DEHEM 2021 Organizing Team
Ava Gurba (She/Her) Co-Founder Ava is currently an MS student in Neuroscience in the United States. Currently, she is doing work in the field of autism. She currently is working on many projects and initiatives related to the inclusion of disabled, neurodivergent, and autistic individuals. She is a disabled advocate and is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education and STEM. She co-founded Disabled in Higher Ed to help amplify disabled voices and demonstrate why disability access and inclusion is an important issue within education and employment. |
Syreeta Nolan (She/Her) Co-Founder Syreeta Nolan is a disability justice advocate. She serves as co-founder of Disabled in Higher Education on Twitter (@DisInHigherEd) and is the founder of JADE (Justice, Advocacy and Disability Education). Her lived experience as a Black, Disabled, bisexual woman have informed her advocacy goals along with her career goals. . Syreeta graduated with her Bachelor’s in Human Health Psychology from the University of California San Diego and hopes to continue to obtain a PhD in Health Policy or Prevention Science. |
Linda Corcoran (she/they) Executive Team Linda is currently a Teagsc Walsh Scholar completing an MSc (by research) in Food Science at University College Cork and Teagasc Ashtown (Ireland). Their research looks at linking consumer liking to steer feeding systems using novel sensory methods. Being an LGBTQ+ researcher with multiple invisible disabilities, Linda is very passionate about diversity and inclusion as well as creating safe, accessible spaces. They are on the Executive Director for Disabled in Higher Ed but are also Grad Chat Lead for PhD Balance and Accessibility Director for Dragonfly Mental Health. |
Alyssa Paparella (She/Her) Executive team Alyssa Paparella is currently a first-year graduate student at Baylor College of Medicine and a recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. During the pandemic, Alyssa created a platform called DisabledInSTEM to connect the STEM community. Through this program, she has created a mentoring program, conducted interviews with those disabled in STEM, and created more awareness at various conferences (such as having a successful session proposal at ABRCMS and being a speaker of her experiences at ReclaimingSTEM). |
Haley Branch (She/Her) Executive Team Haley Branch is a PhD candidate in botany at the University of British Columbia. She has been a wellbeing advocate at her university for the past 3 years, founding an inter-departmental wellness initiative and working with graduate students in other departments across campus to create similar programs. Haley also assisted with the mentoring program developed by DisabledInStem to match disabled mentees with mentors. She believes that disability is often neglected when discussing diversity and when discussing wellbeing, particularly in higher education. She thinks academia can become a more accessible place for chronically ill and disabled individuals and hopes that through this community she can help make that happen. |
Amanda Klingler (She/Her) Executive Team Amanda Klingler is a disabled graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA. Amanda is broadly interested in investigating how animals' genes interact with their environment to affect their behavior. Since beginning her graduate school career, Amanda has begun to focus on disability advocacy, serving as platform organizer for the online community Disabled in Higher Education, and a graduate student co-chair on the University of California System Disability Ad Hoc Committee. During her time at UCLA, Amanda hopes to facilitate disabled undergraduate students' participation in research and develop disability awareness training for STEM professors and teaching assistants. Amanda plans to pursue a career where she can engage in full-time mentorship of early-career scientists. |
Sam Johnston Executive Team I am a Global Thought MA student at Columbia University with a background in development economics and indigenous rights advocacy. I hope to spread the message through academia that disabled people are here and will be heard. Having both dynamic and invisible disabilities, I am passionate about breaking stereotypes about what disability is and changing the system to be accessible to all by design, rather than adding accommodations to inaccessible institutions. Madison McCall (she/her) Event Organizer Madison McCall (she/her) is a PhD student at UNC-Chapel Hill, a Senior Fellow in Stanford University’s Mental Health Innovation Lab, and a Health Policy Research Scholar at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her research primarily focuses on the development and dissemination of digital technologies that promote inclusive, accessible, and equitable mental health care for underserved children and their families. Madison is also a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and the founding director of Illimitable, an organization that highlights and advances the global impact of disabled innovators in science, technology, design, and entrepreneurship. Lindley Slipetz Event Organizer Lindley Slipetz is a quantitative psychology PhD student at University of Virginia, where she researches networks. Previously, she concentrated on network psychometrics, but she is looking to expand her research to other areas of network analysis. Lindley is disabled and excited to work with other individuals on the issues that disabled academics face as well as promoting disability empowerment. |
