2025 Guest Writers

Dr. Imène Ghernati, whose PhD. is in Immunology and Virology, is a veterinarian scientist. Originally from Algeria, she has spent the past 15 years in Urban Education in the Bay Area, CA, after completing a Master’s in Urban Education and Social Justice.

Dr. Ghernati was the Field placement coordinator and assistant professor at the University of San Francisco, where she oversaw student teacher placements, cooperating teachers, and supervisor training and taught a seminar for incoming student teachers. During her six years at the University of San Francisco in this role, Dr. Ghernati built school-university partnerships to support humanizing, place-based, and community-based teacher preparation fieldwork and an intern support program for intern teachers. She co-founded and co-directed the Summer Academy Program in partnership with Gateway Schools.

She is currently the executive director and founder of the STEAM Learning Institute, which envisions a world where all learners have equitable access to the emergent power and potential of STEAM education. She authored and edited a Starter Guide on Liberatory STEAM Education and a companion workbook. The Guide aims to build a structure that includes people from communities often marginalized in STEAM.

She has been teaching a course on Liberatory STEAM education to K-12 educators around multiple states.

Terrence Southern is an award-winning Robotics & Automation expert, speaker, influencer of innovation, entrepreneur and philanthropist who is a nationally recognized thought leader, strategist and consultant in the manufacturing automation industry and STEM Education & Workforce Development. Terrence is a past participant in the Aspen Institute Roundtable discussion on Artificial Intelligence participant and 2012 BEYA recipient. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences relating to Robotics & Artificial Intelligence and Youth STEM events.

Southern is Founder and Chairman of Illuminate STEM and has BS in Computer Science from Tennessee State University and is Advisory Board member at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Dr. Joyce Hunter is Executive Director of Mission Critical that centers on advancing global cybersecurity through strategic partnerships and educational initiatives. Our team’s mission is to bridge the gap between critical infrastructure challenges and innovative solutions, empowering stakeholders and communities through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Mission Critical bridges the gap between critical infrastructure challenges and innovative solutions, empowering stakeholders and communities through interdisciplinary collaboration. The non-profit focuses on the Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals Program at F3Technologies, and pioneered efforts to integrate entrepreneurs, HBCUs, and key industry players, fostering an environment of shared knowledge and growth. Hunter also serves as a Member of the Board of Advisors for Emergent Connext, Inc.

2024 Guest Writers

Cyril Azubuine has a track record of volunteering and is an advocate for STEM fields. He is an Azure Support Engineer as a Microsoft contractor providing technical support to clients, customers, and service partners on various cloud products, such as networking, virtualization, app development, authentication, backup, and recovery. He is based in Lagos Mainland, Lagos State, Nigeria.

He founded ioTEA lab to promote the tech community and the women-in-tech ecosystem, using the STEAM pedagogical content knowledge to empower under-represented communities. Azubuine is also aligned with the goals to create sustainable future through quality education and gender equality.

Adriana Bankston earned her PhD in Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology from Emory University and has since established a prolific career in science policy. She works on building the next generation STEM workforce through policy research, training, mentoring, skill building and advocacy. She currently serves as a Senior Fellow in Science Policy at the Federation of American Scientists, where she is focused on a policy entrepreneurship project.

Prior to this role, Adriana was a Principal Legislative Analyst at the University of California Office of Federal Governmental Relations, where she served as an advocate for the university’s research priorities with Congress, the Administration and federal agencies. She is a former Policy & Advocacy Fellow with the Society for Neuroscience and CEO & Managing Publisher of the Journal of Science Policy & Governance.

Dr. Robinson is an Associate Professor and Director of Secondary & PK12 Education at Elmhurst University, IL. She earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences and Secondary Education and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in science and environmental education. She has taught grades 9-12 science in Chicago Public Schools and has dedicated her career to preparing teachers to teach STEM in culturally relevant and sustaining ways. She serves as the Principal Investigator for a National Science Foundation Noyce STEM Teacher Scholarship Program. The grant addresses the critical shortage of diverse STEM teachers locally and nationally.

In 2023, Dr. Robinson founded the George Washington Carver: Center for the Advancement of Science Education to dismantle sources of inequity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The mission of The Carver Science Center is to promote racial equity in STEM, addressing barriers to academic achievement, the STEM workforce, and scientific advancement. She is an active member of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Board member of A Black Education Network (ABEN), and President Emeritus of the Board of Girls Like Me Project Inc. (GLMPI)

2023 Guest Writers

Stephan A. Schwartz is an award-winning author of both fiction and non-fiction, columnist for the journal Explore, and editor of the daily web publication Schwartzreport.net in both of which he covers trends that are affecting the future. He contributes columns to the Huffington Post along with dozens of articles involving Exceptional Human Performance Research, journals and technical reports on Social values, Social Outcomes, Social transformation and Future Trend Analysis Research.

