The RISE Center welcomes visiting scholar Jamie Jensen for the month of February. Jamie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Brigham Young University. She specializes in the development and assessment of undergraduate biology curricula that employ evidenced-based pedagogical strategies to increase student scientific reasoning skills and deep conceptual understanding.

Bio: Dr. Dina Verdín is trained in the fields of Engineering Education and Industrial Engineering. She is a Mexican-American, Southern California native who was the first in her family to attend college (i.e., first-generation college student). Her research focused on access and persistence of Latinx and first-generation college students studying engineering comes from experiencing a lack of access to engineering identity shaping opportunities, experiencing the male-dominated culture of engineering, and struggle towards persisting in the field.

Bio: I am a queer, able-bodied (ish) person of the global majority. I enjoy reading, video games, and television, typically with a science fiction or fantasy theme. I also enjoy amateur nature photography and collage art projects. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio and went to school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (University of Pittsburgh). I then completed two postdoctoral fellowships in Tennessee (Vanderbilt University and University of Memphis) before landing at Arizona State University. This is my favorite weather by far.