Lourdes Aleman was born in Cuba and moved to Spain with her family when she was 11 years old. She lived in Spain for three years and finally came to the US when she was 14 years old. When she came to the US her English was minimal and she spent most 9th grade in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes at a public high school in Miami. She finished high school in Miami and then went to Brown University, Providence, where she obtained a BS in Biology. She did not go straight to graduate school, but instead took two years off and worked as a technician first at Children's Hospital in Boston and then at the University of Connecticut Health Center at Farmington, CT. She then went to MIT for graduate school in Biology in the fall of 2001. She is currently a fourth year Ph.D. student in Phil Sharp's lab studying off-target effects of RNAi.

Robert (Bob) Belle joined the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in November 2002 as the Director for the SREB Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Doctoral Scholars Program. Prior to joining SREB Bob served as the Director of The Office of Federal TRIO Programs for the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC for almost 4 years. Bob earned a bachelors degree in Elementary Education from Glassboro State Teachers College, which is now Rowan University. He earned a masters degree in Pupil Personnel Services from Seton Hall University. He earned a doctoral degree from Lehigh University in Counseling Education. He has teaching experience from the elementary level to the collegiate level. He has been an administrator at the collegiate, state, and national levels.

Akua Bonsra is a first year Ph.D. student in the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology program at Stony Brook University. As a Meyerhoff and MARC scholar at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Akua majored in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She graduated in 2004. She participated in the AGEP/Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 2003 at Stony Brook University where she researched in the laboratory of Dr. David Williams focusing on immunohistochemistry. Her positive experiences that summer helped lead her to Stony Brook University.

Isaac M. "Ike" Colbert is Dean for Graduate Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the academic leadership team of the Institute. Ike's most recent publication, in the Journal for Higher Education Strategists, describes the work of his office in defining and implementing strategies for building graduate community at MIT. A 1968 graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, located in his home town of Baltimore, Maryland, he majored in psychology and continued training in experimental psychology at Brown University. He completed the Master's Degree in primate behavior and learning in 1971, and the doctoral degree in 1974 in the area of human learning and cognition. For the 2005 academic year, he will serve as president-elect of the AAU/Association of Graduate Deans (AGS). For a number of years, he was the vice-president of the GEM Fellowship. He recently joined the executive committee of the GRE, and is a long standing member of the steering committee of the QEM mathematics, science and engineering network.

Stephen Cole has been teaching at Stony Brook since 1968. He was made a full professor in 1973. He graduated from Columbia College in 1962 with majors in history and sociology. In 1967 he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University where he was a student of Robert K. Merton and Paul F. Lazarsfeld. He does research on science, higher education, medicine, and gender. He is the author of 10 books and more than 50 articles. The results of his article "Chance and Consensus in NSF Peer Review" (published in Science) were reported on the front page of the New York Times and on the Dan Rather evening news. His last two books were published by Harvard University Press. They are Increasing Faculty Diversity: The Occupational Choices of High Achieving Minority Students(2003) and Making Science: Between Nature and Society (1992). His 1973 book, Social Stratification in Science (University of Chicago Press, with J.R. Cole) has become a citation classic. He is currently working on an article on the pipeline into academia for minorities based on the 2000 census and a book tentatively entitled Medicine and Science.

William Cruz, president of TCB Consulting, is a lecturer focusing on the differences in communications styles across cultures and how to effectively deal with these differences in the corporate environment. He has spoken at Verizon, NASA, Chevron, Kodak, Raytheon, Harvard, MIT, Columbia University and the Power of Diversity Conference to name a few. He has a masters degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University and two baccalaureates from Rutgers University. He is an electrical engineer at Lucent Technologies and inventor with three patents on wireless technologies. He is a community leader serving on numerous boards of community-based and professional organizations such as Aspira, the Hispanic Association of Higher Education of New Jersey and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) of New Jersey.

