Announcing the Inaugural SSMN Award Recipients
The Sloan Scholars Mentoring Network is pleased to announce our 2024 Award Winners! With generous support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the 2024 awards aim to recognize the research, career, and professional development achievements of our Sloan Legacy, UCEM, and SIGP alumni. Join us in congratulating these outstanding scholars!
SSMN Higher Education Professional of the Year
The SSMN Higher Education Professional of the Year award recognizes outstanding an Sloan Scholar alumnus who has made major contributions to their field and/or the areas of teaching, mentoring, or other forms of service in higher education.
David Garrison, PhD
Associate Dean and Professor of Physics, University of Houston, Clear Lake
PhD in Physics, Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Garrison has been a faculty member at University of Houston, Clear Lake (UHCL), for over 20 years and has made profound contributions to his department and the university through his roles in administration, teaching, and research. During his time at UCHL, Dr. Garrison has served as chair of the Physical Science and Physics Programs, director of graduate programs for the Center for Student Empowerment, and twice served as president of the UHCL Faculty Senate. He successfully developed and oversaw the approval of a revised bachelor's degree in physical science, a bachelor's degree in physics, an engineering physics sub-plan, a master's degree in physics, a professional Master of Physics sub-plan in technical management, and a collaborative PhD program in physics. Dr. Garrison's innovations in teaching led him to develop a graduate-level, flipped classroom math methods course in 2016 and an online graduate-level physics course in 2017, both of which proved invaluable in spring 2020 when classes moved online and he was able to help other faculty with the transition. His research in computational and theoretical physics consists of work in numerical relativity and cosmology. You can learn more about Dr. Garrison on his faculty webpage.
SSMN Early Career Alumnus Award
The SSMN Early Career Alumnus award recognizes outstanding Sloan Scholar alumni who have graduated with their PhD or Master's degree (as a Sloan Scholar) within the last 10 years. Awardees have demonstrated that they have made or are poised to make significant contributions to their field and/or the areas of teaching, mentoring, diversity, and public/community service.
Cesunica Ivey, PhD
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
PhD in Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Ivey is PI of the Air Quality Modeling & Exposure Lab at UC Berkeley. Ivey’s research focuses on the nexus of air pollution science and engineering and environmental justice. She is an emerging leader in the areas of regional air quality modeling and its applications and community-scale air pollution exposure assessment. Ivey works in partnership with community organizations across California to prevent the over-industrialization of already overburdened neighborhoods. In recognition of her advocacy for frontline communities of the e-commerce supply chain expansion in inland Southern California, Ivey was selected as one of the American Chemical Society's Chemical and Engineering News "Talented 12" in 2021 and a winner of the Women in Science Incentive Prize by The Story Exchange in 2022. In addition to mentoring a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students, Dr. Ivey is CEO and owner of BWINSTEM, a mentorship venture that offers professional development, coaching, and motivational speaking services. She conceived of BWINSTEM in the summer of 2020 after seeing a need for tailored mentorship and online engagement for STEM professionals who are women of color. BWINSTEM supports individuals, communities, and organizations that seek to motivate and empower all marginalized identities in STEM.
Akhenaton-Andrew Jones, PhD
Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University
PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Jones is PI of the Systems for Engaging the Environment Lab (SEEL), which aims to solve global challenges in water and health using engineering and policy analysis. His lab studies how external stresses impact biofilm formation, viability, and susceptibility with applications to infection defense, medical devices, food, water, and wastewater treatment systems. During his PhD, Dr. Jones studied microbial fuel cells and was named a Lemelson Presidential Fellow and was later recognized as Young Investigator by the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State, the preeminent center for biofilm research in the United States. As a faculty member, Dr. Jones has been awarded an NIH R35 Maximizing Investigators' Research Award to develop new models and tools for studying biofilms. Additionally, he is Duke’s faculty representative on the New York Climate Exchange, one of three co-PIs on an NIH National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) T32 Training Grant on Integrated Toxicology and Environmental Health, and one of 20 co-PIs on an NIH NIEHS P20 application on Climate and Immunology. Dr. Jones’ role in all three projects is to equip researchers (and, in the case of the New York Climate Exchange, members of the non-research workforce) with engineering approaches to societal and health challenges. Dr. Jones has supervised and mentored more than 30 trainees, including three PhD students who are currently Sloan UCEM Scholars at Duke University.
