Danielle Nicole Aguilar (she/her) is the granddaughter of Mirna Prieto, Maria del Refugia Aguilar, Jose Prieto, and Rafael Aguilar. She is the proud daughter of Lorraine Y. Velasquez and Antonio Aguilar. Hailing from Ontario, California, Danielle comes from a working-class family with three siblings (Daniel, Domonique, and Anthony) and is a happy tia/auntie to many nieces and nephews. Danielle studied Feminist Studies and Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara as a Pell Grant recipient and first-generation college student. Following graduation, she enrolled at the University of Vermont, earning a master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration.
Danielle was a leader in residential life, orientation, multicultural affairs and LGBTQ student services before pursuing a PhD in Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice at the University of Colorado Boulder. Danielle employs critical theory and community-based research approaches to disrupt the relationship between carcerality and youth. Danielle aspires to be a tenured professor at a minority serving institution to uplift and mentor young scholars. When she’s not doing transformative research, Danielle enjoys the tastiness of being a foodie, vibing at concerts, and embarking on adventures.
Kelly Andrade is a first-generation Brazilian American scholar-practitioner, Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) alumna, and Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education at Rutgers University. She holds a B.A. in History and Latin American Civilization and an Ed.M. in Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education. Her research explores how Latine students at Rutgers navigate the FAFSA process and make meaning of financial aid, drawing on communication and sensemaking theories to examine access to higher education in a changing policy landscape. As Director of Global at Douglass Residential College, she leads for-credit, equity-focused academic programs and teaches interdisciplinary courses on global education, power, identity, and justice.
Lazaro Camacho, Jr.
Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator, College Student Personnel
University of Rhode Island
Lazaro Camacho, Jr. (he, him, él) is an associate professor and program coordinator of college student personnel in the Feinstein College of Education at the University of Rhode Island. His research critically explores the educational outcomes of historically marginalized students through an intersectional understanding of systems of power and oppression. As a part of this work, his scholarship centers the educational pathways of undergraduate and graduate men of color, discourse related to Latinx identities and masculinities, and the professional development of graduate students within student affairs. Lazaro earned his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Florida Atlantic University, and both his M.S. in College Student Personnel and B.S in Kinesiology from the University of Rhode Island.
Mitzi Ceballos
Writing and Rhetoric
University of Utah
Mitzi Ceballos was born and raised in Boise, Idaho, and is a daughter of Mexican immigrants. She is also a sister, comadre, former McNair Scholar, and proud Chicana. After completing a bachelor’s degree from Boise State University, and a Master’s from Washington State University, she now finds herself a PhD candidate in Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Utah. Her dissertation uses decolonial theory and archival methodology to examine the mutation of settler colonialism’s structural logics to white supremacy, and the effects of those logics in Idahoan communities, land, and memory. As a writing instructor, Mitzi uses local settler archives and non-Western rhetorical tradition to uproot students’ understandings of writing and identity in the hopes that her students of color can grow and learn on their terms. In the future, Mitzi hopes to expand her research to include archival collections in Mexico, and to join the professoriate.
José Del Real Viramontes
Assistant Professor in Higher Education Administration and Policy
University of California, Riverside
José Del Real Viramontes is an Assistant Professor in the Higher Education Administration and Policy Program at the School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. His research examines the transfer policies, practices, and programming four-year universities apply to limit/eliminate institutional/structural barriers Latinx students face during the transfer process, how Latinx community college students develop their agency and use their cultural and social capitals to navigate the community college to four-year university transfer process, and the campus culture for Latinx community college transfer students at four-year universities by looking at the relationship between race and space and the intersectional identities with which Latinx community college transfer students identify.
Antonio Duran
Associate Professor and Program Co-Coordinator, Higher and Postsecondary Education
Arizona State University
Antonio Duran (he/him/él) is an associate professor and program co-coordinator of higher and postsecondary education in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. His research examines how historical and contemporary legacies of oppression influence college student development, experiences, and success. Connected to this central thread, he is also interested in how scholar-practitioners use the above knowledge in their practice. He uses critical frameworks (e.g., intersectionality, community cultural wealth, queer of color critique, quare theory, jotería studies) to complicate the field’s understanding of racism, heterosexism, trans oppression, and other forms of marginalization on college campuses. Antonio completed his B.A. in English and American Literature at New York University, M.S. in Student Affairs in Higher Education at Miami University, and Ph.D. in Higher Education and Student Affairs at The Ohio State University.
