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Greses Pérez is the McDonnell Family Assistant Professor in Engineering Education in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Tufts University with secondary appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Education. She received her Ph.D. in Learning Sciences and Technology Design with a focus on Engineering Education from Stanford University. As an Afro-Latina engineer and learning scientist, she has dedicated her career to investigating the experiences of Latina/o/x and Black students in engineering.

Her scholarship is particularly focused on the relationship between the language and cultural practices of communities and engineering practices. Through her research, teaching, service and mentoring, she supports traditionally underrepresented students who experience a cultural mismatch between the ways of knowing and speaking in their communities and those in engineering. In addition to her work on culturally relevant learning through emerging technologies, Greses uses mixed methodologies to investigate the strengths multicompetent individuals, whose lives exist between languages and/or cultures, might be able to contribute to the social fabric. Her mission is to expand who is heard and can contribute to the disciplines as society demands professionals with backgrounds as diverse as the challenges we face.

Greses’ scholarship advocates to include the rich trove of insights from multicompetent groups in creating engineering solutions and scientific ideas. Before her time at Stanford, she was a bilingual educator at low-income elementary schools in Texas. As a civil engineer, Greses led EU funded projects in the Caribbean to create educational opportunities for coffee farmers and their families. She also holds two Master’s Degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and in Education Policy & Leadership from Southern Methodist University, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo.

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Clara Mabour is a first year STEM Education Ph.D currently researching hip hop as a culturally sustaining method for teaching STEM. She has a bachelor's in environmental science from the University of Florida. Prior to starting her studies at Tufts, Clara taught high school science and research and she ran STEM and invention focused afterschool programs and summer camps in South Florida. Her experience as a Haitian immigrant in South Florida have shaped her teaching approaches research interests. Clara’s research interests focus on the intersection of culture, learner agency, materials, and problem solving in informal and formal K-12 STEM learning spaces.

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Marvez is a PhD student in the joint STEM Education and Cognitive Sciences program at Tufts University interested in games, language, and controversial discussions. In past research projects, they have worked on the development of virtual simulations for teachers to practice leading controversial discussions. They are interested in ways to prepare teachers to facilitate controversial debates with students in STEM classrooms, such as through simulations and games, on topics such as genetic modification, climate change, and public infrastructure. Marvez has also worked on the development of natural language processing models for assessment and personalized feedback in educational settings. At Tufts, Marvez works with McDonnell Family Assistant Professor Greses Pérez in the CEEO on the development of engineering board games for multilingual students in culturally relevant contexts.

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Ymbar I. Polanco Pino is a Civil and Environmental Engineering Ph.D. student, GEM Fellow, and Provost Leadership Fellow at Tufts University. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Missouri. As a researcher in the postsecondary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education space, Ymbar has focused on examining STEM culture's influence on racially and ethnically minoritized students with Dr. Terrell R. Morton and the Justice and Joy Research Team.

Currently, Ymbar is conducting research for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Department of Energy (DOE), alongside Andrew Parker and Dr. Greses Pérez, to enable equity considerations in commercial building energy efficiency programs through data analysis and community engagement. He hopes to continue doing research that supports and creatively engages historically excluded communities within the renewable energy transition. Ymbar is interested in using media and the arts as community-preferred learning approaches to demystify complex scientific concepts, rendering them more accessible, relatable, and engaging. This approach not only enhances community engagement and participation in energy justice initiatives but also contributes to a more inclusive and equitable educational landscape.

Ymbar is a research assistant for Dr. Greses Pérez, Tufts University Professor in Engineering Education, Mechanical Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering.

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