A Sarah Aoun, Open Technology Fund Sarah Aoun is the Vice

Sarah Aoun, Open Technology Fund

Sarah Aoun is the Vice President of Security and Chief Technologist of the Open Technology Fund (OTF)

where she leads OTF's efforts to identify and track emerging threats relevant to OTF’s mission, and to

advance the field of information security for journalists, human rights defenders, and high risk

individuals. She was also a Ford-Mozilla Open Web Fellow (2017-2018), an Internet Freedom Fellow

(2016-2017), an advisor to the Internet Freedom Festival, the Human Rights Foundation, and Global

Journalist Security.

Julia Bauer, Davidson College

Virginia Blatto, University of Turin

Virginia Blatto is a last-year student of the Bachelor’s Degree in Global Law and Transnational Legal

Studies at the University of Turin, Italy. She participated in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot

Court competition and her team won the competition at the national level. She has submitted a third-

party intervention on migrants rights to the European Court of Human Rights through the Strategic

Litigation: International Human Rights Legal Clinic. She will be pursuing her studies with a Master’s

Degree in Politics and Policy Analysis at Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi after graduation.

Kelly Bohrer, University of Dayton

Rebecca Bouchard, University of Turin

Rebecca Bouchard is an undergraduate student of Global Law and Transnational Legal Studies at

University of Turin. Following an exchange program and spending the fourth year of high school in

Taipei, Taiwan, she decided to undertake studies in international law. Her main focus is the field of

human rights, as well as that of comparative legal studies.

Mia Smith Bynum, American Psychological Association

Mia Smith Bynum is the Senior Director for Science Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at the American

Psychological Association. She is also Professor of Family Science and Director of the Black Families

Research Group in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland-College Park. She is the

author of the Theory of Racial Socialization in Action for Black families, and co-author of the

Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI) and the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity

(MIBI). She is the Deputy Director of Community Engagement for the Prevention Research Center at

University of Maryland. Dr. Smith-Bynum is the past Chair of the Black Caucus of the Society for

Research in Child Development. Her research has been supported by external grants from several

entities, including the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Child Health and

Human Development.

Gisa Dang, Treatment Action Group

Gisa Dang, MA (she/her) is a health and human rights consultant with focus on civil society advocacy,

human rights-based responses, and community leadership. She has extensive experience working in

restrictive political environments. Gisa developed and implemented flagship experiential learning

programs on organizational management, human rights documentation, and advocacy. She has

consulted on assessments of Global Fund funding mechanisms, evaluations of regional HIV/AIDS and

legal rights programs, strategy development, and COVID-19 disparities. With Treatment Action Group

she has been working extensively on analysis of the right to science in the context of infectious diseases,

including e.g., tuberculosis (TB) policies in the UAE, China, and Mexico, and authored submissions to UN

entities including the Office of the High Commission of Human Rights (OHCHR), Special Rapporteurs,

UNESCO and UNAIDS. She co-authored a book chapter on transferability of TB and human rights

advocacy (available open source); and is working on human rights analysis for COVID-19, pandemic

preparedness and response. She is based in San Diego, USA, and speaks German (native), English

(professional fluency), and Mandarin Chinese (fluent-intermediate).

Juan Pablo Delgado, Amicus DH

Juan Pablo Delgado (he/him) is the Executive Director of Amicus, a civil society organization dedicated to

the promotion and defense of the rights of LGBTI people in Mexico. He has a Law Degree from

Universidad Iberoamericana León, a Master's in Public Policy from Georgetown University and is a

candidate for a Master's Degree in Peace, Sustainability and Gender Studies from the United Nations

University for Peace. He is the creator of the Visible platform, the first to allow the collection of

incidents of violence and discrimination experienced by LGBTI people in Mexico, and a member of the

Network of LGBT Litigants of the Americas. He has served as Manager of the Project for the Recognition

of Gender Identity in the Americas in the Department for Effective Public Management of the

Organization of American States, as Director of Social Development in the Municipal Government of

León, and as a consultant for various organizations, such as the IACHR, OHCHR, UNFPA, UNICEF and the

Williams Institute at UCLA. Recently, he participated as the first openly gay mayoral candidate for the

Municipal Government of the City of León, Mexico.

