Diedre Gibson is assistant professor of marine and environmental science and biology at Hampton University. While her primary focus is teaching, mainly zoology and marine science, she also performs research, writes grants, and is involved with a number of mentorship and professional development efforts to bring more minorities into the environmental sciences. She came to Hampton in 2002 under the NOAA Living Marine Resources Cooperative Sciences Center program and is noted for the creation of student-based programs to promote undergraduate and graduate research in the marine sciences.  These programs include DREAMS, COSEE-MA, and Hall Bonner.  Gibson is a biological oceanographer, and some of her zooplankton research has been featured on the Discovery Channel’s Science of the Deep: Mid-Water Mysteries.  Her most recent zooplankton publications can be located in the Journal of Plankton Research. She earned her Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of Georgia. Her graduate work included research at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah.

Ronald S. Gird is a meteorologist with NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) and is responsible for the NWS Customer Outreach and Education Programs, a position held since December, 1998.  In this capacity, Gird is responsible for managing all aspects of the NWS Outreach Programs for the 122 NWS forecast offices nation wide.  He works on daily basis with NWS partners such as the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, The Weather Channel, and the American Meteorological Society.  Gird is a member of the California State University-Los Angeles Satellites and Education Advisory Committee, and has served as a consultant to Time/Life Books, the National Geographic Society, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.  He is a member elect of the Penn State University, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Alumni Board.  Previous assignments included managing the NWS Satellite and Spaceflight Programs, the manager at the NWS Satellite Field Service Station at the Severe Storms Prediction Center and at the NOAA Satellite Interactive Processing Branch in Washington DC.  Gird is active in the education community advising organizations; such as, USATODAY, Cobblestone Publishing, Scholastic Magazine and the NBC Washington affiliate, WRC-TV; and he frequently volunteers to make presentations to local school classes and as a science fair judge.  Gird earned his B.S in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University.

Atziri Ibanez is national education coordinator for NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS). She has held this position since 2003 and has led the effort to develop a national curriculum focused on estuaries. In her current position, she provides leadership and coordination on the formulation of plans for NERRS education programs at the national and site level; provides technical guidance on the development of educational and on-line products; evaluates activities and performance; leads fundraising efforts; and most recently led two national studies aimed at advancing the field of estuarine education and ocean observing data literacy. Currently, Ibanez serves on NOAA’s Education Council and Environmental Literacy Steering Committee; chairs several NERRS education related workgroups, and is co-chair of the marine and coastal strand for the North American Association for Environmental Education. Prior to joining NOAA, Ibanez worked for the Academy for Educational Development where she led the implementation of several education and communication programs in Mexico, El Salvador, Panama, Venezuela, Guatemala, Bolivia, and Peru, with special emphasis on capacity-building, behavior change, and strategic planning. She also headed National Wildlife Federation’s program for the Western Hemisphere. Ibanez is originally from Mexico where she got her degree in Economics from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She earned a M.S. in environmental law from Vermont Law School.

Reza Khanbilvardi, NOAA-chair professor of civil engineering at The City University of New York, is director of the NOAA-Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology (CREST) centers and also director of CUNY Center for Water Resources and Environmental Research (CWRER). Khanbilvardi has worked extensively with agencies like NOAA, NASA, NSF, USAID, UN, USDA, and CRDF. He has served as a faculty member in the Civil Engineering department, The City College of The City University of New York since 1984. His research areas of interest and expertise are in water resources and hydrological sciences, land-use and land cover remote sensing, application of remote sensing in precipitation, soil moisture, snow depth estimation, and flush flood forecasting. Khanbilvardi has served as a principal and co-principal investigator on many research and educational grants of about $34M, sponsored by various agencies like NASA, NOAA, NSF, USAID, and NYC State Dept of Energy, Environment and others. Khanbilvardi is also a member of various professional organizations and societies like ASCE, AGU, and International Water Research; Association; Water Research; American Water Resources Association and National Ground Water Association and others. He is a licensed professional engineer in states of New York and Connecticut. He obtained his M.A. in environmental engineering and Ph.D. in CE/water resourced engineering and Post Doctoral in water resources/hydrology degrees from Pennsylvania State University.

Roger Levine is managing research scientist at the American Institutes for Research. He has been involved with diversity research for several decades. Currently, he is directing a project in which AIR is providing technical evaluation assistance for the NSF’s Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences Program. This program is designed to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in the geosciences. He is also the principal investigator for a project to evaluate the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s programs to increase diversity among its grant recipients (the Minority Research Infrastructure Support Program and the Building Research Infrastructure Capacity Program). He has conducted and trained staff in the conduct of critical incident studies, to identify barriers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics career choice and development in individuals with disabilities and to determine the reasons for STEM major choice (or STEM major rejection) in URMs with superior mathematical abilities. Levine also lead an evaluation of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Career Exploration Program, a Department of Defense sponsored career exploration in which nearly one million high school students participate each year.

