Dr. Kelly Mack is the Vice President for Undergraduate STEM Education and Executive Director of Project Kaleidoscope at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).  In this capacity, Dr. Mack provides leadership for the organization’s mission-level commitments to equity and quality through the delivery of world-class STEM faculty professional development.

Prior to joining AAC&U, Dr. Mack was the Senior Program Director for the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Program while on loan from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore where, as a Professor of Biology, she taught courses in Physiology and Endocrinology for 17 years. Recognized as a national thought leader in higher education, Dr. Mack’s work has been highlighted in Diverse Magazine and U.S. News and World Report. Currently, she serves on the external advisory boards for several institutional transformation initiatives at NSF-funded ADVANCE and HBCU Undergraduate Program institutions, as Co-Editor of the ADVANCE Journal, and as a member of the National Academies Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education and the Howard University School of Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors. Dr. Mack is also co-founder and Chair of the Board of the Society of STEM Women of Color, Inc., the nation’s leading organization that supports women of color in the academic STEM disciplines.

Yolander Youngblood, PhD is a tenured Associate Professor of Biology at Prairie View A & M University (PV), USA. Dr. Youngblood has over 20 years of experience, where she has made it her priority to work with first-generation and minoritized students. Professor Youngblood has served as an Educator, Researcher, Mentor, and Open Educational Resources (OER) Advocate in her various roles throughout her career. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of STEM Leadership and Broadening Participation.  Recent honors include 2023 Project Kaleidoscope STEM Leadership Institute Participant, Academic Director for the Texas Academy of Science, and 2020 listing as one of 1000 “Inspiring Black Scientists in America”.

Dr. Youngblood received her BS degree in Biology from the University of Southern Mississippi, USA, her MS degree in Botany from the University of South Florida, USA, and her PhD. in Botany from the University of Florida, USA. She also received a certificate in Academic Leadership in Higher Education from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, USA.  Her plant research centers on Amaranthus palmeri and the use of acetic acid as an organic growth inhibitor. She studies and characterizes the structural and cellular responses of leaves to certain environmental conditions. Her research is funded by the National Science Foundation. She has made several scientific presentations and published several manuscripts, micrographs, and peer reviewed articles. Past broadening participation activities include serving as founding Board member of the Georgia Alliance of Minority School Leaders, founding PURSUE Undergraduate Research Journal at PV, creating the Capital Area Biotechnology Partnership (CABP) at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology (HU) and serving as Charter Faculty and Implementing the Biotechnology program at HU.

Shanalee Gallimore is a program director in the Office of Undergraduate STEM Education at the American Association for Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). She possesses vast experience and expertise in qualitative research methods that can be applied to our understanding of how STEM faculty and administrators can learn about themselves through reflection and introspection and employ the habits of mind needed for career advancement and success in the STEM academy.

Dr. Gallimore’s work centers on well-being as a necessary factor for career advancement. She foregrounds her positionality from a Black feminist epistemology perspective, prioritizing Black women’s lived experiences as a valid source of knowledge production. Her research focuses on the holistic well-being of Black women graduate students in STEM because centering the stories of Black women from a strength-based lens is of utmost importance in Dr. Gallimore’s research. She believes it is crucial to share the stories of Black women in STEM who are thriving within their respective spaces.

Dr. Gallimore received her bachelor’s and master’s degree in biology from Florida A&M University, a Historically Black College and University in Tallahassee, FL, and her Ph.D. in Higher Education from Indiana University Bloomington.