Patricia David is a Managing Director and the Global Head of Diversity for Citigroup's Global Corporate & Investment Banking Group (GCIB) and Smith Barney. She is responsible for overseeing, developing and implementing the overall diversity strategy for these two divisions. Prior to joining Salomon Brothers, Ms. David was at Merrill Lynch in N.J. for 10 years, leaving that organization as a Vice President & Manager of Financial Systems in the Technology Division. Ms. David has been an active participant in the Global Transaction Services (GTS) Women's Council, Technology Campus Recruiting efforts, and many other diversity and recruiting events and activities. In March 2002, she was the recipient of the YMCA award on behalf of the GCIB. In addition, Ms. David sits on the Advisory Board of Directors for the NAACP-NYC Afro Academic Cultural Technological & Scientific Olympics organization (ACT-SO). Born in Birmingham, England in 1959, Ms. David received a B.S. in Finance and Economics with a minor in Accounting from Fordham University in 1981.

Anilkumar Dhundale earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Queens College of CUNY, then spent 12 years at North Shore-LIJ as a medical technologist and then supervising an Automated Clinical Chemistry Laboratory. He earned a master's degree in Clinical Chemistry from C.W. Post of LIU and later a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Stony Brook University. Over an 11 year period, Dr. Dhundale was involved in the development of diagnostic and research products, and in multiple aspects of drug discovery and technology development at OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Long Island-based company. In 2001, he joined the newly formed Biomedical Engineering Department as Assistant Professor. His research interests are in application of DNA microarrays and bioinformatics in a wide range of biological areas.

David L. Ferguson is Distinguished Service Professor of Technology and Society and Applied Mathematics at Stony Brook University. He has been P.I/Co-P.I. on numerous projects, including several NSF projects, aimed at improving undergraduate and graduate education in mathematics, science, engineering, and technology. He is faculty contributor in the calculus reform movement. He co-directed the NSF-supported Algorithm Discovery Development Project and two NSF-funded Faculty Enhancement workshops on the teaching of introductory computer science courses. Under support from the Sloan Foundation, he developed a course in applications of mathematics for liberal arts students. He co-designed and co-taught a multidisciplinary course, jointly offered by Biological Sciences and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, on Computer Modeling of Biological Systems. In 1992, Professor Ferguson received the State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and in 1997 he received the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.

Wesley Francillon was born in Brooklyn, NY and within twelve months moved to Haiti where he lived for three years with his grandparents. After returning to the United States he went to elementary school in Brooklyn and secondary school in Brentwood, New York.(Long Island) After completing high school, Wesley attended the University of Florida, however he transferred to Stony Brook University where he completed his B.E. in Engineering Science. After completing two inspiring summer internship with AGEP (SUNY- Stony Brook) and at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), Wesley decided to purse a doctoral degree in Materials Science and Engineering. He is currently a fourth year Ph.D. student for the Center of Thermal Spray Research (CTSR) at Stony Brook in Dr. Sanjay Sampath's laboratory studying ceramic coating materials.

Peter Gergen is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and the Director of the Genetics Graduate Program and the Center for Developmental Genetics at Stony Brook University. He is also Associate Dean of the Graduate School. After receiving his undergraduate degree from MIT and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 1982, Dr. Gergen carried out postdoctoral research with Eric Wieschaus at Princeton and with David Ish-Horowicz in Oxford. His current research investigates the regulation of gene expression during embryonic development utilizing the Drosophila model system.

Laurie Goodman received a BS and an MS from Stanford University in 1985, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1991 in the field of biochemistry and molecular biology, under the direction of Dr. Fuyuhiko Tamanoi. Her studies were on the post-translational processing of the RAS oncogene in yeast. During her graduate work, she also published a novel called a Spell of Deceit. Her postdoctoral fellowship took place with Dr. Gretchen Stein at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she worked on cytokine expression in senescent human cells. Laurie left the bench in 1995 to work as Assistant Editor at Nature Genetics. In 1998 she moved to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to work as the Executive Editor of Genome Research and Managing Editor of Learning & Memory. Wanting to spend more time writing, she joined the Journal of Clinical Investigation in March 2004 as the News and Reviews Editor. She currently works as a freelance writer and editor.