Jonathan Drake, AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

Jonathan Drake is a Senior Program Associate with the AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and

Law Program. A former research assistant at the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Hawai'i

Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, he has over ten years’ experience in both terrestrial and

planetary remote sensing, with a particular emphasis on the ways in which technologies from these

fields can be used to benefit the greater good. At AAAS he is involved in investigating the applications

and implications of emerging technologies and data products in a human rights and humanitarian

context. Through his work with the Program, he has provided training to multiple human rights

organizations, as well as international courts and commissions on the ways in which technology can be

used to advance human rights documentation. He holds a Master of Science (M.S.) in Geology from

Arizona State University (2008) and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Physics (with honors) from Dickinson

College (2004).

Zainub Dhanani, Stanford School of Medicine

Asia Eaton, Florida International University

Asia Eaton is a feminist social psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at Florida International

University. She is the Director of the Ph.D. track in Applied Social and Cultural Psychology and PI of the

Power, Women, and Relationships (PWR) Lab, which explores how gender intersects with identities such

as race, sexual orientation, and class to affect individuals access to and experience with power. In her

quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods work, she engages social and cultural psychological

theories and methods to address real-world social problems in collaboration with local, state, and

national organizations and institutions. For example, since 2016 Asia has served as Head of Research for

Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, which is working to understand and end the epidemic of image-based sexual

abuse in the U.S. She co-edited a recent special issue of American Psychologist on the topic of Public

Psychology.

Steven Feldstein, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Steven Feldstein is a Senior Fellow in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Democracy,

Conflict, and Governance Program, where he focuses on issues of democracy, technology, human rights,

and Africa. He is the author of The Rise of Digital Repression: How Technology is Reshaping Power,

Politics, and Resistance (Oxford University Press, 2021). Previously, Feldstein served as a deputy

assistant secretary in the Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Bureau in the U.S. Department of State,

where he had responsibility for Africa policy, international labor affairs, and international religious

freedom. He was also the director of policy at the U.S. Agency for International Development, and

served as counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, where he oversaw U.S. foreign

assistance programs, State Department management, and international organizations.

Roseanne Flores, Hunter College

Roseanne L. Flores is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Hunter College and the Graduate

Center of the City University of New York. She received her PhD from the Graduate Center of the City

University of New York, and more recently an Advanced Certificate in Public Administration and Public

Policy as well as a Certificate in Health Care Policy and Administration both from the CUNY School of

Professional Studies. She is also a Faculty Associate of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at

Hunter College as well as a member of the Public Policy and Human Rights faculty. She is a

Developmental Psychologist by training and was a National Head Start Fellow in the Office of Head Start

in Washington, DC in 2009-2010 where some of her work focused on research, practices, and policies

that influenced children, families, and communities. Dr. Flores is an Eastern Psychological Association

fellow and served as a member of the EPA Board of Directors from 2017-2019 and is the 2023 President

elect for EPA. She served as the 2013 chair of the Committee on Children, Youth and Families at the

American Psychological Association and the past chair of the APA Coalition for Psychology in Schools and

Education. Roseanne also serves as an APA Representative to the United Nations and on the Exploratory

Committee on Applied Psychology. She is also a member of the APA Board of Educational Affairs Task

Force on Educational Disparities. Dr. Flores’ current research focuses on the intersection between

education, health disparities, and human rights. She is the co-editor of the recently published and award

winner Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Human Rights.

Sean Gallagher, AAAS Office of Government Relations

Sean Gallagher joined AAAS as a Senior Government Relations Officer in March 2015. He handles a wide

range of policy issues and focuses on engaging and encouraging scientists to demonstrate their value to

their peers, the media and policy makers. He spearheads grassroots efforts and serves as a liaison to

congress and the executive branch. Prior to joining AAAS Sean spent over 7 years on Capitol Hill as a

legislative aide to five Members of Congress, helping represent districts in Pennsylvania, New York,

Virginia, California, and New Jersey. Sean specialized in science and technology issues, and also has

experience in military and veterans affairs as well health care reform. Sean has a Master’s Degree in

Public Policy from Georgetown University and received his Bachelor’s in Political Science from Villanova

University.