Ramon E. Lopez is professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Texas at Arlington.  Lopez is a fellow of the American Physical Society and was awarded the 2002 Nicholson Medal for Humanitarian Service to Science.  He leads a research group that is working in both space physics and science education, and he is the co-director for diversity at the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (CISM), a NSF-funded science and technology center.  His current research focuses solar wind-magnetosphere coupling and the interpretation of scientific visualization, and he is the author or co-author of 117 publications, including the popular science book Storms from the Sun.  Lopez is active in promoting high quality science education and diversity in science at all levels.  He has served as a consultant for school districts and state education agencies around the country, and on several education-related committees for the American Geophysical Union, the American Physical Society, and the National Academy of Sciences. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS).  From 1994 - 1999, Lopez was the director of education and outreach for the American Physical Society, and in 2005 he was Chair of the American Physical Society Forum on Education. Lopez earned his B.S. in physics from the University of Illinois, and his Ph.D. in space physics from Rice University.

Laurie McGilvray is chief of the Estuarine Reserves Division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a position she has held since 1999. She is responsible for working with 27 existing reserves and one proposed reserve as part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System.  She has held several other positions at NOAA, including:  acting deputy director for the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM); co-director of the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology, a joint institute with the University of New Hampshire; policy analyst working on NOAA strategic planning and budget; and Pacific and Atlantic regional manager with OCRM’s Coastal Programs Division.  She earned a B.S. in biology from Denison University in Ohio and a M.A. in marine affairs from the University of Rhode Island. 

Eric M. Riggs is associate professor in the Departments of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Curriculum and Instruction at Purdue University. He serves on the executive committee of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and is a member of the Earth System Science Education research group at Purdue University. Riggs and his graduate students study aspects of field-based teaching and learning in the geosciences, focusing on issues of geoscience knowledge construction, spatial cognition related to geoscience expertise, and cross-cultural education. Riggs is the co-founder of the Indigenous Earth Sciences Project, based at Purdue, which is a research and outreach effort working to make geoscience education accessible and useful to Native Americans across North America. His research interests include the influence of culture and language on science learning. He is also interested in teacher education and the development of constructivist strategies in earth science teaching. He has received several awards and honors for his outstanding teaching. He earned a B.A. in English literature at Pomona College, and received both a B.S. in geology and a Ph.D. in earth sciences at the University California-Riverside.

Larry Robinson is a professor in the Environmental Sciences Institute at Florida A&M University (FAMU). Since 2001 he has served as Director of NOAA’s Environmental Cooperative Science Center housed at FAMU. Robinson was director of FAMU’s Environmental Sciences Institute where his efforts led to the establishment of B.S. and Ph.D. degree programs. He was selected to serve as FAMU’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs in 2003. In 2007 he was selected as Chief Science Advisor to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). He is a founding member of NSF’s National Ecological Observatory Network Science Technology Education Advisory Committee. Presently, Robinson is FAMU’s campus coordinator for Florida Sea Grant as well as a member of the board of trustees of the Florida Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, the international advisory board of the Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and the Leon County Water Resources Committee. In addition to serving on numerous scientific advisory boards, Robinson was chair of the Council of Academic Vice Presidents for the State University System of Florida; chair of the Florida Board of Education Statewide Course Numbering System Faculty Committee on Environmental Studies; chair of the Biology and Medicine Division of the American Nuclear Society; charter member of the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors; and treasurer and executive board member, East Tennessee Chapter of the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. He earned a B.S. degree in chemistry from Memphis State University, and a Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis.

Jacqueline Rousseau is director of the NOAA Office of Education, Educational Partnership Program (EPP) and associate director for Student Opportunities. In this capacity she oversees the administration of the six grants programs ranging from individual scholarship awards to financial assistance awards granted to academic institutions totaling $12.5 million over a five year period. Rousseau began her 20-year career with NOAA as a federal program manager for coastal resource management programs and spent seven years as an international affairs specialist representing NOAA and the U.S, government in international environmental negotiations. Rousseau earned her graduate degree from the University of California, Davis in natural resource management.

Marci Wulff is the national education coordinator for NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP). Wulff has been actively involved in education and outreach initiatives throughout her career. She spent many years in the tropics working for private and non-governmental organizations. Her tenure with these organizations gave her a broad range of experiences. She has done research on marine mammals and coral reef ecosystems in both Hawaii and Australia, developed an experiential education program in Costa Rica and has extensive experience in interpreting science for the general public. Wulff is responsible for leading the CRCP’s national education program which includes refining and implementing an education strategy for the program, building and maintaining strategic partnerships with key education networks, and the development and dissemination of ocean science content and tools. Since beginning her position at NOAA, Wulff has been intimately involved in building capacity for education and outreach initiatives with state and territory jurisdiction partners. She earned a B.S. in biology with an emphasis in marine science from Utah State University and the University of Oregon and a M.S. in education leadership from the University of Hawaii.