Graduate Student Panel

Javon Goard

Ph.D. student, Johns Hopkins University School of Education
McNair Alumni: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Javon Goard obtained a B.A. in sociology with honors from the University of Maryland, College Park (2016), and his M.S. in informatics from Indiana University, Bloomington (2018). Goard’s research takes an interdisciplinary approach in studying aspects of video game culture by working in the domains of sociology, informatics, and media studies. His current work focuses on African Americans/Blacks within esports and the intersection of black joy within gaming culture. Goard is an advocate of public scholarship and he “goes where the gamers are.” He has given talks at both academic conferences and anime/comic book conventions which include: Princeton University, SXSW 2023, Johns Hopkins University, Music and Gaming Education Symposium, BlerDCon, Indiana Comic Con, Indy PopCon, and Michigan State University.

Currently, Goard is the Administrative Specialist for the Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools and Program Coordinator for the Institute in Critical Quantitative, Computational, & Mixed Methodologies at Johns Hopkins University. Javon holds several other positions related to conventions; a department head at the Music and Gaming Festival better known as MAGFest, Associate Director of Programming for BlerDCon, and Steering Committee member for the Black in Gaming DMV Chapter.

You can read his work in Sociation, blerdsonline.com, ROMChip: A Journal of Game, medium.com and GamesIndustry.biz.

Andrew Lowe Mohammed

Ph.D. student, University of Maryland School of Communication, Rhetoric, & Political Culture, McNair Graduate Fellow
McNair Alumni: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Andrew Lowe-Mohammed is a Ronald E. McNair Graduate Fellow and Ph.D. Student in the Rhetoric and Political Culture track within the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland. He earned his B.A. at the University of Maryland, College Park in Communication with a Digital Communication & Media specialization, and a Rhetoric minor. While attaining his undergraduate degree, Andrew was a McNair Undergraduate Scholar and earned an Outstanding Research Award for his project investigating conservative rhetoric on Twitter in the wake of January 6th. This scholarship has shaped Andrew’s interest in learning more about digital spaces and marginalized identities, exploring how traditional rhetorical principles are being reimagined within digital cultures.

Andrew is currently an instructor of record in the Communication Department for COMM107: Oral Communication, Principles and Practices. Additionally, Andrew is an affiliate of the Black Communication and Technology lab currently doing research in the areas of Black digital identity performance and Black digital communities.

Elizabeth Solis

MPP student, University of Maryland School of Public Policy
McNair Alumni: Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI

Elizabeth is a current 1st year Master’s of Public Policy Candidate (MPP) at the University of Maryland where she is specializing in international security and economic policy. She is a passionate anti-trafficking and social justice advocate. Currently, she is serving on the legislative committees of both the Prince George’s County and State of Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, was a recent intern with the UMD SAFE Center for Human Trafficking Survivors, and is a current strategic advocacy intern at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She also currently sits on the executive board of the International Policy Council in the School of Public Policy.

Formerly, Elizabeth graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 2024 with a Bachelor’s in Public and Nonprofit administration, two minors in business and social work, departmental honors, Magna Cum Laude, an honors thesis publication, and as a McNair Scholar.Formerly, Elizabeth graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 2024 with a Bachelor’s in Public and Nonprofit administration, two minors in business and social work, departmental honors, Magna Cum Laude, an honors thesis publication, and as a McNair Scholar.

Erin Green

Ph.D. Candidate in English
University of Maryland, McNair Graduate Fellow
McNair Alumni: University of Montevallo, Montevallo, AL

Erin Green is a PhD Candidate in English (Language, Writing, and Rhetoric track) at the University of Maryland. She is a graduate of the University of Montevallo and holds a BA in English literature. Working primarily in rhetoric and composition, she specializes in literacy studies, writing program/center administration, community-engaged writing, and composition theory. Erin’s research examines Black queer community literacies and writing in prison/ police abolition movements. She currently serves as an assistant director at the Academic Writing Program and a writing fellow for the Center for Writing & Oral Communication. She has been published in Writers: Craft & Context, Community Literacy Journal, and The Peer Review Journal.

Omoleye Adeyemi

Ph.D. student, University of Maryland School of Communication, Rhetoric, & Political Culture, McNair Graduate Fellow
McNair Alumni: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Omoleye Adetola Adeyemi is a first-year Ph.D. student on the Rhetoric and Political Culture track in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland, College Park. Omoleye completed her B.A. in Communication with a Media & Digital focus and a minor in Humanities, Health, and Medicine from the University of Maryland, College Park. Omoleye’s research in the Ph.D. program lies at the intersections of popular culture, social media, Black digitality, cultural studies, television representations, and museum culture.

McNair Scholar’s Success Stories

Chesapeake Ballroom, 7:45 a.m. - 9:00 a.m., Saturday March 15th, 2025

Dr. Christopher Travers

( Moderator )

Visiting Clinical Professor Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, College of Education
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
McNair Alumni: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Dr. Christopher S. Travers (he/him) is an educator, speaker, writer, and artist. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Travers earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Frostburg State University, master’s in counseling psychology from Towson University, and Ph.D. in Higher Education and Student Affairs from The Ohio State University. He is an alumnus of the McNair program at the University of Maryland, College Park. His scholarship explores life-making among Black folx in higher education through liberatory masculinities; faith and spiritual connection; and love-based pedagogy and practice. His work is published in several scholarly journals, including Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men, The Journal of Negro Education, Urban Education, and the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, among others.

Dr. Travers holds 15+ years of experience in education, teaching, speaking, and diversity + equity programming. In addition to serving as Founder + CEO of The Communion Collective, Dr. Travers is also a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor in the Student Affairs Concentration of the Higher Education, Student Affairs, International Education Policy (HESI) program.