Andre Hall is a first year Ph.D. student in the mechanical engineering program with a focus on High Speed Heated Jet Noise at Syracuse University. He completed his master's in science degree in 2004 in mechanical engineering (Fluid Dynamics). He received a B.S. from Binghamton University in Mechanical Engineering in 2002 and then worked in industry for 6 months (HVAC design). He is an AGEP Fellow.

Roosevelt Johnson is currently Program Director for the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program. The AGEP program is part of the portfolio of programs in the Division of Human Resource Development (HRD) within the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) at the National Science Foundation (NSF). HRD serves as a focal point for NSF's agency-wide commitment to enhancing the quality and excellence of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and research through broadening participation by underrepresented groups and institutions. The Division's programs aim to increase the participation and advancement of underrepresented minorities and minority-serving institutions, women and girls, and persons with disabilities at every level of the science and engineering enterprise. The primary goal of AGEP is to increase the number of minority students pursuing advanced study, obtaining doctoral degrees, and entering the professoriate in STEM disciplines. He has a Ph.D. in Microbiology.

Earl Lewis is Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of History and African American Studies. He is Emory University´s first African American provost and the highest ranking African American administrator in university history. Before joining the Emory faculty in July 2004, Lewis served as dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies and vice provost for academic affairs/graduate studies at the University of Michigan. Between 1997 and 2000 he coedited the eleven-volume The Young Oxford History of African Americans. Lewis coauthored Love on Trial: An American Scandal in Black and White, published in 2001 by WW Norton. His most recent books are The African American Urban Experience: Perspectives from the Colonial Period to the Present, coedited and published with Palgrave (2004), and the cowritten Defending Diversity: Affirmative Action at the University of Michigan, published by the University of Michigan Press (2004).Lewis, who holds degrees in history and psychology, is author and coeditor of seven books, among them In Their Own Interests: Race, Class and Power in 20th Century Norfolk (University of California Press, 1993) and the award-winning To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans (Oxford University Press, 2000).

Calvin Mackie is a Professor, Speaker, Author and Inventor. He earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and a B.S. in Mathematics from Morehouse College in 1990. He earned a M.S. in 1992 and the Ph.D. in 1996 in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech. Following graduation he joined the faculty at Tulane University where he continues to pursue research related to heat transfer and fluid dynamics of phase change systems, energy efficiency and renewable energy. Mackie has received numerous awards including the, 2003 Presidential Award for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, the 2003 National Title One Distinguished Graduate for Louisiana, 2002 Black Engineer of the Year Award for College Level Educator, to name a few. In 1996, he received a patent on a device to retrofit luggage stowbins on 737 and 757 Boeing commercial airliners. He authors a motivational column entitled, "Think About It!" for the Black Collegian Magazine. He is the author of the book: "A View from the Roof: Lessons for Life and Business". Presently, Mackie is a visiting professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan.

Daniel Moloney received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from SUNY Stony Brook in 1991. He worked for two years as a Laboratory Technologist in a clinical laboratory on Long Island before heading back to SUNY Stony Brook for graduate school. He received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from SUNY Stony Brook in 1999, and then spent two years at Albert Einstein College of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Cell Biology. Dan is currently an instructor and director of the Biotechnology Teaching Laboratories for LIGASE (Long Island Group Advancing Science Education) within the department of Biochemistry at SUNY Stony Brook where he teaches biotechnology to high school and college classes as well as graduate students training to be K-12 science teachers.

Lawrence Martin became Dean of the Graduate School at Stony Brook University in 1993 and also serves as Associate Provost for Analysis and Planning (since 2001), he additionally served as Director of International Programs from 1996 to 2003. He is a physical anthropologist who studies the evolution of apes and the origin of humans. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from University College London in 1983 and was then a postdoctoral fellow in Anatomy at UCL. In 1985 he joined the faculty at Stony Brook as an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Anthropology and of Anatomical Sciences. He served as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Director of the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences before his appointment as Dean of the Graduate School.

