Kianna Big Crow

Public Policy Master's Student
University of Maryland, School of Public Policy
McNair Alumni: University of Minnesota, Morris, MN

Kianna Big Crow (Oglala Lakota) is a McNair Scholars Program alumna and a Master of Public Policy student at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she is specializing in social and education policy. She earned her BA in Economics and Native American and Indigenous Studies from the University of Minnesota, Morris. Her undergraduate research examined returns to education for Indigenous populations and structural economic barriers affecting the Pine Ridge Reservation. Her research and policy interests include Tribal sovereignty and treaty rights, Indigenous education, self-determination, and equitable policy design.

Kianna’s work spans both research and curriculum development, with a shared commitment to translating Western academic frameworks into tools that serve Indigenous communities. As a writer, editor, and advisor for an Indigenous-led nonprofit in Pine Ridge, she develops culturally grounded curricula that restore life skills, leadership practices, and community knowledge disrupted by the boarding school era. Her research similarly draws on Western economic and policy analysis to interrogate educational inequities and advance Indigenous self-determination. Across both spaces, her work centers on equipping Indigenous people to navigate and influence Western institutions while remaining rooted in cultural values and responsibility to community.

Katia Destine

NSF Graduate Research Fellow, Sociology Doctoral Student
University of Maryland, Department of Sociology
McNair Alumni: University of Central Florida

Katia Destine is a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Maryland. She graduated with honors from the University of Central Florida and received her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Behavioral and Social Sciences and Media Studies, and two certificates in Geographic Information Systems and Diversity Studies. Prior to joining UMD, she worked in non-profit as a multidisciplinary artist and digital media producer.

Her research explores how social inequalities and power structures shape our relationship to media, cultural resources, and creative expression. Her current work focuses on cultural workers and institutions and how they navigate boundaries of race, class, and gender. She is particularly interested in how underrepresented artists navigate the modern-day creator economy and how they use community and storytelling to challenge cultural erasure, exploitation, and representation. Through qualitative interviews, her previous work highlighted the experiences of lower-income and working-class Black musicians in Central Florida. Katia is the recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. She is also a prominent advocate for public sociology and draws on her creative background to engage in the field.

Outside of academia, Katia is a classically trained percussionist. She enjoys reading and watching dark fantasy, science fiction, stand-up comedy and musical theatre.

Saul Flores

Ph.D. student, University of Maryland, Biochemistry Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
McNair Fellow & Alumni: University of Maryland

Saúl J. Flores is a Ronald E. McNair Doctoral Fellow and Ph.D. candidate in Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he studies bacterial biofilms in the Myles B. Poulin group. His work combines computational biology with experimental biochemical and biophysical approaches.

Saúl teaches locally and internationally, serving as a teaching assistant at UMD for biochemistry, biology, and chemistry courses and as a recurring workshop instructor in programs in El Salvador. He also leads a campus peer mentoring program focused on student retention and graduation.

Outside the lab, Saúl is involved in science policy and advocacy through local and national coalitions. Across research and teaching, he is motivated to build bridges that broaden participation in science.

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.

Manny Zapata

McNair Graduate Fellow, University of Maryland, Urban Education Doctoral Student, College of Education
McNair Alumni: Syracuse University

Manny Zapata is a Ph.D. student studying Urban Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he researches Afro- Latinx youth identity development and Anti-Blackness in schools. Working under the supervision of Dr. Tara Brown, his dissertation work focuses on challenging monolithic views of “Blackness” and “Latinidad” through examination of ethno-racial identity negotiations within the African Diaspora and across schools.

Before beginning his doctoral studies, Manny earned a Master of Arts in Education Policy with a concentration in Law from Teachers College, Columbia University, where he worked with NYC youth as a Zankel Urban Fellow. He also earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from New York University while working as a middle school English teacher for Brooklyn Prospect Charter Schools for two years. This experience informs his current research with a focus on actionable, policy-relevant findings.

Manny is a recipient of the Deans Fellowship and McNair Doctoral Fellowship at UMD. He has experience working for The Education Trust, The Learning Policy Institute, and The African American Policy Forum. He presented his work at the Critical Race Studies in Education Association Conference and has published across the Hechinger Report, The Education Trust, and Brill.

