Paige K. Evans, Ed.D., is a Clinical Professor and Co-Director for the teachHOUSTON program at the University of Houston (UH) in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics where she teaches and oversees courses in STEM teacher education. She has secured $18 million in grant funding and is the PI/Co-PI on several federal grants with goals to broaden STEM participation and improve STEM literacy for all. She frequently publishes and presents on her research interests that include STEM teacher preparation, STEM education, and culturally responsive pedagogy. Moreover, she co-authored the book, Preparing Teachers to Teach the STEM Disciplines in America’s Urban Schools. Dr. Evans served as the president of the UTeach STEM Educators Association and was an American Physical Society Physics Teacher Education Coalition Fellow. She is the recipient of five UH Teaching Excellence Awards including the 2024 Group Teaching Excellence Award and the 2022 UH Distinguished Leadership in Teaching Excellence Award. Additionally, she was honored with the American Educational Research Association Narrative Inquiry Outstanding Publication Award (2019; 2024), the American Physical Society for Improving Undergraduate Physics Education Award (2019 – 2021), and the NSF STEM for all Video Showcase Award (2021; 2022). Prior to joining the UH faculty in 2008, she spent 18 years as a math/science educator and served in various leadership positions.

Jerrod A. Henderson, Ph.D., (“Dr. J”) is an Assistant Professor in the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston (UH).

Dr. J has dedicated his career to increasing the number of students who are in pathways to pursue STEM careers. He believes that exposing students to STEM early will have a lasting impact on their lives and academic pursuits. He co-founded the St. Elmo Brady STEM Academy (SEBA). SEBA is an educational intervention that introduces underrepresented and underserved fourth and fifth-grade students and their families to hands-on STEM experiences.

Dr. J is the immediate past Director of the Program for Mastery in Engineering Studies (PROMES, pronounced “promise”), a program aimed at increasing engineering student achievement, engagement, and graduation rates. His research group seeks to understand engineering identity trajectories and success mechanisms throughout lifespans using action-based participatory research and novel methodologies such as photovoice, IPA, and draw-an-engineer and the development of research-informed interventions to improve student success.

He was most recently recognized by INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine as an Inspiring STEM Leader, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS) Outstanding Young Alumni Award, Career Communications Group with a Black Engineer of the Year Award for college-level promotion of engineering education and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2023 to advance his work that centers engineering identities of Black men in engineering.

Virginia Snodgrass Rangel, Ph.D., is an associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Houston. Her research interests include student pathways into STEM education, STEM teacher and principal preparation, and mentoring. Together with Dr. Henderson, she is the co-director of the Center for Underrepresented and Underserved Student Pathways into Engineering (CU₂SP). Prior to joining the University of Houston, she was the Associate Director of Research for the Center for Digital Learning and Scholarship at Rice University.

Ramona Mateer, M.Ed., is a STEM teacher education lecturer with the teachHOUSTON program at University of Houston which prepares STEM majors to teach in high-need secondary schools. She is dedicated to supporting science and math teachers developing the skills and passion for teaching that results in quality, best practice STEM education at the secondary level for all students. She co-developed the award-winning Accelerated Certification Pathway for STEM – University of Houston and is a Co-Pi on federal grants intended to grow STEM participation and retain STEM teachers. Her interests focus on culturally responsive classroom management in the inquiry environment. She is a proud University of Houston graduate and holds a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Texas at Arlington. She was named 2007 Katy ISD District Teacher of the Year and awarded the 17th Annual Christa McAuliffe in Search of Excellence Award, West Houston Chamber of Commerce and received the a 2023-2024 University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award for Group Teaching. Prior to joining teachHOUSTON, she taught science in a local large suburban school district, where she also worked as a science instructional coach, participated in the 2006 Science TEKS rewrite and developed science curriculum grades K-8.

Amanda Campos, M.Ed., is a Master Teacher with teachHOUSTON, where she plays a pivotal role in preparing future STEM educators. She earned her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction in STEM from the University of Houston and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership Policy at Texas Tech University. Her work focuses on advancing STEM education, teacher preparation, and policy advocacy for the Texas teacher workforce. At teachHOUSTON, Amanda leads the development of the yearlong residency program, coordinates the induction program, and serves as a Co-Principal Investigator on several grants designed to strengthen the program’s impact. She also teaches undergraduate STEM education courses, sharing her expertise and passion for inquiry-based learning and culturally responsive pedagogy. Before joining teachHOUSTON, Amanda worked in a local school district as a middle school science teacher, intervention specialist, and testing coordinator. Her diverse experience includes mentoring first-year teachers, developing curricula, and presenting best teaching practices at conferences across the country.

Karen McIntush, Ph.D., is a Clinical Assistant Faculty member with teachHOUSTON in the Mathematics Department at the University of Houston. She teaches a course for the STEM alternative certification pathway and serves as the Faculty Advisor for teachHOUSTON, where she facilitates students’ progress through the teachHOUSTON program. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A&M University and has over 20 years of experience teaching and researching in higher education. She is the Co-PI on a Gates Foundation grant and a Houston Endowment grant. She also manages various NSF grants, participates in grant writing, and conducts research for the teachHOUSTON program. She has numerous presentations at national and international conferences, has several publications, and won various writing awards for her work. Her current research is primarily focused on recruiting, preparing, and retaining secondary STEM teachers, specifically in urban environments. More specifically, Dr. McIntush conducts research on the various teachHOUSTON program offerings, including the impact of the classroom management course on secondary STEM student teachers, the teacher residency pathway, pathways for teacher certification, and induction and mentoring efforts to support novice STEM teachers.

Karla Adelina Garza, Ph.D., is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow for teachHOUSTON at the University of Houston. She received her doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A&M University. Her narrative inquiry dissertation research focused on teachers who were migrant farmworker students, and it has received the American Educational Research Association, Narrative Research Special Interest Group Outstanding Dissertation Award and the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum, John Laska Dissertation Award Dr. Garza currently serves as the Scholarship Director for the PanAmerican Student Forum of Texas. She previously taught multiple levels of Spanish at the secondary level in Northwest Houston. Her educational research interests include multicultural and minority education, migrant student and migrant teacher education, technology in education, and professional development for educators.

KaDarrius James, M.A., is the Program Director for the teachHOUSTON program at the University of Houston. He received his master’s degree from Sam Houston State University in Digital Media. He has worked in student services such as academic advising, admissions, and recruitment for many years.