Four Buckeye Engineers named Black Trailblazers in Engineering Fellows
Three PhD students and one recent graduate from The Ohio State University have been chosen for the inaugural class of Black Trailblazers in Engineering (BTE) Fellows. Launched by Purdue University, the BTE Fellows program is designed to prepare future engineering faculty who are also committed to increasing the representation and success of Black engineers.
Ohio State’s BTE Fellows are Nelson Glover, Olivia Hernandez, Jordan Taylor Moore and Chante' Vines.
Nelson Glover received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio State, where he is pursuing his PhD in mechanical engineering and is an instructor of statistics. He has been a lecturer, guest instructor, teaching fellow and tutor since 2014. He is a Future Academic Scholar Training Program Fellow, a coordinator for National Biomechanics Day, and president of Society of Black Graduate Engineers, an organization he co-founded in 2016. Glover’s research interest lies at the intersection of mechanical engineering and health, which led him to biomechanics. His goal is to use musculoskeletal modeling to better understand why injuries happen over time in physical activities such as running and weightlifting. In preparation for a career in academia, he became a Great Lecturer Series Scholar and joined the Inclusive Excellence Council. As a faculty member, he hopes to amend current core classes to give students more opportunities to develop their engineering skills. He also would like to create a computational biomechanics course to introduce students to this topic.
Olivia Hernandez earned her bachelor’s degree in English writing from Denison University in 2007, and her master’s degree in industrial and systems engineering in 2009 from Ohio State, where she also completed her PhD requirements in December 2020. Her degree will be conferred in May 2021. She became a certified usability analyst through Human Factors International in 2014 and has served as a graduate research associate and graduate teaching associate at Ohio State. An assistant vice president at JP Morgan Chase before returning to academia, Hernandez’s research interests include clinical informatics, simulation, experimental design, data science, human factors engineering, game-based training and active learning. In her future research, she plans to use augmented reality with a virtual patient to render an accurate diagnosis and create an appropriate treatment plan using active learning. As a future faculty member, she sees the importance of targeted recruitment in predominantly Black schools to encourage youth to become involved in STEM courses. Her goals are to serve as a role model and mentor for Black engineering students through the use of support systems and services and applying skills in the real world.
Jordan Taylor Moore earned his bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics in 2015, his master’s degree in biomedical engineering in 2020, and is currently a third-year PhD candidate in biomedical engineering – all at Ohio State. He is currently a graduate research associate focused on the implementation of tissue engineering in promoting peripheral nerve regeneration and restoring function after injury. He has worked with the nonprofit STEMKids Champion City, teaching science to elementary and middle school students with limited STEM exposure. His future focus will be on developing genetic therapeutics for neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions such as cerebral palsy and Alzheimer’s disease. Moore aims to be a leader in neural engineering, promote diversity within his lab and academia, and engage the community by working with underprivileged youth. He plans to develop a course on the design of micro- and nanoscale-based approaches for medical treatments. Assignments will include presentations to develop students’ skills in public speaking, literature reviewing, peer review, and identifying key information, competencies he believes are needed throughout STEM careers of all levels.
Chante' Vines earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 2015 from Morgan State University and is currently a PhD student in civil engineering at Ohio State, where she has been a graduate research associate since 2015 and a graduate teaching assistant since 2019. She completed undergraduate internships at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Asheville, North Carolina, and Silver Spring, Maryland. From 2015-2020, she was a fellow with Mechanisms and Interactions of Climate Change in Mountain Regions at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. Vines has served as vice president of the Women in Engineering Graduate Council, secretary of the Black Graduate and Professional Student Caucus, and a scholar for the NOAA Educational Partnership Program. The goal of her research is to study the interactions between the atmosphere and the land surface using high-functioning equipment to characterize greenhouse gases resulting from shale gas systems. She favors a teaching method that celebrates the diversity in students’ learning styles, an approach that is adaptable enough for all students to succeed. As a professor, she plans to prepare students by relating the course material to real-world problems as often as possible.
The class of 23 BTE Fellows is comprised of PhD students or postdocs, in engineering or related disciplines at U.S. research universities, selected to participate in a four-day academic career workshop because of their academic merit and their interest in applying for faculty positions in the U.S.
