 to 1986. Presently he is the R. Stuart Dickson Professor and Director of the Neuroscience Program at Davidson College, where he has been since 1986. Dr. Ramirez’s research interests include the recovery of function after central nervous system injury, with an emphasis on determining the functional significance of hippocampal neuroplasticity. His teaching, mentoring, and research efforts have been supported with numerous grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Ramirez received the 2009 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Barack Obama in recognition of his national leadership in mentoring undergraduate students and junior faculty from underrepresented groups in the sciences. In 2015, he was awarded the Bernice Grafstein Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Mentoring from the Society for Neuroscience. He was the Founding President of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, a national organization dedicated to promoting undergraduate education in the neurosciences. At the Society for Neuroscience, Dr. Ramirez is a Co-Director of the Neuroscience Scholars Program and is the Treasurer-Elect of the Society.
Lydia Villa-Komaroff, PhD
Founder & Principal
Intersections SBD Consulting
Lydia Villa-Komaroff is a molecular biologist, a business executive, and a diversity advocate. She was one of the early cadre of scientists who first used the ability to join DNA from animals or people to DNA from bacteria to make useful proteins and to study biological processes and human diseases. She has served on advisory committees for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. She represented small business for the State Department at an Asian-Pacific Economic conference and serves on several academic advisory boards. She is a fellow of AAAS and the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). She has been honored by election to the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Hall of Fame, a Lifetime Achievement Award by Hispanic Business Magazine, the 2013 Woman of Distinction from the American Association of University Women and is the 2016 recipient of the Elting Morison prize from the MIT Program in Science and Technology. She was one of six women scientists whose work was featured in the PBS series “Discovering Women”, her work was the subject of a one-hour segment entitled “DNA Detective”. She was one of 11 women scientists profiled on the website of the White House Office of Science and Technology during the Obama administration.