Armando Lizarraga
PhD Candidate
The University of Texas at Austin
Armando Lizarraga, a native of Inglewood, California, is a doctoral candidate at The University of Texas at Austin. He explores the intersection of incarceration and higher education in his research agenda. Armando has served as a peer mentor, policy analyst, research assistant, and instructor within a Texas women’s carceral facility and has contributed to national scholarly associations focused on education. Armando earned an Associate of Arts in General Studies from El Camino College, a Bachelor of Arts in Chicana/o studies and sociology from UCLA, and a Master of Arts in higher and postsecondary education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Geidy Mendez
Political Science
University of California-Irvine
Geidy Mendez (she/her/hers) is a first-generation Guatemalan, born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey. Her family is from Flores Costa Cuca, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. She is currently a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California- Irvine. Her research explores the intertwined relationship between resentment and political behavior in Latin American migrants here in the United States. Geidy is currently a 2025 Senior Graduate Fellow for UCI’s Division for Teaching Excellence and Inclusive.. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and M.A. in Political Science from the University of California-Irvine.
Jeremy Rodríguez Vargas
Chemistry Department, Graduate Chemistry Program
University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras
Jeremy A. Rodríguez Vargas is a 27-year-old from Ponce, Puerto Rico. He currently resides in San Juan while pursuing a doctoral degree (Ph.D. in Chemistry) at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (La IUPI). His career goal is to become a faculty member at UPR after completing his studies. Jeremy is actively engaged in the fields of Biochemistry and Chemistry Education, where he focuses on developing new laboratory experiences and generating new antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer drugs.
Gerson Romero
Biomedical Engineering
Washington University in St. Louis
Gerson Moreno Romero (He/Him/El) was born in El Salvador and raised in the Broward-Miami area of Florida. As a first-generation college graduate, he earned his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Florida International University and found his passion for neural engineering research while working as a Coulter Undergraduate Researcher.
Gerson is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. He is working to understand neural circuits in the spinal cord to leverage their adaptive nature to develop rehabilitative therapies to help individuals with motor and sensory deficits resulting from spinal cord injury. To support underrepresented groups in higher education, he serves as part of the SACNAS student chapter executive board and as a mentor for the undergraduates in the neuroscience REU. Outside of academics he enjoys spending time in nature, painting with watercolors, connecting with his communities, and traveling.
Stacey Speller (she/her/ella)
PhD Candidate & AAHHE GSFP Co-Chair (2024-2026)
Howard University
Stacey is an HBCU Nuyorican higher education scholar-practitioner devoted to challenging anti-Black narratives and advocating for equitable legislation that supports HBCUs with dual designations as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). Her research focuses on the policies and practices at HBCUs that enhance educational outcomes for Afrolatine/Latine students. With over a decade of experience in higher education, Staceyhas served in admissions, retention and student success, student activities, athletics, and diversity and community engagement. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Transformative Leadership from her alma mama, Bethune-Cookman University. Stacey is also the founder of HBCUorgullo, an organization dedicated to bridging the gap between HBCUs and Latinidad by fostering inclusion, retention, and success for Afrolatine/Latine students and alumni within HBCUs.
Jessica Stamp
Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies
Howard University
Jessica Stamp serves as the Special Assistant to the Dean of the Graduate School at Howard University. In this role, she oversees strategic initiatives and operations, supporting academic excellence and institutional advancement through effective project management and stakeholder engagement.
Jessica is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies at Howard University. Her research centers on the concept of servingness at Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs), with a focus on how these institutions support the academic, social, and cultural success of Black students. She is committed to advancing equity and access within higher education, particularly for underrepresented communities in the District of Columbia.
Of Cuban and Panamanian descent, Jessica draws on her multicultural background to inform her advocacy, scholarship, and commitment to inclusive education.
She holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration and Communications, as well as a Master’s in Strategic Communication and Public Relations, all from Trinity Washington University.
In January 2025, Jessica was honored with the Alan Kline Award by The DC Courts Hispanic Heritage Celebration Committee during the CORO Awards Ceremony. The award recognizes her outstanding service in enhancing the lives of Latinos in Washington, D.C., and her dedication to the values of Community, Outreach, Recognition, and Opportunity.
