Christina Hull Paxson has served as Brown University’s 19th president and professor of economics and public policy since July 1, 2012. Under Paxson’s leadership, Brown has fortified its standing as a leading research university known for its excellence and innovation in undergraduate education, its transformational vision in fueling economic development through community and government partnerships, and its commitment to inclusion and access.Paxson has led the creation and growth of centers and institutes that connect top researchers and scholars to confront critical 21st-century issues in areas spanning neuroscience, environmental and climate studies, economics, international and public policy, humanistic studies, and translating science and technology to find treatments and cures for disease. She is a passionate advocate on issues of access to higher education, and Brown has gained international attention for its comprehensive Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion action plan.

Tejal A. Desai assumed the role of Sorensen Family Dean of Engineering at Brown University, effective September 1, 2022. An accomplished biomedical engineer and academic leader, Desai’s research spans multiple disciplines including materials engineering, cell biology, tissue engineering, and pharmacological delivery systems to develop new therapeutic interventions for disease. A vocal advocate for education and outreach to historically underrepresented groups in STEM, Desai’s work to break down institutional barriers to equity and cultivate a climate of inclusion has earned numerous honors and awards, including the AWIS Judith Poole Award in Mentorship, the 2021 UCSF Chancellors Award for the Advancement of Women, and the 2022 Controlled Release Woman in Science Award. As president of AIMBE (2020-2022), she led advocacy efforts for increased scientific funding and addressing workforce disparities in science/engineering. To foster the next generation of scientists, she was involved in the SF Science Education partnership and has worked with outreach organizations such as the Lawrence Hall of Science, PBS, and the UN Women’s council to develop hand-on exhibits and videos related to nanotechnology and women in engineering.

Sian Leah Beilock is the 19th president of Dartmouth. She is the first woman to have been elected president of Dartmouth by the Board of Trustees and began her tenure on June 12, 2023. Beilock previously served as the eighth president of Barnard College at Columbia University. During her tenure at Barnard, Beilock enhanced STEM research and teaching programs to parallel the college's renown in the arts and humanities; implemented Feel Well, Do Well, a campus-wide health and wellness initiative; and launched Beyond Barnard, a one-stop shop for career resources at Barnard and beyond. Building on Barnard's relationship with Columbia, Beilock has established options for students to transition directly from Barnard into a range of master's programs at Columbia through unique five-year BA/MS degrees. Beilock has also led Barnard to increased diversity among students, faculty, and staff with almost half of Barnard students identify as women of color. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Choke and How the Body Knows Its Mind, which have been published in more than a dozen languages. She works closely with individuals, Fortune 500 companies, sports teams, and government organizations to help them build high-performance teams and use research-driven strategies to create environments that attract, retain, and get the best out of their talent. Beilock is an independent director on the Bridgewater Associates Operating Board of Directors.

Alexis Abramson is the 13th dean of Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. Prior to joining Dartmouth, she was the Milton and Tamar Maltz Professor of Energy Innovation at Case Western Reserve University and served as a director of the university’s Great Lakes Energy Institute focused on creating sustainable energy technology solutions. During the Obama administration, Abramson served as chief scientist and manager of the Emerging Technologies Division at the US Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Program. In 2018, she served as technical adviser for Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1 billion effort launched by Bill Gates to combat human-driven climate change. Abramson’s research has focused on novel techniques for thermal characterization of nanostructures, the design and synthesis of unique nanomaterials for use in alternative energy applications, virtual energy audits for building energy efficiency, and strategies to accelerate technology commercialization at universities and research institutions.

Pamela Whitten is the 19th president of Indiana University and the first woman to lead IU, a world-class public research university with seven campuses throughout Indiana. Under her leadership, IU has emphasized three core missions: providing broad access to an education for all students from Indiana and beyond; pursuing world-class research, scholarship and creative activity; and making meaningful contributions to improving the economic, social, civic and cultural development of the state and the world. President Whitten established the university's first Vice President of Student Success position and created the role of Vice President for Regional Campuses and Online Education to ensure IU prioritizes students and provides focused strategic leadership for IU's five regional campuses and online programs.

Joanna Mirecki Millunchick became the dean of the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering July 1, 2022. She is also a professor of intelligent systems engineering with a research focus on equity-centered engineering, in which she studies the benefits of participating in co-curricular engineering activities and how to transfer those benefits to attract and retain students. Millunchick joined Luddy from the University of Michigan, where she began her career as an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and rose through the ranks to associate professor in 2004; full professor in 2010; and associate dean in 2017. As associate dean at Michigan, her support of experiential learning opportunities led to creation of wide-ranging student opportunities such as international programs in engineering and an experiential learning framework and web-based platform. At Michigan, Millunchick also conducted research in materials science, where she developed nanoscale semiconductors for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. She also developed new virtual and augmented reality tools to help students learn concepts in the physical sciences.

