Alexis Briggins

Mentor: Vivek Vellanki

Alexis Briggins (she/her) is a current doctoral student and Ronald E. McNair fellow in the Counseling Psychology Program at Indiana University Bloomington. Her minor is in Human Sexuality. Alexis earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a mental health concentration and a cultural competency certificate from Central Michigan University.

Alexis is deeply committed to serving underserved communities, specifically focusing on the Black community. She is dedicated to making a positive impact both in the counseling room and through her research endeavors. Alexis is privileged to work under the mentorship of Dr. James Brooks within the Race and Relationships lab, where her research centers around understanding the influence of sex on mental health.

Presently, Alexis serves as the mental health graduate assistant for the Groups Scholars program, where she directly engages with the students. Additionally, she actively contributes to the campus community through her involvement with the Neal-Marshall Black Cultural Center and as a representative on the Mental Health Student Advisory Council. She also actively engages in service through her membership of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated. Alexis is committed to driving positive change and advancing mental health awareness, particularly within marginalized communities.

JC Campbell

Mentor: Andrea Walton

JC Campbell has been in the education field for over a decade. He has worked in both public and higher education institutions. JC has worked in admissions, alumni relations, compliance, and diversity. He currently is the Vp for Enrollment Management at Oakland City University in Indiana. He holds degrees from Georgetown College and the University of Louisville. JC also has been honored as Alumnus of the Year from Georgetown College, Evansville Rotary's 20 under 40 recipients, a member of the Independent Colleges of Indiana's Leadership Academy, and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.

Jayla Langford

Mentor: Leonard Taylor

Jayla Langford is a doctoral student in The Higher Education & Student Affairs program. Jayla is originally from Louisville, Kentucky and holds a B.S. degree from Purdue University in 2021 in Mathematics. She also graduated from Indiana University - Bloomington with her M.S.Ed. in Higher Education & Student Affairs in 2023. Jayla is passionate about helping undergraduate minority women find their passions through the realms of STEM, positively impacting other students to find their values, encouraging students to combat compassion fatigue, and racial battle fatigue. During the Ph.D. program, she works as a Research Project Associate at the Center for IU’s Postsecondary Research with The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Project Services. She plans to become a STEM Director for underrepresented students at a university.

Tiondra Little

Mentor: James Brooks

Tiondra is a first-year student in the School Psychology Doctoral Program at Indiana University. She is from Chicago, Illinois, and received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Illinois State University with minors in African-American Studies, Children’s Studies, and Sociology. Tiondra’s research interests lie in expanding our knowledge and understanding of biracial youths’ experiences as different factors shape and influence academic, social, behavioral, and emotional development and well-being. More specifically, Tiondra is interested in identity formation, perceptions of self, social belonging, and familial and societal expectations. Ultimately, Tiondra is determined to make a difference in students' lives by promoting healthy practices, supporting and advocating for diverse learners, creating a safe and positive school climate, and engaging in challenging endeavors to improve student progress and school outcomes.

Esther Kataate Namakula

Mentor: Chris Lubienski

Esther Kataate Namakula, an international Ph.D. student at Indiana University's School of Education, specializes in Science Education. Esther has been among the minority groups of female students in the Physics classes that she took and a minority as a Physics Staff in the institutions he has taught in in Uganda. With a background in instructing Physics to secondary school preservice teachers and teaching Physics and Chemistry to high school students, she is passionate about improving science education, especially in Physics. Esther aspires to become a proficient Science Educator and researcher, focusing on Physics Education and gender inclusivity in classrooms. Her commitment involves contributing to the educational community through research, internships, externships, teaching, and mentorship. Her primary research interest lies in exploring Teacher Educator's Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), orientations, with a focus on promoting gender inclusivity in Physics Education in the Context of Ugandan Schools. She believes that if the teacher educators include this when teaching their students, the practice would be carried on by the students. Esther is dedicated to addressing the dynamics of gender, power, and identity within the teaching and learning of Physics.

Yaitza Rodríguez

Mentor: Serafín M. Coronel-Molina

Yaitza's deep respect for formal education, her belief in its pivotal role in human development, and her eagerness to contribute to an educational paradigm shift has driven her to pursue a second doctoral degree in Literacy, Language, and Culture with a minor in Learning and Developmental Sciences. Yaitza holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature, an M.A. in Communication Theory and Research, and a Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Puerto Rico. Her doctoral dissertation, titled The Origins of Spanish Caló: a cognitive grammar analysis of word formation in Iberian Romani, was awarded by the Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española. Over the past decade, she has worked as a college instructor of Applied Linguistics in Spanish. In addition, she has held roles as a middle-school teacher, content developer for Spanish textbooks, mentor for public school teachers, assessment developer, workshop instructor on reading comprehension, and educational speaker on teaching strategies for K-8 teachers. Before embarking on this educational journey, she worked as a reporter, editor, and corporate communications specialist.

She aims to investigate how the cognitive, language, and cultural domains are interconnected in learning. This study will inform the curriculum design in literacy and shed light on developing effective teaching strategies in biliteracy for the instruction of bicultural learners in school settings. Also, she seeks to provide advice and support to practitioners from underserved communities in the USA and Puerto Rico and foster collaborative projects between higher education and public schools to improve schooling outcomes for learners from underrepresented groups. Besides teaching, Yaitza loves to run long-distance races, ride her mountain bike, swim on the beautiful beaches of Puerto Rico, and write short stories with meaningful messages for children."

Lex Weber

Lex Weber is a first-generation Chicana Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methodology student from Yakima, Washington. She completed her undergraduate studies at Arizona State University with a bachelor's in Criminology & Criminal Justice, where she was a member of the Youth Justice Lab. Primarily, her research has been conducted through interactive programs that encourage the positive development of youth within Arizona youth detention facilities. Additionally, she has researched disparities in the sentencing of juvenile school shooters, cataloged instances of extreme violence and conducted ethnographic studies of protests. Overall, she is interested in research that tells the story of people and that can be used to help better understand the human condition. In her free time, she loves reading, writing stories and working on her guitar skills.