Fanny Cata Gómez-Lugo, Georgetown University Law Center

Fanny Cata Gomez-Lugo (she/her) is a Venezuelan lawyer, feminist, and queer woman who has been

teaching at Georgetown University Law Center (GULC) since 2012. She is the Director of Research &

Advocacy Programs at Women’s Equality Center, where she focuses on reproductive rights. Prior to this,

she was the Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy at Synergía – Initiatives for Human Rights,

conducting advocacy on LGBTQ issues in Latin America and Africa. Before this, she worked as the human

rights specialist coordinating the execution of the legal work, projects, and activities of the

Rapporteurship on the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Persons (LGBTI) at the

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), between 2012 and 2016. She worked at the

IACHR since July 2007, where she started as a fellow, for the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Women.

Professor Gómez-Lugo is a graduate from Andrés Bello Catholic University (Venezuela), (Juris Doctor

equivalent). She earned a LL.M. with a concentration in international law from McGill University,

Canada. On a scholarship from the University of Chile, she pursued graduate studies in “Human Rights

and Women: Theory and Practice”. She completed the Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellowship

Program at GULC. She has collaborated with Human Rights Watch and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal

Network. She is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Law Faculty, Georgetown University, where she

teaches courses on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, and sexual and reproductive

rights. For 2016-2018, she was the Adjunct Professor for the Fact-Finding Practicum of the Human Rights

Institute at Georgetown Law, which focused on the rights of LGBTQ people in El Salvador and Guyana.

She is a member of the international advisory board at Astraea Lesbian Foundation. She is a member of

the Network of LGBTQ Litigants of Latin America and the Caribbean, and a consultant with the United

Nations.

Geraldina González de la Vega, Mexico City Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination

Geraldina González de la Vega (she/her) is Mexican lawyer specialized in human rights. Since October

2018 she is President of the Council to Eliminate and Prevent Discrimination in Mexico City. She has a

Law degree from Universidad Iberoamericana, a Master's degree in Public Law from the Universidad

Anáhuac del Sur and a Legum Magistra from the University of Düsseldorf in Germany. She was an

academic technician at the UNAM Legal Research Institute in legislation and jurisprudence. From 2016

to 2018, she was advisor to Supreme Court Justice Arturo Zaldívar and legal consultant for civil society

organizations related to human rights. She has been a professor of constitutional law and human rights

at Universidad Iberoamericana and other institutions, such as the National Institute of Criminal Sciences,

Universidad Anáhuac del Sur, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México and Universidad Autónoma

Benito Juárez.

Theresa Harris, AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

Theresa Harris is the Program Director of the AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law

Program. She manages the Program’s projects on science and human rights, including On-call Scientists,

a volunteer referral service that provides technical support for human rights organizations, activities

that promote greater understanding of the human right to science, and a new project on artificial

intelligence and human rights. She also serves as coordinator of the AAAS Science and Human Rights

Coalition, a network of scientific, engineering, and health associations that recognize the role of science

and technology in human rights. Prior to joining AAAS, Ms. Harris represented survivors of human rights

violations before United States courts, the Inter-American human rights system, and United Nations

human rights mechanisms. She has served on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA and

is a member of the governing body of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT). Ms. Harris holds

degrees in anthropology, land use planning, and law and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Kelley Haynes-Mendez, American Psychological Association

Kelley Haynes-Mendez is Senior Director for the Human Rights Team in the American Psychological

Association’s (APA) Public Interest Directorate. The APA Human Rights Team was established in 2020

with a particular concern to further several of APA’s core values -- respect and promote human rights;

focus on human rights, fairness, and dignity for all segments of society. Dr. Haynes-Mendez is formally

Vice President for Diversity and International Relations for the Society for the Teaching of Psychology

and holds more than 20 years teaching experience in graduate psychology programs. Her scholarly work

includes topics related to diversity, intersectionality, human rights, global citizenship, and cultural

psychology.

Shelley Inglis, University of Dayton

Hana Kamran, Davidson College

Rachel Kline, AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion

Rachel Kline (she/her) is a Program Associate in the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER)

program, with a background in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Pharmacology. She worked in project

management for nearly a decade at both nonprofits and commercial companies, managing numerous

projects for clients in government, healthcare, and industry. Drawn by her long-time love of science,

Rachel joined AAAS in 2017 as Assistant Editor for the journal Science Robotics. Now with DoSER, Rachel

is thrilled to advance science and serve society by building relationships between scientists and faith

communities.