University of Rochester President Sarah C. Mangelsdorf is an experienced academic leader who is internationally known for her research on social and emotional personality development and for her work on issues of academic quality, educational access, and diversity and inclusion at some of the nation’s leading public and private institutions.Since arriving in July 2019, she has increased the University’s investment and growth in research and clinical enterprises and led the development of the University’s new strategic plan, entitled Boundless Possibility, to help define the University of Rochester as a global research university of the future. President Mangelsdorf has been co-chair of the American Association of Universities Advisory Board on Racial Equity in Higher Education since 2020 and serves on a select McKinsey & Company taskforce on the future of higher education.

Wendi Heinzelman, became dean of the Hajim School on July 1, 2016. In her previous role as dean of graduate studies for Arts, Sciences & Engineering, Heinzelman worked with the Arts, Sciences and Engineering faculty to develop innovative specialized and interdisciplinary graduate programs, such as a master’s degree in alternative energy and a graduate degree program in technical entrepreneurship and management. She worked closely with the Goergen Institute for Data Science to develop the first master’s degree in data science, which provides training in techniques for analysis of large data sets. Heinzelman also provided a major focus on recruiting and retaining under-represented minority graduate students, resulting in an increase in applications from this group of 200 percent and an increase in enrollments of 73 percent.As dean of the Hajim School, Heinzelman oversees a variety of programs, departments, and institutes, including audio and music engineering, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, data science, electrical and computer engineering, materials science, mechanical engineering, and optics.

A member of the UW faculty since 1986, Cauce became UW’s 33rd president Oct. 13, 2015.Throughout her career, Cauce has championed access to higher education and UW views on innovation as an imperative. In June 2015 Cauce announced the launch of the Global Innovation Exchange – a partnership between the UW and Tsinghua University, with foundational support from Microsoft, GIX .For her teaching, scholarship and advocacy, Cauce has received numerous awards, including the Dalmas Taylor Distinguished Contribution Award, the Luis Fernando Esteban Public Service Award, the James M. Jones Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Psychological Association, the Grace Hopper Exemplary Leadership Award and the Distinguished Contribution Award from the Society for Community Research and Action. Cauce is a professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies, with secondary appointments in the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies and the College of Education. She maintains an active research program, focusing on adolescent development, with a special emphasis on at-risk youth. She is also a strong advocate for women and underrepresented minorities to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Dr. Nancy L. Allbritton joined the University of Washington as the Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering in November 2019.Under her leadership the College launched an inclusive and wide-ranging strategic planning effort; advanced initiatives to build an inclusive and equitable environment for learning, research, service and outreach; and furthered plans to construct a student focused new facility, the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building, to help address growth in student enrollment. Allbritton is an international expert on multiplexed single-cell assays, microfabricated platforms for high-content cytometry combined with cell sorting, and microengineered stem-cell-based systems for recapitulating human organ-level function. Four companies have been formed based on her research discoveries: Protein Simple (acquired by Bio-Techne in 2014), Intellego, Cell Microsystems, and Altis Biosystems. Allbritton holds an appointment in the UW’s Department of Bioengineering. She has been nationally recognized for her research and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors.

Tsu-Jae King Liu received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. She joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center as a Member of Research Staff in 1992, to research and develop high-performance thin-film transistor technologies for flat-panel display applications. In 1996 she joined the faculty of the University of California, at Berkeley, where she now holds the Roy W. Carlson Distinguished Professorship in Engineering. Her research activities are presently in advanced materials, fabrication processes and devices for energy-efficient electronics. She has authored or co-authored over 500 publications and holds over 90 patents. Professor Liu is a Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and serves on the Board of Directors for Intel Corporation. Professor Liu's awards include the Ross M. Tucker AIME Electronics Materials Award (1992) for seminal work in polycrystalline silicon-germanium thin films; an NSF CAREER Award (1998) for research in thin-film transistor technology; the DARPA Significant Technical Achievement Award (2000) for development of the FinFET; the Electrical Engineering Award for Outstanding Teaching at UC Berkeley (2003); the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award (2010) for contributions to nanoscale MOS transistors, memory devices, and MEMS devices; the UC Berkeley Faculty Mentor Award (2010); the Electrochemical Society Dielectric Science and Technology Division Thomas D. Callinan Award (2011) for excellence in dielectrics and insulation investigations; the Intel Outstanding Researcher in Nanotechnology Award (2012); the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) University Researcher Award (2014); and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Aristotle Award (2016).

Gilda A. Barabino is the second president of Olin College of Engineering, which is dedicated to educating the next generation of engineering innovators who recognize needs, design solutions and engage in creative enterprises for the good of the world.  A chemical engineer by training, Dr. Barabino has pioneered new engineering approaches to problems in medicine and leads national efforts to engage engineers in the development of solutions to health disparities. Prior to becoming president of Olin College, Dr. Barabino served as Dean of the Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York and held appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering as well as at the City University of New York School of Medicine. She is an internationally recognized thought leader on race/ethnicity and gender in science and engineering, with a particular focus on creating cultures and climates that support a sense of belonging. She has led a number of initiatives in these areas, including serving as the founder and executive director of the National Institute for Faculty Equity. She is Board Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest interdisciplinary scientific society. In advancing science, engineering and innovation, she and AAAS are committed to science for and by all and engineering for everyone.