Sol Thomas
Education
University of St. Thomas, Houston
Sol Macias-Thomas has a B.A. in Spanish and an M.S. in Criminal Justice. Sol is currently a doctoral student at the University of St. Thomas’ strategic leadership program-criminal justice pathway. Sol has 15 years of experience conducting civil and criminal investigations dealing with interpersonal violence, child abuse, and sexual assault. Sol currently serves as a criminal justice adjunct instructor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and has been teaching for the past three years.
Cynthia D. VillarrealAssistant Professor of Educational Leadership
Northern Arizona University
Cynthia D. Villarreal, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University in Educational Leadership. She is a fronteriza from El Paso, Texas studying the borderlands of higher education, Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), organizational culture, equity in decision-making, and Chicana feminisms in higher education. As a qualitative researcher and creative non-fiction writer, Dr. Villarreal believes in the importance of sharing countertestimonios to critique and transform higher education. She uses interdisciplinary theories and research to inform her approach to the study of HSIs and how they serve their Latine students by interrogating the policies, structures, and culture within colleges and universities. She is a mamischolar living in the Sonoran Desert (Phoenix, Arizona) with her two children and husband. She was a 2020 AAHHE Graduate Student Fellow and a 2024 AAHHE Faculty Fellow.
NSF HSI Webinars
Tomasz Durakiewicz, PhD
Program Director
Condensed Matter Physics Program, Division of Materials Research
HBCU-UP Program, Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM
National Science Foundation
Tomasz Durakiewicz received his Ph.D. in Poland in 1998 in the area of Experimental Physics for work on surface properties of metals. After spending a year as Visiting Professor at the University of New Mexico, Durakiewicz joined Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2000 as Director's Funded postdoc and converted to staff member in 2003. His main research interests are related to the electronic structure of f-electron materials, mostly actinides, explored by angle-resolved photoemission. In addition, Durakiewicz worked on the electronic structure of topological systems, thermionic emission and work function, and also on applications of stable isotopes. Durakiewicz has coauthored over 200 peer-reviewed publications, over 210 conference abstracts, and 6 patents, and presented over 60 invited talks. His published work was cited over 5800 times. Since July 2014 Durakiewicz serves as Program Director for Condensed Matter Physics (CMP) at the National Science Foundation, and manages NSF programs: Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST Centers), Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Expanding Capacity in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (ExpandQISE) and Enabling Quantum Leap: Convergent Accelerated Discovery Foundries for Quantum Materials Science, Engineering and Information (Q-AMASE-i).
Michael Ferrara, PhD
Program Director, Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)
Directorate for STEM Education (EDU)
DUE Lead, HSI Program
Co-Lead, S-STEM Program
National Science Foundation
Michael Ferrara is a permanent program director in the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation. He earned his PhD in mathematics from Emory University in 2005 and prior to coming to the NSF was a professor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Colorado Denver from 2009 - 2020. Dr. Ferrara maintains active research programs in combinatorics and undergraduate STEM education. He currently serves as one of the lead program officers for the NSF HSI program (w/ Dr. Sonja Montas-Hunter) and co-lead of the NSF S-STEM program in addition to his work on the IUSE:EDU program.
Elsa Gonzalez, PhD
Program Director
IUSE (Improving Undergraduate STEM Education): Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI)
Education Core Research Program (ECR)
Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER)
Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EES)
Directorate for STEM Education (EDU)
National Science Foundation
Dr. Elsa Gonzalez is Associate Professor at the School of Education in Texas A&M University. Dr. Gonzalez currently serves as Program Director at the National Sciences Foundation for the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) program, Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP), and the Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER).
Dr. Gonzalez is the Regional Editor of the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), and Board Member of the Journal of Hispanic in Higher Education. She is the author of over hundred publications, her research interests include issues in higher education such as underrepresented students, Latinx students, access, resilience, retention, and graduation in STEM fields; HSI institutions; higher education leadership and methodological issues in cross-language qualitative methodology.
Dr. Gonzalez has professional and academic leadership experience as bilingual scholar in higher education institutions in Mexico, Spain, USA, and China. In 2020, she was awarded from the National Science Foundation (NSF) – with a CAREER grant award for her project: CAREER: Broadening Participation in STEM: A Qualitative Analysis of Resilience Experiences and Strategies of Latina STEM Majors in HSIs. She is the author of the book "An Asset-Based Approach to Advancing Latina Students in STEM: Increasing Resilience, Participation, and Success", the book was awarded as the 2022 Book of the Year by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE). Recently, she was named by Diverse Issues in Higher Education as one of the 25 Most Outstanding Women in Academia 2023 in the US.