Daniel Kulp, American Chemical Society

Laura Ligouri, Fielding Graduate University

Laura Ligouri is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at Fielding Graduate University and is the Executive

Director of Mindbridge (www.mindbridgecenter.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to

transforming human rights through the integration of neurobiological and psychological applied science.

Mary Catherine Longshore, AAAS Office of Membership

Jeffrey Mervis, Science

Jeff Mervis reports on science policy in the United States and around the world in an effort to explain to

scientists how government works. He keeps a close eye on the changing fortunes of science across the

federal government. He also follows efforts to improve science and math education, as well as the

factors that shape the U.S. and global scientific workforce. Mervis has reported from five continents,

including Antarctica, and speaks regularly about the politics of U.S. science to both scientific and lay

audiences. He's covered science policy for more than 30 years, including a stint at Nature, and joined

Science in 1993.

Chris Meserole, Brookings Institution

Chris Meserole is a fellow in Foreign Policy Program’s Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at

the Brookings Institution and director of research for the Brookings Artificial Intelligence and Emerging

Technology Initiative. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. He has recently

published a seminal report on the topic of Exporting Digital Authoritarianism and testified in front of the

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom on “Technological Surveillance of Religion

in China.”

Amber Mundy, Virginia Commonwealth University

Amber is a Second year Master's Student studying Forensic Biology and working as the Graduate

Research Assistant for the East Marshall Street Well Project. Previously, she obtained a double degree in

Criminology and Sociology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and was recently

awarded the Black History in the Making award from her department at VCU. She is one of the

Coalition’s 2022-23 SciTech and Human Rights FutureGen Scholars.

Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, Organization of American States

Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian (she/her) is Director of the Department of Social Inclusion of the Organization

of American States (OAS) and former Director of the Department of Electoral Cooperation and

Observation of the same institution (2011-2014). She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Florida

International University in Miami. Her most recent publications include “Equity in Campaign Finance in

Latin America and its Implications for Electoral Competitiveness: A Look at the Elections in Central

America, 2010-2014” published by Colombia International (Vol. 85, pp. 53-80) and “The Responsibility to

Observe: Rethinking OAS Electoral Observation” published by América Latina Hoy 2015 vol. 70, p. 5576.

During the last fifteen years, Dr. Muñoz-Pogossian has participated in multiple political and electoral

missions of the OAS.

Andriy Neshchadin, CONTINUUS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Nanjala Nyabola, Independent Writer/Political Analyst

Nanjala Nyabola is a writer, political analyst, and activist based in Nairobi, Kenya; she also serves as

High-Level Advisor to the U.N’s Secretary General on their Board on Effective Multilateralism. Nyabola is

also a fellow at the Stanford Digital Civil Society Lab, Centre for International Governance Innovation

(CIGI), the Digital Forensic Lab at the Atlantic Council, The Centre for Intellectual Property and

Information Technology (CIPIT) at Strathmore University, and the Centre for International Cooperation

(CIC) at NYU. Her first book Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics: How the Internet Era is Transforming

Politics in Kenya was described as "a must read for all researchers and journalists writing about Kenya

today." Her work has featured in publications including the Financial Times, Al Jazeera, The Guardian,

National Geographic, African Arguments, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, New African, The New

Humanitarian, The New Inquiry, New Internationalist, and World Policy Journal.

Robert O’Malley, AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion

Rob O’Malley (he/him) is an anthropologist and evolutionary biologist, with experience studying wild

primates in Tanzania and Costa Rica. He has taught primate behavior and biological anthropology at four

colleges and universities across the US, and his peer-reviewed research has been published in the

Journal of Human Evolution, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, and Current Anthropology,

among other publications. As a project director for the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER)

program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), he works to facilitate

constructive engagement about science between scientific and faith communities- recognizing that

these often overlap. He co-developed the DoSER workshop in collaboration with the AAAS Center for

Public Engagement with Science and Technology (CPE).

