2023 Mentors

Dr. Barbara Gastel
Professor, Texas A&M University / University of Chicago
Dr. Gastel teaches subjects like science communications, medical humanities, and medical writing at many institutions. She writes many books and articles on the topic of science communications, and she is also one of the co-directors of the Science Influencers program!
Dr. Gastel is a mentor to Fernanda Arcos.
Find out more about Dr. Gastel’s work here.

Dr. Amanda Adams
Adjunct Faculty Member, Texas A&M University
Dr. Adams studies bat ecology for conservation, researching through Bat Conservation International. She strives to bridge the gap between research and implementation using collaboration and outreach. Currently, she is working on bat conservation in Texas, specifically combatting white-nose syndrome in bats.
Dr. Adams is a mentor to Jeremiah Wright.
Find out more about Dr. Adams’ work here.

Dr. Michael Polcyn
Research Associate, Southern Methodist University
Dr. Polcyn is a paleontologist whose research involves exploration of evolutionary patterns and development of explanatory models. In his research, he sets out to understand why animals may have evolved the way they did, focusing broadly on marine amniotes and specifically on mosasaurs.
Dr. Polcyn is a mentor to Jared Cooke.
Find out more about Dr. Polcyn’s work here.

Dr. Akua Woolbright
Nutrition Program Director, Whole Foods Market
Dr. Woolbright is the Nutrition Program Director for Whole Foods Market. She is responsible for establishing corporate health programs, creating and running several retreats annually, improving corporate wellness initiatives, and developing online and social media strategies.
Dr. Woolbright is a mentor to Hope Bigbee.
Find out more about Dr. Woolbright’s work here.

Dr. Qin (Maggie) Qi
Assistant Professor, Qi Research Group, MIT
Dr. Qi’s aim is to understand human health and develop medical technologies. By integrating predictive models and experimentation, she and her team tackle various challenges in biomaterial design and drug development. Dr. Qi and her team are currently researching topics of microphysiological systems, biomaterial design, cellular biomechanics, and engineering.
Dr. Qi is a mentor to Camryn Couvillion.
Find out more about Dr. Qi’s work here.

Blair Fannin
Executive/Internal Communications, AgriLife
Blair Fannin works for Texas A&M AgriLife in executive and internal communications as part of Texas A&M AgriLife Marketing and Communications. He has written extensively about agriculture and natural resources programming in agricultural economics, animal science, foreign animal diseases and production agriculture.
Blair is a mentor to Fatyma Lawal.
Find out more about Blair’s work here.