2026 S-STEM New PI Bootcamp​

Day 1

Travis York, American Association for the Advancement of Science

• Travis T. York, Ph.D.,serves as the Director of the Center for STEMM Education & Workforce (CSEW)  at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In his role, Dr. York provides leadership for all of AAAS’s externally facing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives. York’s research and work focus on catalyzing and sustaining systemic change and transformation to achieve inclusive and equitable access and progress through STEMM pathways into the STEMM workforce.  Within AAAS, York provides leadership to a talented team who collaborate to create change through dozens of grant-funded projects and initiatives spanning all STEMM fields and the entire educational pathway including the STEMM Opportunity Alliance – recently launched at the White House Summit on STEMM Equity & Excellence, AAAS’s SEA Change Initiative, AAAS S-STEM REC, ARISE Network, Equitable Pathways Project, L’Oreal USA Women in Science Fellowships, and HBCU Making & Innovation Showcase. 

Denisa Traboini, National Science Foundation

• Denisa Traboini is a Grants Management Specialist at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the Office of Award Management (formerly the Division of Grants and Agreements). She holds a master’s degree in administration from Boston College and has extensive experience working in higher education, nonprofit organizations, and private industry. In her current role, she provides pre- and post-award grants management support to the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS).

Day 2

Brandon Mitchell, Westchester University

• Brandon Mitchell is a Professor of Physics at West Chester University who specializes in using rare earth-doped semiconductors for next-generation micro-LED displays and quantum information. He currently has four NSF funded research projects in these areas in collaboration with the University of Delaware, the University of Pennsylvania, Lehigh University, and Osaka University Dr. Mitchell is also the Director of Undergraduate Outreach and engagement for the WCU Center for Nanomaterials and the Director of Outreach and Access for the WCU Center for STEM Inclusion. He is also the Director of the WCU S-STEM Program, which focuses on Nanoscience in Health and Technology. Prof. Mitchell has hosted several hands-on events and workshops introducing students in Grades 7 – 10 to the basics of nanoscience and the benefits of its applications to society.

Patricia Foley, College of the Canyons

I began my academic career as a low-income, first-generation college student at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a double major in Biological Systems Engineering and
Biochemistry. After completing a doctorate in Chemical Engineering at Cornell University,
and a postdoctoral appointment at the NYU School of Medicine, I began teaching at John
Jay College in 2012. My experience at John Jay shifted my career focus to STEM education. I
am currently a teaching professor and the chair of the Engineering Department at College
of the Canyons, located in Southern California. I serve as the PI for a Track 2 S-STEM grant
to improve educational outcomes for STEM students on our campus.

Olivia Long, University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg

• Olivia Long, Ph.D., has served as a faculty member for over ten years, teaching Biology and
  Biochemistry to undergraduates at a regional campus. Recently, she served as a rotating
  Program Director at the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate
  Education, where she oversaw and supported programs including S-STEM, IUSE, NOYCE,
  ATE, ITYC, and RCN-UBE. These programs collectively focus on broadening participation,
  improving undergraduate STEM education, and supporting institutional transformation. Dr.
  Long is also engaged in educational research focused on STEM identity formation, with
  particular emphasis on cohort-based programming and inclusive teaching practices that
  support underrepresented, rural, and first-generation students. Her current research
  examines how short-course interventions and interdisciplinary strategies can foster
  professional identity and enhance retention among STEM majors. Additionally, Dr. Long
  leads an active undergraduate research group that has worked on various projects and
  presented their research at local, regional, and national conferences.

Nina de las Alas, MN Associates, Inc.

• Nina de las Alas is a senior research associate. She brings over 20 years of experience in conducting research and evaluation in comprehensive school reform, leadership matters at organizations, and teacher quality and improvement issues. Previously, she was employed at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO, DC). Nina has extensive experience in both quantitative and qualitative research methods on federal and state grant programs. Her main areas of interest include the collective impact among human, social, and resource capital, and community revitalization.

  Education: B.A. International Affairs (University of Virginia)
  (M.A.) Education Policy (George Washington University)

Amanda Parsad, American Institutes for Research

• Amanda Parsad is a managing director at American Institutes for Research (AIR). In this role, she provides methodological support and quality assurance across AIR’s portfolio of federal education evaluation studies. With over 25 years of experience in research and evaluation, she leads, designs, and conducts experimental, quasi experimental and descriptive studies that inform education policy. Ms. Parsad’s research focuses on evaluating education programs and policies designed to help students prepare for, transition into, succeed in, and afford college.