Manny holds a B.A. in English and Political Science from Syracuse University. Currently based in Silver Spring, Maryland, he enjoys traveling, trying local eateries with friends, and running through nature trails in his free time.

Dr. Nathalie Frédéric Pierre

( Moderator )

Assistant Professor of History
Howard University, Washington, DC
McNair Alumnus, Eastern Washington University

Dr. Nathalie Frédéric Pierre is an Assistant Professor of History at her undergraduate alma mater, Howard University. A historian of Black sovereignty and Haitian statecraft, she has received support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and, most recently, the Mellon New Directions Fellowship, which enables her to expand her historical work into legal studies and deepen the interdisciplinary reach of African and African Diaspora Studies.

Public engagement is central to Dr. Pierre’s work. She served as board chair (2011–2017) of the Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project, an English Language Learner (ELL) advocacy group that supports Haitian migrant teens in their educational journey in New York City, following the 2010 Haitian earthquake. She regularly lectures in Haitian Creole to community-based organizations, recognizing that engaging monolingual Haitian audiences is critical to amplifying their presence in the public sphere. By prioritizing language accessibility, she bridges academic research and community knowledge, ensuring that Haitians themselves remain central to conversations about their history.

Her scholarship appears in The Journal of Haitian Studies, Public Books Cultural Dynamics, and the edited volume Remembrance: Loss, Hope, Recovery after the Earthquake in Haiti, among other forums. She has also held fellowships as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Graduate School of the City University of New York’s Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC), a Black Studies Dissertation Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Ronald E. McNair Scholar at Howard University.

Dr. Alana Hacksaw

Historian
Clinical professor and Chief Access and Success Officer
McNair Alumnus, University of Rochester

Alana Hackshaw, Ph.D., is a clinical professor and serves as the University of Maryland College Park School of Public Policy’s Chief Access and Success Officer. She also serves as the program director for the Thurgood Marshall Fellows Program in the Institute for Public Leadership. Her courses focus on governance, social identity, and the creation of public policy and leadership. Hackshaw’s professional experience includes work as a researcher and consultant in the nonprofit sector. Her work focused on analyzing policies that foster economic security, asset building, and entrepreneurship within the Black diaspora in the US.

Hackshaw holds a doctorate in political science from the University of Michigan and a BA in political science and history from the University of Rochester. Her research interests include the effects of racial equity plans on city governance, patterns of political incorporation among first- and second-generation Black immigrants in the US, and the impact of US immigration policy on immigrants of color.

Dr. Yixin Ren

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

Yixin Ren, Ph.D., is a Senior Materials Scientist at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where he applies expertise in polymer and organic chemistry, materials science, and advanced characterization in highly regulated, mission-critical environments. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from The University of Texas at Dallas and completed postdoctoral research at the U.S. Air Force, where he led and published work on vitrimers with functional nanofillers. Before his current role, Yixin served as a Scientist at the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), supporting the development of standards and scientific initiatives that ensure the quality and safety of medicines worldwide. He currently serves as a member of the USP Expert Committee. He brings extensive experience in FDA and ISO standards, CMC and GLP compliance, and Six Sigma methodologies, having earned Six Sigma Black Belt certification. As a McNair alumnus, Yixin is committed to mentoring undergraduate researchers and sharing guidance on graduate education, interdisciplinary research careers, and pathways from academia to federal service and industry.

Dr. Demar F. Lewis IV

Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice
McNair Alumnus, University of St. Thomas, MN

Demar F. Lewis IV is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland and is an affiliate faculty member in the Department of African American and Africana Studies, the Institute for Public Leadership, and the Maryland Population Research Center. His research examines how macro-level institutional practices shape conditions of unsafety in Black communities and how Black people navigate daily life, past and present. Dr. Lewis holds a B.A. in International Business & a minor in American Culture and Difference Studies from the University of St. Thomas, MN, a Master’s of Public Policy (MPP) from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and a PhD in Sociology and African American Studies from Yale University. He is a former McNair Scholar and Associate Fellow with the Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers. Dr. Lewis also currently serves on the advisory board of the McNair Scholars Program at the University of Maryland and the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Policy Research Scholars Program.