AAUW Greensboro STEM Members:

Sarah Lewers, AAUW Greensboro Branch member since 2023, is a May 2024 candidate for the Master of Science in Nanoengineering graduate degree program at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her undergraduate degree in 2011 was from NC A&T State University Chemical Engineering. Sarah Lewers Bio

Find Your STEM 2024

Keynote Speaker Lisa Marshall

Lisa Marshall is the Assistant Extension Professor at NC State University Department of Nuclear Engineering and VP/President-Elect for the American Nuclear Society. Professor Marshall joined the department as their Director of Outreach, Retention and Engagement and has 20+ years of experience in pre-college, undergraduate and graduate outreach, recruitment, and retention.
She works at the social sciences – science/engineering nexus, contributing as a working group member for the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Global Forums on gender balance, and nuclear perception and society. She is the co-PI for the US Department of Energy (DOE)-funded Consent Based Siting for Interim Storage and served as the educational outreach director for the DOE-funded Consortium for Nonproliferation Enabling Capabilities. Lisa teaches in NC State’s Engineering First-Year Program and co-directs its Study Abroad Program in Engineering and Social Sciences. She serves as the former co-chair for the Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee for the American Association of Geographers, co-founded the ANS Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is an advisory member for the NC State Engineering Diversity & Inclusion Committee. lmmarsha@ncsu.edu

Women in STEM Panel Moderator Tiffany Jacobs

Tiffany Jacobs, AAUWNC Diversity Equity and Inclusion Chair, recently moved from her highly successful career at NC Community College Apprenticeship programs to Executive Director of the Forge Greensboro. Tiffany has served on the board of directors for the Forge Greensboro since 2018 and has been a member of the organization’s Executive Committee as DEI Officer and serves on the Grants Committee. Her passion for providing equitable access to opportunity for those throughout the community is unparalleled. She has worked for ApprenticeshipNC for the past four years as the Piedmont Triad Regional Apprenticeship Coordinator. ApprenticeshipNC is part of the Economic Development Division of the North Carolina Community College System. In this role, Tiffany covered 11 counties across the Piedmont Triad Region of North Carolina, assisting employers in developing registered apprenticeship programs to meet high demand business and industry needs.  She has spearheaded several collaborative partnerships, career exploration programs and workforce development initiatives for the Forge. We congratulate Tiffany for her leadership and innovation, and we look forward to supporting and celebrating her future successes.  

Find Your STEM Panelists

Kajal Parikh was born and raised in India. After earning BS in Civil Engineering from India, she relocated to the US in 2002, earned her Master’s in Industrial/Civil Engineering in 2005 from North Carolina A&T State University. Her journey has always been inspiring young adults and Women in pursuing STEM careers whether it’s as a Project Engineer and Manager at the State Government or STEM/MATH teacher at a private High school where she taught and coached for 3 years and her current work at Volvo where she worked as a Project Manager, Senior Compliance Engineer and now recently promoted be a Product Manager for Electric Vehicles Charging Infrastructure. She has served on the Women in Engineering (WiE) group within Volvo for 8 years. Additionally, she serves on the committee for DEI whose mission is to ensure that GTT-NA (Group Trucks Technology- North America’s) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion aligns with Volvo Group’s DEI goals and secure GTT NA as a leader in DEI by creating, nurturing, and sustaining a diverse and inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our colleagues and customers. We promote equality in Gender, Sexual Orientation, Ethnicity, Disability, Religion and Age.

Kajal Parikh works at Volvo Group within the Volvo Energy division as a Product Manager, Charging and Partner Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles. She has about 20 years of Experience in Engineering, Project Management and coaching field and lives in Summerfield NC with her husband and 2 kids. Kajal.parikh@volvo.com

Erica Monique Vilsaint serves as the Executive Director of BioNetwork and Life Sciences for the NC Community College System. She holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s from NC State, where she is currently completing NC State’s College of Education’s Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development doctoral program with a program area of study in Adult, Workforce, and Continuing Professional Education. She has just over 10 years of experience working in both the academic and industry realms of the life sciences. She is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), serving as chair of BioMADE’s Education and Workforce Development DEIA subcommittee, which aims to increase the participation of traditionally underrepresented groups such as military and veterans; black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC); and people on the spectrum of visible and non-apparent disability within the bio-based life science industry. At home, she is a wife of 9 years and mother to two beautiful son-shines. vilsainte@nccommunitycolleges.edu

Jaclyn Shearer spent nearly a decade as a broadcast meteorologist and has now returned to graduate school to pursue a career change. After earning her BS in Operational Meteorology from Mississippi State University, her journey in forecasting began in Nevada. In 2018, she relocated to North Carolina and forecasted at WSOC-TV Charlotte and WXII-TV Winston-Salem.

Makyia Wykle was born in Nashville TN, raised in St. Louis MO, and then moved to Indianapolis
IN, where her mom and 9-year-old brother still reside. She currently lives in Greensboro, NC.
She is a recent December 2023 graduate of the illustrious North Carolina A&T State University,
where she obtained two Bachelor of Science degrees in Architectural Engineering and Civil
Engineering. She received those two engineering degrees, debt free, in 4.5 years with honors
(Cum Laude status) while heavily involved on and off campus during her undergraduate
matriculation. In addition to numerous academic accolades, Ms. Wykle currently is a mentor to 9 undergraduate students at her alma mater.  She has had several engineering and architecture internships throughout high school and college. She has worked as a Bridge Engineer Intern for HNTB, Architecture Intern for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and an Intern at 2 architecture firms. She currently works as an Executive Intern with Greensboro Housing Authority. Makyia wants to pursue her Master of Architecture (M.Arch) degree to enhance her educational goals in pursuit of becoming a registered architect. makyia.wykle1@gmail.com