Leadership Team

Martha-Elizabeth “Marty” Baylor (Carleton College, Lead PI, CDT)

Marty Baylor's CV

Marty Baylor is currently physics faculty and Chair of the Physics and Astronomy Department at Carleton College. An experimentalist by training, her research interests lie in the area of optical signal processing and integrated optofluidic devices. Her background attending a small liberal arts college (Kenyon College), teaching at a middle and high school at a K-12 private school (Maret School), and working as an optical engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center inform her passion for teaching and supporting students from diverse backgrounds whose path through Carleton intersect with the department. She has served as chair of the APS Committee on Education and has developed many of her own materials to do EDI work in her physics classroom. Marty is the Lead PI on this project and serves as a physics member of the Curriculum Development Team (CDT).

Jesús Pando (DePaul University, Co-PI, CDT)

Jesús Pando's CV

Jesús Pando is the Chair of Physics and Astrophysics Department at DePaul University. An astrophysicist by training, his research involves the characterization of large scale structure in the universe. He has long been involved in EDI efforts in STEM, currently serving on the APS IDEA program steering committee and on the APS IGEN Bridge program advisory committee. In the past, he has served on and chaired the APS Committee on Minorities, was on the organizing committee and served as the chair of the new APS Forum on Diversity and Inclusion, was on the panel on the State of the Profession for the National Academies 2020 Decadal survey, served for many years on the board of the National Society of Hispanic Physicists, and was involved in many other task forces and committees to address the inequities for historically minoritized communities in STEM. Jesús is co-PI on this project and serves as a physics member of the Curriculum Development Team.

Peggy O'Neill (Smith College, Co-PI, CDT, critical conversation specialist)

Peggy O'Neill's CV

Margaret “Peggy” O’Neill is currently assistant professor at the Smith College School for Social Work where she served as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for three years. As a clinical social worker by training and Licensed Clinical Social Worker, she is an educator and researcher with expertise in holding critical conversations in the classroom and beyond and co-creator of the Critical Conversations model. Peggy focuses her scholarship on community trauma and capacity building using intersectional and anti-oppressive praxis. Evaluation of the CC model has been undertaken through development and implementation of multiple trainings for social work faculty, undergraduate faculty at Smith College, and faculty from other university and college schools of social work and health sciences. She is a co-principal investigator (co-PI) on the Social Justice Conversations Project, a pilot randomized control study examining the effects of contemplative practice on the experience of undergraduate women facing the social challenge of group conversations about race, class, and gender using the CC model. Peggy is a co-PI on this project and serves as an EDI and critical conversations specialist member of the Curriculum Development Team.

Erika Brown (American Physical Society, Co-PI)

Erika Brown's CV

Erika Brown is an Education and Diversity Program Manager at the American Physical Society. She is currently the Program Manager and a member of the Steering Committee for the APS Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (APS-IDEA). In her time at APS, Dr. Brown has also managed a portfolio of diversity-focused programs, including the APS Bridge Program, the National Mentoring Community and the Inclusive Graduate Education Network. She has served as staff liaison to several APS units, such as the APS Forum on Diversity and Inclusion (FDI) and the APS Committee on Minorities (COM). Dr. Brown is a proud alumna of the all-women's HBCU, Spelman College, and earned her MS and PhD from Brown University. Prior to joining the APS, Dr. Brown completed a postdoc at Emory University as an IRACDA FIRST fellow, and taught several courses at Spelman College. Dr. Brown is a Co-PI and serves as APS staff liaison for this project.

This project is funded by the APS Innovation Fund.