SSMN Excellence in Community Engagement Award
This award recognizes outstanding Sloan Scholar alumni who has shown excellence in community engagement and/or public service. Awardees have demonstrated how their work or service has positively affected or is poised to make positive change within their chosen community.
Janelle Cronin, M.S.
PhD Student, Purdue University
M.S. in Ecological Sciences and Engineering & Curriculum Studies and Instruction, Purdue University
Janelle Cronin is a member of the Navajo Nation and is currently a third year PhD student as well as a George Washington Carver Fellow and Alfred P. Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership Scholar at Purdue University. She serves as board secretary for the National Indian Youth Council. In 2021 and 2022, she served as a keynote speaker for the Haskell Environmental Research Studies (HERS) program, where she shared her personal experience of transitioning from a tribal college/university (TCU) to a primarily white institution (PWI). While with the HERS program Janelle also assisted Indigenous students through culturally based mentoring that focused on their summer research. Over the last few years, she has organized and participated in several fundraisers and volunteer efforts for her community. This includes organizing a fundraiser for the Haskell Indian Nations University Alumni Association with all the proceeds directly benefiting Haskell students in scholarships and emergency funds, and other fundraisers that included multiple food, water and school supply drives to Janelle's home community, the Black Mountain/Tselina/Cottonwood area of the Navajo Nation, during and through the COVID-19 pandemic. Janelle volunteers with the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation by participating in their white-tailed deer population reduction hunt as part of their deer management program and participates in a community service-based partnership with the Indiana Niches Land Trust to aid in box turtle egg conservation efforts through ethical trapping methods from an Indigenous centered perspective. Connect with Janelle and learn more on her LinkedIn page.
Denise Smith, PhD
COO, Hummingbird
President, STEMkofa
PhD in Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Smith is the chief operating officer at Hummingbird, a consulting firm that specializes in community engagement, data analytics, and training in the industries of transportation equity, environmental justice, energy equity, and climate justice. Her major projects have included leading community engagement to connect North Texas communities with emerging transportation technologies as well as providing community engagement support for the winning teams of the New York Clean Transportation Prize competition. Dr. Smith is co-author of “Black Gems in STEM: An Academic Success Workbook for Grades 4 & 5” and “Black Gems in STEM: An Academic Success Workbook for Grades 6–8.” Through her nonprofit, STEMkofa Educational Solutions, Inc. (STEMkofa), Dr. Smith has had over 50 students participate in the Black Gems in STEM summer program, a summer enrichment opportunity designed to expose elementary and middle school students to STEM through a curated series of hands-on activities that follow an engaging storyline. Dr. Smith uses her experiences as a former transportation engineer, adjunct professor, and middle school math teacher to combine her expertise in engineering with her passion for education to advocate for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) education as a tool for community building.
The Outstanding Mentor award recognizes a Sloan Scholar alumnus with a record of outstanding undergraduate and/or graduate student mentoring. Awardees have particularly demonstrated how their mentoring style and history has impacted Black, Indigenous, and/or Latina/o/e students in STEM fields.
Daniela Jones, PhD
Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University
PhD in Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University
As PI of the Intelligent Data for Energy and Agriculture Logistics and Supply Chains lab, Dr. Jones develops large-scale heterogeneous and geo-temporal data-intensive models to better understand and enhance the sustainability of intensifying agricultural systems. Before this role, Dr. Jones was a postdoctoral associate at Duke University, where she performed quantitative and qualitative research on student interventions and supported programming of educational, career-development workshops and community development events for underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students in the biosciences. Her mentoring style includes serving as a supportive and approachable mentor who advises students not only on academic and research endeavors, but also on career development by introducing students to a range of career pathways. In the last five years at NC State, Dr. Jones has served as a direct mentor for 14 diverse undergraduate and graduate students and served as a secondary or informal mentor for numerous others. Her students report that Dr. Jones serves as an example of achievement by a woman of color in STEM and that she tirelessly champions her mentees by connecting students with media resources to ensure their work gets broad exposure, advocating for students on social media, and nominating or connecting them with internship, research, and scholarship opportunities.