Keynote & Featured Speakers

 

Keynote Speakers

Stephan Ramon Garcia, Ph.D. 

W.M Keck Distinguished Service Professor | Pomona College

Stephan Ramon Garcia is W.M. Keck Distinguished Service Professor at Pomona College. He grew up in San Jose, California and attended public schools there before earning his B.A. and Ph.D. in Mathematics from U.C. Berkeley. Garcia is the author of six books with elite presses such as Cambridge and Oxford and over 120 research articles in operator theory, matrix analysis, number theory, complex analysis, discrete geometry, analytic combinatorics, and other fields. This includes dozens of papers published with students, many of whom have gone on to top graduate programs. Garcia has served on the editorial boards of the Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society (2016-20), Notices of the American Mathematical Society (2019-21), Involve (2013-), Complex Analysis and Operator Theory (2023-6), and The American Mathematical Monthly (2017-21, 26-). He has received six NSF research grants as principal investigator and six teaching awards from three different institutions. He is a Fellow of the AMS and the inaugural winner of the AMS Dolciani Prize for Excellence in Research.
 

Alberto "Beto" Vasquez, Ed.D. (Yaqui (Sonora) & Mayo Sinaloa))

Director, Early Academic Outreach Program & Director, CSSI STEM Engagement & Community Outreach | UC San Diego - CREATE & EAOP

Dr. Alberto “Beto” Vasquez is a justice-impacted leader, educator, and systemic changemaker dedicated to bridging the gap between underserved communities and transformative opportunities. As the Director for the Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) and Director for STEM Community Outreach & Engagement at UC San Diego’s Center for Research on Education, Assessment and Teaching Excellence (CREATE), he oversees initiatives that expand higher education access and STEM diversity for thousands of students across Southern California. His advocacy is deeply rooted in his personal journey. Raised in Southeast San Diego, he overcame severe early-life challenges—including homelessness, addiction, incarceration, and dropping out of high school—to redefine his trajectory through education and resilience. After earning his Master’s degree in Biology from UC San Diego, he completed his doctorate in Educational Leadership, cementing his commitment to educational equity. A respected voice in community development, Dr. Vasquez has held vital leadership roles, including serving on local and national boards and committees that promote STEM and education. Through collaboration, advocacy, and community organizing, he leverages his lived experience to prove that education is a vital catalyst for transformation.
 

Idalis Villanueva Alarcón, Ph.D., Fellow ASEE 

Professor and Chair, Department of Engineering Education | University of Florida

Dr. Idalis Villanueva Alarcón is Professor and Chair in the Department of Engineering Education in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida. A presidential awardee (PECASE), an American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Fellow, and a National Science Foundation CAREER awardee, she has led multiple pioneering efforts in engineering education including multimodal methods using sensor technologies and biophysiological tools, hidden curriculum, mentoring models for serving engineering students worldwide, K-12 bilingual engineering education, and others. She is a renowned national and international leader in engineering education research and practice earning her multiple accolades and honors through professional organizations such as the National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, and American Society of Engineering Education. She integrates her technical experiences as a Chemical and Biological Engineer, Analytical Cell Biologist, and Engineering Education Researcher to tackle complex engineering education problems across the learner life span.

 

Featured Speakers

Jessica Esquivel, Ph.D. 

CEO, Associate Scientists | Oyanova Enterprises | Fermilab

Dr. Jessica Esquivel is a particle physicist, author, and world-builder who transforms some of the universe’s most complex ideas into powerful tools for understanding identity, belonging, and liberation. One of approximately 150 Black women in the United States to hold a PhD in physics, she conducts groundbreaking research at Fermilab, where her work has spanned the MicroBooNE, Muon g-2 and Mu2e experiments, artificial intelligence, and the search for physics beyond the Standard Model. An internationally recognized science communicator, Jessica has appeared on Discovery Channel’s How the Universe Works, CBS’s Mission Unstoppable, and Vox’s Unexplainable. Her TEDx talk has reached more than 78,000 viewers, and her SciWomen Origin Story—a multimedia feature created by SciAll and IF/THEN to humanize scientists and inspire underrepresented youth to see themselves in STEM—has surpassed 90,000 views. Jessica is also the co-founder of Oyanova Enterprises, alongside her wife and licensed clinical therapist Emily Esquivel. Oyanova Enterprises is a values driven social enterprise building liberatory systems rooted in care, culture, and community. Their flagship event, Queer Quest, is an award-winning gathering where quantum science meets cultural revolution. Her forthcoming book, Our Queer Universe, blends physics, memoir, and wonder to challenge who gets to belong in science, and invites the next generation to recognize that they are not merely entering the future of STEAM. They are creating it.
 