Himanshu Panday, Engineering for Change

Himanshu is a researcher exploring co-design mechanisms for the prevention of violence. He is a co-

founder at Dignity in Difference, a South Asia-focused project documenting and resisting online hate

speech. His efforts focus on unconventional intersections of digital reality, youth, and peace. He has

previously worked with various not for profits and UN agencies in shaping evidence-driven interventions

and policies. Before working on human rights, Himanshu's work focused on engineering innovations for

sustainable development goals. His efforts have been recognized by patents, grants, best paper awards,

and fellowships.

Sudip Parikh, AAAS Chief Executive Officer and Executive Publisher, Science Journals

Sudip Parikh, Ph.D., became the 19th chief executive officer of the American Association for the

Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the Science family of journals in January

2020. Parikh has spent two decades at the nexus of science, policy, and business. Immediately prior to

joining AAAS, Parikh was senior vice president and managing director at DIA Global. Prior to DIA, Sudip

was general manager of the Health and Consumer Solutions business unit and vice president at Battelle,

a multibillion-dollar research and development organization. From 2001 to 2009, Parikh served as

science advisor and professional staff to the United States Senate Appropriations Committee. An active

member of the scientific advocacy community, Parikh serves as a board member and officer for several

impactful organizations, including Research!America, Friends of Cancer Research, and ACT for NIH. He

has received multiple public service awards, including recognition from the American Association of

Immunologists, the National AIDS Alliance, the Coalition for Health Services Research, and the Juvenile

Diabetes Research Foundation. Sudip is committed to early STEM education and, as a parent of three

energetic young children, he prioritizes volunteering as a mentor for Science Olympiad teams at two

elementary schools. Early in his career, Parikh was a Presidential Management Intern at the NIH. He was

awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship while earning his Ph.D. in

macromolecular structure and chemistry from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. There, he

used structural biology and biochemistry techniques to probe the mechanisms of DNA repair enzymes

bound to DNA. The son of Indian immigrants who worked in the textile and furniture manufacturing

plants of North Carolina, Parikh completed undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at

Chapel Hill, first as a journalism major before switching into materials science.

Marco Perduca, Science for Democracy

Marco Perduca, former Italian Senator (2008 to 2013) served on the Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Human

Rights committees. For 20 years, he has coordinated the activities of the Nonviolent Radical Party at the

United Nations in New York, Geneva and Vienna and has organized high-level meetings to abolish the

death penalty in Africa and Central Asia. An expert on UN mechanisms with an emphasis on drug policy

reforms, Mr. Perduca has collaborated with British law firms and U.S. foundations on prisons and

migrants' rights in Italy. He has a blog on HuffingtonPost.it and in 2018 published a memoir, Farnesina

Radicale on his international work. In 2021 Nature Italia published an Op-Ed by him on the Right to

Science. That year he was the Sherpa of the Values 20 Group and presided over Italy's Cannabis

Referendum Committee.

Guila Perrone, University of Turin

Giulia Perrone is a PhD Candidate in Public International Law at the University of Turin, Italy. During her

PhD, she has worked as Teaching Assistant in International Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at

Science Po and spent research stays as visiting scholar at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the

Universidad de Sevilla, and the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law of the University of Cambridge.

Her thesis focuses on the intersection between Public International Law, human rights and the

development of life sciences. Her research interests also include: international legal sources, legal

interpretation, Law of International Organizations, and Health Law. At the University of Turin, Giulia

supervises undergraduate students involved in the Strategic Litigation: International Human Rights Legal

Clinic. Since 2020, she has also been coaching the Team(s) of the same university participating in the

Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition. Giulia is a member of the Italian Society for International

Organizations and the European Society of International Law. Also, she is a member of Science for

Democracy and Luca Coscioni Association. She holds a Law Degree (LUISS University, Italy) and a LL.M. in

International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (University of Essex, United Kingdom).

Dorothy Phillips, American Chemical Society

Dr. Phillips was Director, Strategic Marketing when she retired from Waters Corporation in 2013. She

earned her Bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967 and her Ph.D. from the University of

Cincinnati in 1974. She has been a member of the American Chemical Society since 1973 and a member

of its Board since 2014. Dorothy has served as the ACS Board’s liaison to the AAAS Science and Human

Rights Coalition since 2014; she is also a member of the Coalition’s Council and Steering Committee.

