Enabling students of underserved and underrepresented communities to participate in the sciences and self-guided research via mentorship, resources, and science education tools

Serena McCalla is the founder of iResearch Corporation, the parent company of iResearch Science, iResearch Foundation and iResearch Institute where she shares her research practices with educators and students from around the globe. She is also the Science Research Coordinator for Jericho UFSD in Jericho, NY. Since 2008, Dr. McCalla has engineered Jericho HS’s recognition as a preeminent science research program and it is lauded annually for continued successes in the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and Regeneron (formally Intel) Science Talent Search (STS) competitions.

Dr. McCalla and her Jericho High School students played a pivotal role in the National Geographic documentary entitled Science Fair, a Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster film. It chronicled high school students of diverse backgrounds and education experiences to the largest international science fair - ISEF. The documentary premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was honored by winning the 1st Audience Festival Favorite Award.

Dr. Leonardo Huertas is a board-certified emergency medicine physician working in the Northwell Health System since 1999. He is chairman of Huntington Hospital Emergency Department. He has a 20 year history educating medical professionals. He has a strong passion for educating today’s youth while serving as a role model for burgeoning scientists.

Emily Bickford Lansbury is a screenwriter, film/tv producer, and former elementary school teacher. She has been involved in the launch of several successful nonprofits including as a founding board member of Epic Theatre Center and The Ziegfeld Club. Lansbury’s feature screenwriting debut was Story of a Girl (2017), based on the National Book Award-nominated novel by Sara Zarr, which starred Kevin Bacon, was the directorial debut of actress Kyra Sedgwick and was nominated for a Directors Guild Award. Lansbury has a Bachelor degree in English literature from Skidmore College and a Master degree in education from Bank Street College.

Imani Greene is the Founder and President of GreeneGroup, an independent consultancy that designs paid, owned and earned media solutions to business challenges. Imani has extensive expertise, and over the last two decades she has designed/managed campaigns at such global firms as Ogilvy, McCann-Erickson, Mindshare Worldwide, Meredith and Saatchi & Saatchi. At GreeneGroup, Imani designs campaigns for public, private and not-for-profit brands that support behavioral change and drive tangible outcomes.

Imani currently sits on the Boards of Directors of the National Press Foundation, Dress For Success Washington DC, Partnership for a Healthier America and is a member of Leadership Greater Washington. Imani’s personal passion is supporting workforce readiness for at-risk youths and she founded a non-profit organization, called EveryDay Inspirations that connects inner-city teen mothers with women who may serve as beacons of inspiration to them.

David Xu is a computer engineering student at Columbia University. He has been programming for over a decade and works to create innovative interaction devices for computing. After his years of research in high school, he has gone on to mentor countless other high schoolers in their pursuit of scientific discovery. He hopes to develop new technologies to improve the world while spreading his love of technology to students everywhere.