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Dr. Jerrod A. Henderson (“Dr. J”) is an Assistant Professor in the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston (UH).

He began his higher education pursuits at Morehouse College and North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University where he earned degrees in both Chemistry and Chemical Engineering as a part of the Atlanta University Center’s Dual Degree in Engineering Program. While in college he was a Ronald E. McNair Scholar which afforded him the opportunity to intern at NASA Langley. He also earned distinction as a Phi Beta Kappa member and an American Chemical Society Scholar. Dr. Henderson completed his Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During his time as a graduate student, he was a NASA Harriet G. Jenkins Graduate Fellow.

Dr. Henderson has dedicated his career to increasing the number of students who are on pathways to pursue STEM careers. He believes that exposing students to STEM early will have a lasting impact on their lives and academic pursuits. He is the co-founder of the St. Elmo Brady STEM Academy (SEBA). SEBA is an educational intervention aimed at exposing underrepresented fourth and fifth-grade students and their families to hands-on STEM experiences.

In addition to being a professor, Henderson is the Director of the Program for Mastery in Engineering Studies (PROMES, pronounced “promise”), a program aimed at increasing engineering student achievement, engagement, and graduation rates. His research interests are in engineering identity development among Black males. He was most recently recognized by INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine as an Inspiring STEM Leader, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS) Outstanding Young Alumni Award, and Career Communications Group with a Black Engineer of the Year Award for college-level promotion of engineering education.

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Brian L. McGowan, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Education and Associate Director in the Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning at American University. As an equity minded scholar-practitioner, Brian is committed to improving the material conditions of racially/ethnically minoritized students and faculty who are too often underrepresented, misunderstood, relegated, and rendered disposable. His interdisciplinary scholarship has provided important insights into how interpersonal relationships shape the learning and identity development of Black men. His emergent research focuses on the social context of teaching and learning in a variety of educational contexts including STEM. He translates research into practice and is often sought after to help postsecondary educational leaders transform their practices, policies, and processes toward more equitable outcomes.

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Kristin Luthringer Schaefer is a licensed professional engineer (PE) and a certified teacher (K-12), both in Texas, as well as the owner of her own consulting firm, Schaefer Engineering. She obtained both her bachelor's and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering (ME) from Texas A&M University and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston. Her PhD research interests are in STEM education, especially with underrepresented minority students of all ages, STEM mentors, and their motivations and/or persistence. The first part of her career was spent designing residential split system HVAC equipment and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) units for Trane in Tyler, TX. Kristin has taught about design, engineering, and manufacturing to students of all ages in various places including to preschoolers via Schaefer Engineering’s STEM outreach, to senior mechanical engineering undergraduates at Texas A&M University, to eighth graders in KatyISD at Beckendorff Junior High, and to freshmen mixed major undergraduates at the University of Houston. Her favorite topic for professional-level education of career engineers is engineering ethics, which is required by most state licensing boards.

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Dr Le Shorn Benjamin is an American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Engineering Postdoctoral Fellow (E-Fellow) and past New York City Teaching Fellow. She has amassed over a decade of experience in the field of education and over this time has been bestowed the honor of “Outstanding Research”, “Diversity Efforts” and “Faculty Endowed Recognition” awards. Her career spans local and international borders and have included roles in educational research, program administration, higher education accreditation and K-12 teaching. Dr Benjamin's research agenda explores issues related to minoritized student experiences, doctoral-level program quality, and engineering education. She is constantly envisioning novel ways to promote educational equity and consistently applies an educational quality lens to her scholarship.

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