Ludovica Poli, University of Turin

Ludovica Poli is Associate Professor of International Law at the University of Turin (Department of Law).

She teaches Public International Law and European Court of Human Rights case law. She holds a PhD in

Public International Law (2008), a Master’s Degree in Peacekeeping Management (2004) and a Master’s

Degree in Bioethics and Clinical Ethics (2016). Her research focuses on human rights law, but she has

also explored other fields of international law, including humanitarian law, international criminal law,

and the law of international organizations. Her main publications deal with the role of regional

organizations in peace and security maintenance; the responsibility to protect and humanitarian

intervention; women rights, gender and sex crimes in international law; and bioethics and human rights.

Ludovica is member of the Italian Society of International Law (SIDI); the Italian Society for International

Organization (SIOI); the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (IIHL) and the Interdisciplinary

Center for Research and Studies of Women and Gender of the University of Turin (CIRSDE).

Lauren Reinersman, Engineering for Change

Lauren graduated from the University of Louisville in 2021 with a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering

and a focus in Global Engineering. She is currently wrapping up her Masters in Mechanical Engineering

and Certificate in Environmental Engineering. Lauren has been a member of Engineers Without Borders

at her university for 5 years, serving 3 of those years as President. She also works part time with the

Envirome Institute analyzing 2019-2022 wastewater influent data, vaccine rate data, and COVID test

rate data for significant changes or patterns throughout the pandemic. Lauren is looking forward to her

full time job with HDR Engineering after graduation, where she will focus on water distribution and grow

her knowledge in the field of clean water access. She is also a 2022 summer cohort Engineering4Change

Fellow, working with the University of Dayton ETHOS Center and Human Rights Center to study the

intersection of engineering and human rights.

Neal Rubin, Adler University

Neal S. Rubin is a Professor at Adler University, Chicago and Core Faculty member at the Chicago Center

for Psychoanalysis. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Northwestern University (Anthropology) and

obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Committee on Human Development, Department of

Behavioral Sciences at the University of Chicago. Rubin is a Fellow of the APA (D39 & 52) and for 15

years, Rubin served on the APA’s United Nations NGO Team at UN Headquarters in New York City

advocating for the application of psychological science in the service of the global agenda. Rubin is Past

President of Division 52 and represented Division 52 on the APA Council of Representatives. He serves

on the Division 39 International Relations Committee and has mentored several Division 39 international

scholars. He was Chair of the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, which

promotes the use of science and the work of scientists in the service of human rights. Dr. Rubin regularly

publishes and speaks on issues related to international psychology and human rights. Together with Dr.

Flores, he is co-editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Human Rights, recently named the

2021 recipient of the APA Division of International Psychology’s Ursula Gielen Award for the outstanding

book in global psychology.

Margaret Sanders, Georgia Tech

Margaret Sanders is a graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Coalition 2021-22

SciTech and Human Rights FutureGen Scholar. She is a passionate advocate for grassroots education and

as an undergraduate, actively participated in a range of environmental education programs through the

University of Connecticut Extension 4-H, UConn’s Natural Resources Conservation Academy (NRCA), and

other organizations. She served as a Difference Maker Mentor for the NRCA in which she mentored

participants during their community conservation projects using a culturally sustaining, inclusive and

equitable approach. During her time at the NRCA, Sanders also spearheaded social justice initiatives

such as culturally relevant educational practices, the NRCA Black Lives Matter statement, and a Land

Acknowledgement Statement. Sanders has received honors for her scholarship and advocacy, including

her FutureGen Scholars recognition, which enabled her to pursue an oral history project that explores

the life histories of members of diverse communities within Connecticut and their experiences as

environmental advocates and activists.

Ishan Sharma, Federation of American Scientists

Ishan Sharma is a Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists where he directs the FAS Special

Project on Emerging Technologies and International Security. His most recent report “Towards a More

Responsible Digital Surveillance Future” devised cohesive domestic and foreign policy recommendations

to counter the emergence of digital authoritarianism. His work has been featured in the BBC, the UN

Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Lawfare’s Cyberlaw Podcast, and at TEDx.