His other academic and research appointments include Senior Samueli Fellow for Brain, Mind and Healing of the Samueli Institute; founder and Research Director of the Mobius laboratory; Director of Research of the Rhine Research Center; and Senior Fellow of The Philosophical Research Society.

Government appointments include: Special Assistant for Research and Analysis to the Chief of Naval Operations, consultant to the Oceanographer of the Navy. He has also been editorial staff member of National Geographic Magazine, Managing Editor of Sea Power Magazine. And staff reporter and feature writer for The Daily Press and The Times Herald.

Ms. King has Masters of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Management (MSEEM) from Georgia Tech School of Public Policy, with 25+ years in forestry, sustainability, and community engagement; Georgia Conservancy Board; Statewide Forestry Marketing, Georgia Forestry Commission; Project Manager, Legislative Forum Post Katrina; environmental consulting across the U.S. since 1996.

Her Expertise includes, Sustainability & Systems Thinking – Sustainability Environmental Practitioner; 25+ years environmental/forestry experience, policy strategy, and B2B project management. Skilled in managing state-wide and national initiatives in collaboration with decentralized stakeholders, cross functional teams identifying collaborative partners, sponsors, public/private, peer-reviewed & co-author for energy policy research. Global Liaison, United Nations Regional Centre of Excellence (RCE) Leadership Circle.

Public Policy – Environmental Fellow/Institute for Georgia Environmental Leadership (IGEL), SNDSI Board Chair, largest urban community in Atlanta’s Beltline (addressing highest levels of foreclosures and policies impacting land banking); lobbied Congress on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation several times related to the Clean Air Bill, food subsidies for emerging countries; peer-reviewed co-author “The Persistence of High Energy Burdens: A Bibliometric Analysis of Vulnerability, Poverty, and Exclusion in the United States,” Energy Research and Social Science, Vol. 70, September. Brown, Marilyn A., Anmol Soni, Ameet D. Doshi, and Charlotte King.

Communications and training – instructional design, national communications; B2B marketing communications for 20+ Fortune 500; designed curriculum for the Community Tree Leadership Forum – National Arbor Day Foundation, delivered annually to 100+ community forestry leaders.

Dr. Coleman is the founder of Coleman Comprehensive Solutions, LLC, the creator of the STEM Skills online course platform, the persona behind the Academic Blue Blood brand, and the host of Beyond the Classroom with Dr. Trina Coleman on HBCUSmartTV and HBCUiRadio. Dr. Coleman is formally educated as a Ph.D. physicist, with a doctoral degree in Theoretical Nuclear Physics from Hampton University.

As a scholar and former academic administrator, Dr. Coleman crafted a diverse professional portfolio. From post-doctoral researcher and faculty member to executive director, assistant provost and CIO, her experience ranges across a broad spectrum. Her professional journey includes educating high school and postsecondary students in physics and astronomy, conducting unclassified research sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency, and spearheading enterprise initiatives as a member of the Howard and Hampton University administrations.

Presently, Dr. Coleman is back in the classroom as an adjunct professor to provide academic support in physics and other STEM courses at Virginia Union University and Bowie State University. She believes in devoting time and resources toward improving skills in math and the sciences while providing mentorship opportunities. This formula will ultimately equip students to become the new technological and scientific workforce. It is also her goal to help find solutions for closing the STEM race/gender gap.

Dr. Anderson is an Engineer, Educator, and Entrepreneur specializing in helping minority women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) who feel overshadowed, overwhelmed, and overlooked to speak up for themselves and speak out in order to advance themselves in their personal and professional lives. She is the CEO & Founder of Smart STEM, LLC. a successful DEI and STEM education and empowerment program where her experience in STEM and education is applied to assist organizations in the development of programs that will lead to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace for all. Dr. Anderson also uses her experiences as a woman of color and as a certified life coach to assist other minority women in getting control of their lives and in developing a personal action plan (PAP).

Her podcast, STEMming in Stilettos, is all about showcasing the stories of women of color in STEM. The production makes sure that the audience walks away with advice that can be used to advance their own careers. You can catch the podcast anywhere you listen to podcast or https://stemminginstilettos.buzzsprout.com.

2022 Guest Writers

Maria Anna Van Driel
The Nexttruth