Charitie Ropati, B.S. (Native Village of Kongiganak Alaska)

Climate Advisor & Design Engineer | Youth Advisory Group under the UN-Secretary General

Charitie Ropati (Yup'ik & Samoan) is an Indigenous climate justice advocate, Scientist and Water engineer. She has worked on building pipe infrastructure and water infrastructure for rural Alaska Native communities. She is originally from the Native Village of Kongiganak Alaska, a small coastal community in the Southwest region of Alaska and Anchorage, Alaska. Charitie is a recent graduate from the School of Engineering at Columbia University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering on the Water Resources track, and concentrations in Earth and Environmental Engineering & Anthropology. She was awarded Champion for Change by the Center for Native American Youth for her work in education & climate and has been recognized by the World Wildlife Fund as a Conservation Leadership Awardee and has keynoted at the UN ECOSOC Partnership Forum at the United Nations Headquarters, on behalf of her Arctic community. She continues to fight for Indigenous human rights, advocating for the protection of land, water, and sovereignty She also implemented a culturally relevant curriculum in her school district in Alaska and passed a policy that allowed for students to wear their cultural regalia during high school graduation, this work has impacted over hundreds of thousands of students and more to this day. She currently works as a Water Engineer and is the North America Regional Facilitator for the Youth Climate Justice Fund. She is also a part of the United Nations Women's Leader Initiative. And most recently was featured on the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 List, under education for her work.
 

Nicole Yamase, Ph.D.

Director of Impact | OneReef

Nicole is a marine biologist, cultural advocate, and environmental leader from the islands of Pohnpei and Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia. She has long been dedicated to mentoring and uplifting Pacific Island voices in both local and global spaces, a commitment she continues to uphold since earning her Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. As Director of Impact at OneReef, she bridges science and cultural knowledge to foster meaningful partnerships across the Pacific. Nicole works closely with local organizations and communities in ways that honor and elevate their stories and stewardship.
 

Joseph Yracheta, M.S. (P'urhepecha)

Executive Director | Native BioData Consortium

Joseph M. Yracheta, Executive Director and Vice President at NativeBio is an Amerindigenous Scientist (P’urhepecha from Michoacan, Mexico) at Native BioData Consortium, the first non-profit sample and data “safe-harbor” storage facility on the Cheyenne Sioux Reservation. He has been a scientist since 1990 where he started as a bench biotechnician and worked across many biomedical disciplines. He has a master’s of Pharmaceutics and Bioethics from UW-Seattle. He will soon have DrPH in Environmental Health and Engineering from Johns-Hopkins. Mr. Yracheta is passionately working to achieve Indigenous Data Sovereignty by performing all the roles necessary, such as: 1. Non-profit Manager 2. Indigenous Sovereign Data System Designer 3. Ethical, Legal, and Policy Consultant 4. Decolonizing Settler Systems 5. STEAM Design (science education). Mr. Yracheta believes that ALL data and resources must be seen as unforeseen futures, where their value and governance must and will constantly change. He feels this data must be secured for Indigenous economic and cultural sustainability.

 

Emcee 

Desiré Delia Whitmore, Ph.D. 

Director of Learning Experiences, Staff Physicist Educator | Exploratorium

A Blaxican American woman and Southern California native, Dr. Desiré Whitmore, aka “LASERchick”, began her education in Community College and holds degrees in Physical Sciences, Chemical Engineering, and Chemical & Material Physics. Her PhD and Postdoctoral research focus was in the development of very fast laser systems to study single molecules vibrating, electrons traveling across the surface of metals, and the fluorescence of semiconducting Quantum Dots. During her postdoc, Desiré helped to found the Council for the Advancement of Black Engineers (CABE), which focuses on mentoring and retaining Black Engineering students. After her postdoc, Dr. Whitmore wrote K-8 science curriculum for Amplify Science, was the Director of the Laser and Photonics Technology program and a Physics Professor at Irvine Valley College, and is now the Staff Physicist and Director of Learning Experiences at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Her current work is focused on providing support and professional development to preK-12 science teachers and leaders, helping them teach through inquiry, with an emphasis on equity and inclusion.