Brian Shmaefsky, Lone Star College – Kingwood

Brian Shmaefsky is currently a professor of environmental sciences at Lone Star College – Kingwood,

near Houston, Texas. His research interests are environmental physiology and biomonitoring. However,

his current professional activities include developing sustainable water quality strategies for less

economically developed nations and consulting on environment justice policy. Shmaefsky has done

projects in Bangladesh, China, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Philippines, and the United States. He is

actively involved in several professional organizations including the American Association for the

Advancement of Science, ASTM International, Ecological Society of America, National Association of

Biology Teachers, National Science Teachers Association, Society for College Science Teachers, and

Union of Concerned Scientists. Shmaefsky volunteers on many natural resources committees and serves

as an On-Call Scientist for AAAS. He has given many community talks on natural resource conservation

and sustainable development in addition to educating policymakers about environmental issues.

Shmaefsky also provides learning experiences for his college students by incorporating civic

engagement, community science, and student-driven applied research experiments into his teaching.

Tara Stafford-Ocansey, Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation

Richard Stone, Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Science

Richard Stone is the senior science editor for HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, where he oversees science

content for documentaries and other nonfiction productions and manages media partnerships. Prior to

joining HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, Stone was the international news editor at Science Magazine, where

his writing often featured datelines from challenging reporting environments such as Cuba, Iran and

North Korea. Stone’s experience in international science and education includes stints as a Fulbright

Scholar at Rostov State University in Russia in 1995-96 and at Kazakh National University in Kazakhstan

in 2004-05. As a science writer, he has contributed to Discover, Smithsonian and National Geographic

magazines, and is the author of the nonfiction book “Mammoth: The Resurrection of an Ice Age Giant.”

Felisa Tibbitts, Utrecht University

Felisa Tibbitts is dedicated to the role that education can play in advancing human rights. She is UNESCO

Chair in Human Rights and Higher Education and Chair in Human Rights Education at the Human Rights

Centre of Utrecht University (Netherlands). She is also a Visiting Professor at Nelson Mandela University

(South Africa) and lecturer in the Comparative and International Education Program at Teachers College

of Columbia University. Her research and policy interests include peace, human rights and global

citizenship education; curriculum policy and reform; critical pedagogy; and human rights and higher

education transformation. In addition to her widespread scholarship, she has written practical resources

on curriculum, program development and evaluation on behalf of the Office of the UN High Commissioner

for Human Rights, UNICEF, UNESCO, OSCE/ODIHR, the Council of Europe and non-governmental

organizations such as Amnesty International and the Open Society Foundation. Dr. Tibbitts was a Fulbright

Fellow at Lund University, Sweden (Fall 2014) and a Human Rights Fellow at the Kennedy School of

Government, Harvard University (2011-2013). Felisa is the co-founder and director of Human Rights

Education Associates (www.hrea.org) and co-founder of Human Rights Educators USA (www.hreusa.org).

Gabriel Twose, American Psychological Association

Gabriel Twose is the Senior International Affairs Officer at the American Psychological Association (APA),

where he works to advance psychology globally, with a particular focus on human rights. He staffed

APA’s Task Force on Human Rights, served as an APA Representative on the AAAS Science and Human

Rights Coalition Council, and is the Association’s Main Representative to the United Nations. Relevant

publications include a chapter in the recent Cambridge Handbook of Psychology and Human Rights. He

received his PhD in social psychology from Clark University.

Gabriel Velez, Marquette University

Gabriel Velez is an assistant professor and developmental psychologist in the Department of Educational

Policy and Leadership (EDPL) in the College of Education at Marquette University. Velez studies identity

development in adolescents, particularly in relation to civic development, human rights, and peace,

including young people’s understandings and responses to peace education and restorative practices in

their schools. He also serves as the Faculty Director of the Black and Latino/a Ecosystem and Support

Transition (BLEST) Hub at Marquette, and the Chair of the Faculty Research Team for the Center for

Peacemaking. Velez has published extensively on youth and restorative justice and peace education,

including co-editing Restorative Justice: Promoting Peace and Wellbeing as part of the Springer Peace

Psychology Book Series and his dissertation Conceptualizing Peace: A Study of Colombian Adolescents'

Meaning Making and Civic Development that won the 2020 American Psychological Association

