Our Team Directors
In 2017, Drs Akin, Santillan, and Valentino came together with a shared interest in building a project to address the gender gap in STEM. With the support of the Bass Connections program at Duke, they merged their areas of expertise to create a program that promoting diversity in STEM. Seeing math as a gateway to STEM, they thought to improve middle schoolers’ math confidence through fun, interactive, and interdisciplinary workshops. These workshops would be led by Duke undergraduate and graduate students in STEM, where the accompanying training, research, and discussions would also provide support to current STEM students.
Assistant professor of practice
Dr. Akin is an Associate Professor of Practice in the math department at Duke University. Her thesis work concerned geometric group theory.
Associate professor of practice
Dr. Santillan is an Associate Professor of Practice in Mechanical Engineering at Duke University. Her research interests include education, women in STEM, and nonlinear dynamics.
Assistant professor
Dr. Valentino is an Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of North Carolina. She is a cultural sociologist of inequality and stratification.
Our Team
Every year, we have a new cohort of undergraduates at Duke. If you are interested in joining the program, make sure to check out the Bass Research Program to learn more and apply for the GEM team!
Alumni
Mia Malden
Jackie Herzberg
Nadeska Montalvan
Leila Nelson
Talya Jeter
McKenna Vernon
Dani Welton
Bailey Patrick
Morgan Feist
Adrianna Diaz
Sarah Chang
Trinity Johnson
Chloe Derocher