John Mercer is the Dean of the Graduate School at Syracuse University, having served as Interim Dean from January 2002 until February 2003. A professor of Geography in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affair, he also served as Associate Dean of the Graduate School from 1999 until January 2002. He chaired the Geography Department for eight years (1990-95, 1997-2000). Before coming to Syracuse in 1980, his prior academic appointments were at the University of British Columbia and the University of Iowa. Academic interests include comparative urban development in North America, immigration settlement and housing market change, as well as political geography and governance, chiefly at the urban and regional scale.

Yue Peng has been working for many years in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry as well as in the academic environment. She had worked on companies with various sizes, including Amplicon Corporation as a startup, OSI Pharmaceuticals as a middle sized and Amgen as the world's biggest biotech. She gained her experience in many research fields, including cancer biology, molecular genetics, genomics and bioinformatics. She had her BS from Beijing Normal University and MS from Shanghai Medical University, majoring in biology and molecular genetics respectively. She later pursued her graduate studies at the biochemistry program of the Ohio State University.

Dewan L. Simon is a nationally renowned professional speaker, poet, and entrepreneur. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame where he obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering while playing varsity baseball for the university and has started working on his MBA at the University of Chicago. Mr. Simon has spoke at over 100 events on various topics such as: Leading with Character, Living with a Purpose, Handling Personal Finances, Success Despite Discrimination, The Process of Success, and Setting and Achieving Goals to name a few. As a consultant, for various companies such as Ashland Chemical, BASF, CSX Railroad, Tyco Electronics, Morton Salt, Rohm and Haas, and Honeywell in the areas of Defining Your Needs, Matching Your Needs and Talent, and Retaining Your Talent. He has never been a stranger to commitment, which is obvious today by his ownership of 3 different businesses; a real estate company, consulting business, and a fashion line.

Richard Sleight received his B.S. from the University of Southern California with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Purdue University where he won a campus wide competition for having produced the best dissertation. He then completed a stint as a Postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institute facility located at Johns Hopkins and joined the faculty of the Department of Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Cincinnati Medical School. After rising through the faculty ranks and being awarded tenure by the University of Cincinnati, he joined Yale Graduate School in 1996 as Associate Dean. In addition to his duties in the Graduate School, Dean Sleight remains active in teaching and publishing. He is currently president of the Northeastern Associate of Graduate Schools and serves as a board member on several national organizations dedicated to improving the diversity of the graduate student population.

Sandra H. Thomas is currently the Senior Administrator for the IGERT National Recruitment Program. Previously Sandy was the Vice President for Programs at the Island Institute, a small non-profit educational organization on the coast of Maine. She also helped develop and direct an international fellowship program sponsored by USAID. She has over twenty years of experience in the administration of interdisciplinary science and education projects, primarily in environmental sciences. Her experience includes all aspects of project management and student recruitment and retention. She played a central role in developing a successful IGERT proposal at the University of Michigan in 1999.

Olufemi Vaughan received his D. Phil. in politics from the University of Oxford in 1989. He is Professor of Africana Studies and of History at SUNY, Stony Brook, where he is also Associate Dean at the Graduate School. He has published extensively on African political and historical studies. His recent books include Nigerian Chiefs: Traditional Power in Modern Politics, 1890s-1990s (winner of the Cecil B. Currey Book Prize, Association of Third World Studies) and Chiefs, Power, and Social Change: Chiefship and Modern Politics in Botswana, 1880s-1990s. Vaughan is a 1997 recipient of the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Charles B. Watkins is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The City College of the City University of New York and Director of the Center for Mesoscopic Modeling and Simulation, a National Science Foundation, Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology. He was of Dean of Engineering at The City College for 14 years. Prior to joining The City College, he was Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Howard University, where he established the first engineering Ph.D. program at a Historically Black institution. Charles Watkins received his B.S.M.E. from Howard University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of New Mexico. He received the Presidential Award for Science and Engineering Mentoring from the White House in 1997 for his work in establishing programs to increase minority participation in engineering.