Mentoring, DEI in STEM, and Chasin’ Waterfalls: Dr. Chrystal Starbird

Dr. Chrystal Starbird is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is passionate about DEI in STEM and mentoring the next generation of diverse scientists. We had an insightful conversation ranging from actionable things institutions can do to better support historically underrepresented students to how she bumps “Everyday I’m Hustlin’” by Rick Ross when she’s in celebration mode! Enjoy! To learn more about her research, check out her site!

Embracing the community ::: Dr. Hadley Wickham

Happy #TidyTuesday! Excited to share an awesome conversation with Hadley Wickham (@hadleywickham), Chief Scientist @rstudio! We tried to stay away from #ggplot2 and the #tidyverse and wanted to focus on his journey and life. Enjoy! #RStats Transcription Transcribed by Nicole Kramer (she/her) JP: What’s up, y’all? It’s your host JP Flores and welcome to From where does it STEM? Hadley: Hi, I’m Hadley Wickham. I’m the chief scientist at RStudio. Basically what me and my team do is develop tools to make data science, like, more fun, easier, and faster.

STEM, STEAM, Make Dream: Dr. Chris Emdin

Christopher Emdin, Ph.D., is the Robert A. Naslund Endowed Chair in Curriculum Theory and Professor of Education at the University of Southern California; where he also serves as Director of youth engagement and community partnerships at the USC Race and Equity Center. He previously served as Director of the Science Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University and alumni fellow at the Hip-hop archive and Hutchins Center at Harvard University. The creator of the #HipHopEd social media movement and Science Genius B.

Rejection just means Redirection: Dr. Angeline Dukes

Angeline Dukes is a PhD candidate and neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine. She is a proud alumnus of Fisk University and the Founder and President of Black in Neuro! We had great conversations about being a mentor and overcoming imposter syndrome. This fall, she will also be starting at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor! Transcription Transcribed by Marisa Zimmerman (she/her) JP: What’s up, y’all?

Words of Wisdom: Dr. Francis Collins

It was an honor and privilege to interview Dr. Francis Collins M.D., Ph.D. He was appointed the 16th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by President Barack Obama and continued to serve under Presidents Trump and Biden. Dr. Collins is the only Presidentially appointed NIH Director to serve more than one administration. Dr. Collins is a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes (cystic fibrosis) and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project which was completed in 2003.