Committee on International Relations Outstanding Dissertation Award, and the 2020 Division 5 (APA)

Distinguished Dissertation in Qualitative Inquiry Award. His other work has been published in American

Psychologist, Perspectives on Psychological Science, Peace and Conflict: The Journal of Peace Psychology,

The Journal of Adolescent Research, Harvard Health and Human Rights, The Cambridge Handbook of

Psychology and Human Rights, and Psychology of Peace: Promoting and Sustaining Peace. He is also an

associate editor for Peace and Conflict: The Journal of Peace Psychology (for which he co-edited a special

issue on peace education) and Journal of Adolescent Research. Dr. Velez received a BA in History and

Literature from Harvard University, and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago in Comparative

Human Development.

Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Brown University

Suresh Venkatasubramanian is a Professor of Computer Science and Data Science at Brown University.

Suresh's background is in algorithms and computational geometry, as well as data mining and machine

learning. His current research interests lie in algorithmic fairness, and more generally the impact of

automated decision-making systems in society. Prior to Brown University, Suresh was at the University

of Utah, where as an assistant professor he was the John and Marva Warnock Assistant Professor and

received a CAREER award from the NSF for his work in the geometry of probability. He has received a

test-of-time award at ICDE 2017 for his work in privacy. His research on algorithmic fairness has received

press coverage across North America and Europe, including NPR’s Science Friday, NBC, and CNN, as well

as in other media outlets. He is a past member of the Computing Community Consortium Council of the

CRA, spent 4 years (2017-2021) as a member of the board of the ACLU in Utah, and is a past member of

New York City’s Failure to Appear Tool (FTA) Research Advisory Council, the Research Advisory Council

for the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania and the Utah State Auditor's Commission on protecting

privacy and preventing discrimination. He recently served in the Biden-Harris Administration as Assistant

Director for Science and Justice in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Yvonne Vissing, Salem State University

Yvonne Vissing is a Professor of Healthcare Studies and the Founding Director of the Center for

Childhood & Youth Studies at Salem State University. She is the US policy chair for the Hope for Children

Convention on the Child Policy Center in Cyprus, on the Steering Committee for Human Rights Educators

USA, and is on the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition Steering Committee. Vissing is author of 15

books, including Children’s Human Rights in the USA: Challenge & Opportunities (Springer 2023),

Changing the Paradigm of Homelessness (Routledge 2020), and The Rights of Unaccompanied Minors

(Springer 2021). A former National Institute of Mental Health Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and

Whiting Foundation fellow, she was also a Dialogue and Democracy fellow at UCONN’s Dodd Center for

Human Rights. She is CEO of Training for Excellence.

Nate Weisenberg, AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

Nate Weisenberg is a Senior Program Associate in the AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and

Law Program. He contributes to the Program’s projects on science and human rights, including the AAAS

Science and Human Rights Coalition, promotion of the right to science, and training efforts on the

responsible development and application of artificial intelligence. He also manages the AAAS Award for

Scientific Freedom and Responsibility. Prior to AAAS, he worked at the Atomic Heritage Foundation,

where he co-managed an oral history project on the Manhattan Project and its legacies, and Human

Rights Education Associates, where he led marketing and outreach for e-learning courses for human

rights practitioners. Nate holds a B.S. in Foreign Service (magna cum laude) from Georgetown University

and an M.A. in Public Humanities from Brown University.

Hamza Woodson, Williams College

Hamza Woodson is an undergraduate student at Williams College and one of the Coalition’s 2021-22

SciTech and Human Rights FutureGen Scholars. His main interests are in exploration of Geospatial

information systems in analysis of Archaeological sites to better model and understand the

development of ancient cultures. He has internship experience at the Central Asian Archaeological

Landscapes Project (CAAL) in 1980-90s soviet map georeferencing as well as at the Johns Hopkins Spatial

Lab for Archaeological Research (SOLAR) in testing the validity of four tier archaeological site

categorization. Woodson's AAAS SciTech and Human Rights FutureGen project "Human Rights and

Cultural Heritage in Ethiopia" focused on the study of how the civil war in Ethiopia's Tigray region has

damaged Archaeological sites through use of Geospatial Information systems.