  For the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences (IES) National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Ms. Parsad has designed studies to assess the effectiveness of programs aimed at preparing students for college, increasing access and success for students historically underrepresented in postsecondary education, and improving college affordability. Her work includes studying potential improvements to two prominent federal college access programs, Upward Bound and GEAR UP. She led the design and analysis of two randomized controlled trials within these programs to examine how program changes could increase college enrollment and persistence for students from low-income households. She also serves as the principal investigator on a set of rigorous studies examining how changes to federal student aid policy affect student enrollment and persistence in college.

  Beyond her work with IES, Ms. Parsad has served as the director of analysis on several evaluations funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) where she was responsible for designing quasi-experimental studies to determine potential long-term program effects of various NSF programs. These included the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, IGERT/GK-12 Traineeship programs, International Research Fellowship Program (IRFP)/East Asia Pacific Study Institutes (EAPSI), the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce), Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM), Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE), as well as National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA’s) higher education portfolio. These studies involved constructing comparison groups using propensity score matching (PSM) and bibliometric analyses.

Kavita Mittapalli, MN Associates, Inc.

• Kavita Mittapalli, Ph.D., CEO of MN Associates, Inc. (MNA) brings about two decades of experience in conducting PK-16 research and evaluation for various programs and initiatives across the nation. To date, MNA has engaged in completing over 60 evaluations of NSF grants in 22 programs including currently providing evaluation technical assistance for the AAAS REC. At MNA, Kavita is supported by a team of six researchers and evaluators including a statistician and an administrative staff member. Kavita is a trained mixed methodologist with a Ph.D. in research design (Education). She has a Master’s in Applied Sociology and a Bachelor’s in Agricultural Sciences. She opened MNA in 2004.

Melissa Rodgers, American Institutes for Research

• Melissa A. Rodgers is a quantitative researcher at the American Institutes for Research. She completed her doctoral work in the Quantitative Methods program within the Educational Psychology Department at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include meta-analysis, selective reporting detection tests and adjustment methods, and handling dependent effects in meta-analysis.

Beth Edmonds, Johnson County Community College

• Beth Edmonds is a professor of Mathematics at Johnson County Community College in
  Overland Park, Kansas where she has made the study of effective leadership a focus. Beth
  has held several leadership rolls including teaching the Phi Theta Kappa leadership course
  for 10 years, serving as mathematics department chair and assistant chair, Faculty Senate
  President, and Educational Affairs Committee Chair. Additionally, Beth has been Vice
  President and President for the Kansas region of the Mathematics Association of America
  and has served a term as national Placement and Assessment Committee chair for the
  American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges.
  Beth has been the PI for Track 1 and Track 2 S-STEM grants since 2016 and recently, has
  served as a mentor in Brandon Mitchell’s S-STEM Mentoring Pilot.

Cory Budischak, Temple University

• Dr. Cory Budischak serves as Associate Professor of Instruction in Electrical and Computer
  Engineering and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs in Temple University’s College of
  Engineering. His professional efforts center on evidence-based engineering education,
  student belonging, and institutional strategies that support academic success for students
  from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

  Dr. Budischak co-leads an NSF S-STEM grant supporting the Sustainable Temple Energy
  and Power Scholars (STEPS) program. STEPS provides scholarships, mentoring, and
  academic support for low-income, high-performing students pursuing electrical
  engineering, with an emphasis on energy and power systems. The program intentionally
  connects financial aid with curricular support, faculty/peer/industry mentorship, and
  professional development to strengthen student persistence and post-graduation
  outcomes.

  Drawing on his experience as a first-generation college student and former community
  college faculty member, Dr. Budischak approaches S-STEM work with a focus on structural
  barriers rather than student deficits. He is particularly interested in how S-STEM programs
  can be designed to scale across institutions while maintaining strong student engagement
  and measurable impact.

Tom Kim, National Science Foundation

• Dr. Thomas D. Kim is from St. John Fisher College where he is a Professor of Chemistry and served as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on Chemistry Education Research, specifically the examination of the expert-novice divide as it pertains to the use and perception of external representations. He served as a program director for the Noyce program during a previous term as a rotator in the Division of Undergraduate Education.

Mike Ferrara, National Science Foundation

•  Michael Ferrara joined NSF as a permanent program officer after serving as a professor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Colorado Denver.

  His education research interests include understanding how outreach and peer teaching experiences impact undergraduate STEM majors and the mathematical and pedagogical preparation of K-12 teachers and graduate teaching assistants. He brings experiences as an informal and classroom educator, a research mathematician, and a mentor to teachers and learners in a breadth of settings to his work at NSF.