Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance

Dr. Vemitra Alexander, a native of Crawford, Mississippi, graduated with her Ph.D. in 2016 from Mississippi State University in Instructional Systems and Workforce Development.

Kayla Baker (she/her) is the diversity program manager at APS, where she manages the activities and organization of APS-IDEA.

Allison Boley, Ph.D., is an associate teaching professor at Arizona State University.

Sidney Brandhorst (she/her) is a research advancement administrator at the School for Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University.

Dessie Clark (she/her) is the associate director for program assessment and research collaboration of University of Massachusetts, Amherst’s ADVANCE Program.

Charles Henderson, Ph.D., is the distinguished university professor within the Department of Physics and Mallinson Institute for Science Education at Western Michigan University.

Marvin Jones, Jr. (he/him) is a Ph.D. candidate in astrophysics at Indiana University Bloomington.

Mhlambululi Mafu, Ph.D., is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Physics at Case Western Reserve University.

Rachel Renbarger, Ph.D., is an educational psychologist with her research focusing on equity in P-20 public education.

Natalie Ruiz is an education program manager for the American Physical Society (APS). Her program portfolio includes the APS Bridge Program and APS-IDEA. In addition to serving administrative roles in these programs, Natalie serves as a community facilitator in an effort to promote diversity and inclusion in the field of physics.

Jasper Scelsi (he/him) is a physics graduate student at Towson University. His research includes studying the proper motion of “The Swirl” in the oxygen-rich supernova remnant Puppis A.

Christopher Turner (he/him) is an undergraduate physics major at Pomona College.

Michael Wittmann, Ph.D., is the head of education at the American Physical Society, where he is project director for APS Bridge, the Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) Initiative, the Physics Teacher Education Coalition, and APS IDEA. Before coming to APS, Wittmann was a professor at the University of Maine, specializing in education research (PER), and co-founder of a Master of Science Teaching and Ph.D. in STEM Education. He was editor of the PER Section of the American Journal of Physics from 2012 to 2019, and co-organizer of the biennial Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Research conference from 2005 to 2019.