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Nicole Melzack (They/Them) Event Organizer Nicole is a second year PhD student at The University of Southampton. Their research focuses on sustainable energy storage, and the development of an aluminium-ion battery. They have a Masters in Space Systems Engineering, and are a Chartered Engineer. Nicole is also co-founder of the mental health non-profit blink mental health (blinkmentalhealth.org.uk) which aims to provide practical mental health support to those in the UK who feel they cannot get treatment through the National Health Service (NHS). They are a strong advocate for inclusion and accessibility, believing that the EDI space often forgets about disability. They live with their partner and beautiful cat in the UK. Callie Mahrer Event Organizer Hi! I'm Callie, a first year PhD student at the University of Arizona studying Clinical Translational Science (Hopefully with a focus on vascular physiology/ nephrology). Before coming to UA, I got my masters degree in Biology at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, Connecticut, while working as a postgraduate associate in the lab of Kaelyn Sumigray at Yale University. Prior to earning my MS, I got a BS in Genetics, Cell and Developmental Biology from Arizona State University. I have Cerebral Palsy, a non-verbal learning disability, autism, ADHD, & have struggled with depression and anxiety for many years, as well as chronic illness. I know what it's like to have to fight to navigate lab spaces that aren't made for you in any way, shape or form-and I want better for others. In my (sadly limited) spare time, I enjoy running, drawing, tripping over things every 60-90 seconds, and spending time with my three cats, and two dogs. |
Madison Snider (She/Her) Event Organizer Madison earned her BA in Digital/Print Journalism and History in 2021. While sick with multiple chronic illnesses since the age of 13, she only came to terms with her identity as a disabled woman when her illnesses intensified during college. Madison struggled to receive adequate accommodations, and afterwards helped many other students to navigate the process. Madison is also part of an academic leadership and research council for young adults with autoimmune diseases. She believes in the importance of teaching young people how to advocate for themselves in all areas of life, but especially education. She hopes to go to graduate school for a concentration in the disability and health advocacy arena. Zemen Sarah Berhe Event Organizer Hello, I am Zemen Sarah Berhe (Twitter: @ScienceZemen), a photochemist, educator, science communicator, and a current chemistry Ph.D. candidate at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. My research focuses on the phototoxicity of porphyrins in Dr. Ojadi’s research group. I am the current Chair of the Northeastern Section Younger Chemists Committee (NSYCC) and founder and CEO of Black in Swimming. I am very excited for this year’s Disabled Empowerment in Higher Education month because it gives disabled students a safe space and a voice to share their struggles, challenges, or victories in academia. I hope with this conference, we can change academia to a more inclusive place for disabled students. For any questions or requests, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]. Thank you! Dr. Lisette E. Torres-Gerald Event Organizer Title and Affiliation – Dr. Lisette E. Torres-Gerald, Senior Research Associate and Project Coordinator, TERC Dr. Lisette E. Torres-Gerald is a trained scientist and disabled scholar-activist who is a Senior Research Associate and Project Coordinator at TERC, a non-profit made up of teams of math and science education and research experts. She has a doctorate with a Certificate in Social Justice from the School of Education at Iowa State University and a M.S. in Zoology with a Certificate in Ecology from Miami University. Her academic research focuses on addressing racialized gender justice and disability in science and higher education. Lisette is an active member of Science for the People, serving as a Lead Editor and Accessibility Editor for Science for the People Magazine. She is also a co-founder and executive board member of the National Coalition for Latinxs with Disabilities (CNLD) as well as an advisory board member of Science Friday’s Breakthrough Dialogues Program and the Invisible Disability Project (IDP). Lastly, Lisette has been identified as an AERA/Spencer Foundation Early-Career Scholar and a Kavli Foundation Sponsored Network Leader for Inclusive Science Communication. Website Link - https://www.terc.edu/profiles/lisette-torres-gerald/ |