Panel Discussion: Careers in Nonprofits

Christopher Hunter (he/him)

Director, STEM101

Ron Brown Scholar Program

http://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-hunter-26780a194

Chris Hunter is a recovering academic. He earned a PhD in Comparative Literature and spent the better par of a decade teaching American Lit. and Book History to future scientists at Caltech. He now runs a program aimed at increasing African American representation in STEM.

Priera Panescu (she/her)

Senior ScientistÔÇöPlant-Based Specialist

The Good Food Institute

https://www.linkedin.com/in/priera-panescu-phd-42b37b95/

Priera’s role at GFI focuses on accelerating the plant-based meat industry through analyzing their plant-based protein landscape, identifying emerging technological solutions and bottlenecks, and communicating with other scientists about advancing alternative protein research. Priera has bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and math from the University of California, Santa Cruz as well as a master’s and a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to joining GFI, Priera spent almost a decade focusing on polymer, formulation, and materials chemistry research. Particularly, she honed these skills for food security applications by creating novel sustainable agriculture materials and compounds.

Tarah Demant (she/her)

Director, Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Program

Amnesty International USA

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarahdemant/

Tarah Demant, Ph.D. is the Director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Program at Amnesty International USA, where she leads the organization’s work on women’s rights, LGBTI rights, Indigenous Peoples rights, and sexual and reproductive rights. She has a PH.D. in English and a Graduate Certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Washington University in St. Louis.

Stephanie Witkowski (she/her)

Executive Director

7000 Languages

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanieawitkowski/

Stephanie is the Executive Director of 7000 Languages, a non-profit that helps Indigenous communities teach, learn and sustain their endangered languages. She holds an M.A. in Linguistics with an emphasis in Language Documentation and Conservation from the University of Hawai‘i at M─ünoa and completed Ph.D. coursework in Linguistics at the University of Chicago. She has previously held positions in various non-profit organizations as well as in the language education field, and couples her passion for linguistics and language revitalization with her non-profit experience.