Dr. Jose Centeno-Melendez

Historian
National Museum of American History-Washington, D.C.
McNair Alumni: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

¡Mi gente!

I am José Centeno-Meléndez, PhD student in American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. Thank you for joining me in my LMSP 2016 #DayInTheLife #FellowTakover post.

My research interests on the migration of Salvadorans into the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and their everyday lived experiences alongside other migrant groups have brought me to this program. As a DMV (the metropolitan area comprised of the District, Maryland, and Virginia) native and as a salvadoreño, I have always been interested in sharing stories about the expansive Latina/o/x communities that continue to make this area their home. For these reasons, I am glad I got the opportunity to work on the Latino D.C. History project, a multiyear initiative that maps out the history of Latinas/os/xs in Washington, D.C.

I am currently working alongside the Smithsonian Latino Center’s Exhibitions and Public Programs Director, Ranald Woodaman, to help share the voices of long-time Latina/o/x D.C. residents. As a fellow, my job has been to go through archival material to identify key places and figures related to the Latino D.C. experience. I am also interviewing long- time D.C. residents about their experiences in the District. So far, we have completed four preliminary interviews with local residents who lived, socialized, and worked with other Latinas/os/xs in D.C. from as far back as the 1960’s. These interviews help us contextualize Latina/o/x experiences that have shifted and changed over time.

Dr. Chinyere Osuji

Associate Professor
Department of African American Studies: College of Behavioral & Social Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
McNair Alumni: University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, IL

Dr. Chinyere Osuji, who came to BSOS as a Visiting Associate Professor during the 2021-2022 academic year, will be returning to the Department of African American Studies as an Associate Professor this fall.

Her research—which has won awards from the Population Association of America and the American Sociological Association Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities—examines how Blacks around the world understand and negotiate social interactions with racial and ethnic others and its implications for justice and equity. Her first book, Boundaries of Love: Interracial Marriage and the Meaning of Race (2019, NYU Press) compares how Black- White couples in Brazil and the United States understand and negotiate racial boundaries. Boundaries of Love relies on over 100 interviews with Black-White couples in these two countries to compare how national racial ideologies (colorblindness vs. racial democracy), gender and other social categories yield particular meanings of race and race-mixing.

Her experience navigating healthcare with a disability and her Nigerian immigrant background have inspired her current research conducting interviews with first and second-generation African immigrants in the nursing profession. She examines their social interactions in nursing school and working as RNs to understand white supremacy in the nursing profession from a critical and intersectional perspective. This project will provide a new lens to understand the racial politics of healthcare and the role of nursing in addressing health inequities-- issues made more salient with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr. Nichole Margarita Garcia

Associate Professor
Department of Higher Education and College Student Affairs
Graduate School of Education-Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ
McNair Alumni: University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Dr. Nichole M. Garcia is an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (New Brunswick Campus). As a Chicana/Puerto Rican scholar, her research centers on the intersections of race, Women of Color feminisms, and LatinX communities in higher education. Her mixed-methods approach explores the nuances among LatinX sub-ethnic groups, students, and families concerning college readiness, retention, and completion.

Recognized as a 2020 Emerging Scholar under 40 by Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Dr. Garcia is celebrated for her significant impact in academia. She was also honored as a 2020 Faculty Fellow for The American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE). In 2024, she was awarded the American Education Research Association Scholars of Color Early Career Contribution Award for her advocacy for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color students through her scholarly work and praxis.

Dr. Garcia’s research has been published in prestigious international and national journals, including the American Educational Research Journal, Race, Ethnicity and Education, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and Teachers College Record. She serves as lead editor for the award-winning book Studying Latinx/a/o Students in Higher Education: A Critical Analysis of Concepts, Theory, and Methodologies, published by Routledge. Her forthcoming books, LatinX Students in Higher Education: A Guide for Re-Envisioning Student Success and Story(ing) Statistical Strategies using Critical Race and Chicana Feminist Theories, are scheduled for publication in Spring 2025.

Dr. Garcia earned her PhD in Social Science and Comparative Education with a specialization in Race and Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Yixin Ren

Senior Material Scientist
Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Washington, D.C.
McNair Alumni: University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY

Dr. Ren attained his bachelor’s degree from University of Buffalo, (2012,) he received first Master’s degree in from the Illinois State University in Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry (2014), his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Polymer Chemistry (2018) and went back to get a second Master’s degree in management science from Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Taxes (2020). He is currently a Scientist III at the US Pharmacopeia in Rockville Maryland where he been employed since January 2022. He has also served as Senior Research Scientist at ARCTOC with Wright Patterson Air Forces Base for three years. During his doctoral studies, Dr Ren worked on serval high level projects that:

Designed and developed neodymium-based catalysts for dienes, cyclic esters, and vinyl monomers polymerization with improved catalytic activity, focused on synthesis, purification, and characterization of the catalysts Studied the catalytic activity of the catalysts for the polymerization of dienes and vinyl monomers

  • Investigated catalytic activity for ring opening polymerization of caprolactones and cytotoxicity of the catalysts
  • Synthesized and investigated γ-substituted polycaprolactone for micellar drug delivery

Dr. Ren is author of more than 20 publications; two of his most recent articles are: Vitrimer Transition Temperature Identification: Coupling Various Thermomechanical Methodologies.

ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. · Mar 4, 2021, and Transesterification in Vitrimer Polymers Using Bifunctional Catalysts: Modeled with Solution-Phase Experimental Rates and Theoretical Analysis of Efficiency and Mechanisms J. Phys. Chem. B · Mar 1, 2021.

Dr. Ren is distinguished scientist, scholar, author and one who love giving back to his community and the community at-large. He often speaks at McNair events and is a member of the American Chemical Society and Alpha Chi Sigma.