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Dr. Chi-Ning (Nick) Chang is an assistant research professor at the Life Span Institute at the University of Kansas. This study was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) RAPID grant (DGE-2031069; DGE-2051263), using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Chang currently serves as a PI on this collaborative NSF project (DGE-2031069). His research work centers on engineering graduate education, STEM mentoring, STEM motivation and diversity, and quantitative methods (multilevel models, structural equation modeling, decision trees, etc.).

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Guan Saw is an associate professor in the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University. He received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from University of Technology, Malaysia, a Master’s degree in sociology of education from National Taiwan Normal University, and a doctoral degree in measurement and quantitative methods from Michigan State University. Saw’s major research interests include educational inequality; diversity and inclusion; STEM education and workforce; college access and success; and quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. His teaching focuses on sociology of education, inequalities in education, educational evaluation and policy analysis, research methods and designs, and statistics and evaluation.

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Uriel Lomelí-Carrillo is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Demography at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Prior to his doctoral program, Lomelí-Carrillo worked as a statistician and research assistant for the Survey of Migration at the Northern Border of Mexico. Lomelí-Carrillo's research interests include demographic methods, mortality, spatial demography, and the Mexican War on Drugs. He has presented his research at the Population Association of America, the Southern Demographic Association, and the Latin American Association of Sociology. Lomelí-Carrillo has an MSc in Population Studies and a BA in Economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

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Mingxia Zhi is a Program Evaluator at the Northside Independent School District. Prior to joining Northside ISD, Zhi served as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she received her doctoral degree.

Zhi’s major research interests include program evaluation, college access and success, diversity and acculturation, language assessment, and quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Her past teaching focuses on technology-enhanced teaching and learning, language and schooling, assessment and evaluation, and English as a second language teaching and learning. Her current evaluation projects focus on Title I school program performance and State Compensatory Education for at-risk students.

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Kahlí Romano is a Senior Manager of Research and Evaluation at UP Partnership, an education non-profit in San Antonio, Texas. She received her Ph.D. in Applied Demography from the University of Texas at San Antonio and is an experienced secondary science educator. Her research interests include educational disparities and neighborhood effects on educational outcomes, as well as STEM participation and education using quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches. Kahlí additionally holds an M.Sc. in Sociology from the University of Bristol, England and a B.A. in Biology from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Ryan Culbertson is a Research Coordinator at the Child and Adolescent Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Ryan has worked in P-20 education for over 15 years as an instructor, coordinator, and director at the local, state, and national levels, with focus on underserved and low-SES student populations. Throughout his time in education, Ryan has been an advocate and implementor of equitable instructional practices that incorporate culturally responsive and student focused learning, including socio-emotional learning, project-based learning, and stakeholder involvement in curriculum and programing. Ryan’s research interests include the implementation and effectiveness of student-centered curriculum and instruction and out-of-school time (OST) program implementation. Ryan’s current work includes deeper learning opportunities and links to STEM career orientation in OST programs and the impacts of social capital on student’s motivation and learning outcomes

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