Dr. Jodie Lutkenhaus is a Professor and Associate Dean for Research at Texas A&M University. She has 200+ peer-reviewed publications on polyelectrolyte complexes, structural energy & power, organic radical polymer batteries, and functional coatings. She has received funding from NSF, AFOSR, DOE-BES, ACS PRF, and the Welch Foundation. Lutkenhaus is recognized for her expertise in the thermal behavior and water effects of polyelectrolyte complexes, redox mechanisms in polymer electrodes, and composites for high stiffness batteries. She is the Deputy Editor of ACS Applied Polymer Materials, as well as a member of the U.S. National Academies Board of Chemical Science & Technology and U.S. National Committee for International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

Dr. Emily Pentzer is Professor of Chemistry (with courtesy appointments in Materials Science and Engineering and Chemistry Engineering at Texas A&M University. She is also a Presidential Impact Fellow and serves as the Senior Associate Dean for Research in the College of Arts & Sciences. Her research addresses the design, synthesis, and application of composite soft matter for energy related applications, converging polymer chemistry and processing to solve complex societal challenges. She is the recipient of multiple honors and awards including the NSF CAREER award (2016), CWRU Faculty Diversity Excellence Award (2019), ACS WCC Rising Star Award (2021), and the Journal of Polymer Science Innovation Award (2024). She currently serves as inaugural Editor in Chief of RSC Applied Polymers and is a member of the third cohort of the New Voices program of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2024-2026).

Dr. Keri Norman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She worked for five years with The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey and in Texas before pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Sciences with an emphasis in epidemiology from Texas A&M University. She spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher with the USDA, ARS at the Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska. She was an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, TX before returning to Texas A&M University in College Station in 2014. In the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, she is part of the Epidemiology and Public Health group and teaches the core course required for graduate students in the epidemiology track. She has an active research lab and has received funding from the USDA, The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and The National Pork Board. Her primary area of interest is in using molecular epidemiology with classical microbiological techniques to study selection pressures that drive bacterial populations at the interface between agricultural animals, public health, and the environment.

Dr. Johnson, an Associate Professor with Texas A&M AgriLife Research, is a disease ecologist by training. She works across multiple pathogen systems with a primary focus on ticks and tick borne diseases in large animal models. Her lab investigates the ecological drivers of pathogen and vector maintenance, emergence, disease risk, and opportunities for prevention and control through integrated management. By advancing the ecological epizootiology of wildlife and livestock disease systems, her research aims to identify interventions that promote wildlife health, agricultural productivity, biodiversity, and human well being. Dr. Johnson leads a multidisciplinary program centered on wildlife disease ecology—particularly in species of economic and conservation importance—using natural, large animal models.
She earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of Mary (Bismarck, ND) and her M.S. in Biology from Kansas State University, where she examined the effects of plague on black tailed prairie dog colony dynamics. She completed her Ph.D. in Organismal Biology and Ecology at the University of Montana as an NSF IGERT and NIH pre doctoral fellow, focusing on the ecology of tick borne relapsing fever at Flathead Lake in western Montana. Following her doctorate, Dr. Johnson received an American Society for Microbiology postdoctoral fellowship at the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases in Fort Collins, where she investigated early phase transmission dynamics of Yersinia pestis. She later served as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education research fellow with the CDC, characterizing public health risks associated with multiple tick borne diseases.

Sarah Hamer is a Professor of Epidemiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University. Her research lab is focused on the ecology and epidemiology of diseases that emerge at the human-wildlife-domestic animal interface with a focus in the US and Latin America. Her MS is from University of Illinois, and her PhD and DVM degrees are from Michigan State University. She is board certified in veterinary preventive medicine and epidemiology and is a Certified Wildlife Biologist®. Sarah’s work in vector-borne disease spans soft and hard ticks, kissing bugs, and fleas. She serves as the Director of the Schubot Center for Avian Health, which is an on-campus bird health center with an aviary. She mentors students from varied fields including public health, veterinary medicine, entomology and ecology, and attributes the success of her team to their hard work, diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Highlights for Dr. Hamer have included hooding 10 PhD students.

Dr. Candice Pei-Hua Chu, DVM, PhD, is a board-certified veterinary clinical pathologist and Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University. She earned her DVM from National Taiwan University before pursuing doctoral training and residency in clinical pathology in the United States. She is the third Taiwanese board-certified veterinary clinical pathologist in the US. Dr. Chu is the first Taiwanese recipient of the Harold W. Casey Memorial Scholarship from the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. and has been invited to speak nationally and internationally on artificial intelligence in veterinary medicine. She is committed to mentoring students pursuing global opportunities and advocating for greater representation and structural support for women in STEM.

Dr. Nithya Rajan is Professor of Agronomy and Agroecology in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University and Director of the Center for Greenhouse Gas Management in Agriculture and Forestry. She earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees in India and a Ph.D. in Agronomy from Texas Tech University, where she also completed postdoctoral research. She joined the Texas A&M University System as an Assistant Professor in 2010. Dr. Rajan leads an interdisciplinary research program focused on climate-smart agriculture, sustainable farming systems, and greenhouse gas measurement and management. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America and received the 2023 Texas A&M AgriLife Outstanding Researcher of the Year award.