Speaker Bios
Dr. Ryan Watkins
Dr. Ryan Watkins is a Program Scientist in the Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office (ESSIO) in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. She has a lunar science background and has advocated for inclusion within various aspects of the planetary science community since graduate school. Prior to coming to NASA HQ, she led the Next Generation Lunar Scientists and Engineers group, where she advocated for increased involvement of early career scientists on NASA-appointed teams, committees, and missions. At NASA HQ, she serves as co-chair of the Inclusive and Diverse Science Teams IDEA group and is active in other IDEA-related groups within the planetary science community. Dr. Watkins also serves on the SMD Inclusion Plan Community of Practice Working Group, which is actively contributing to improving the process by which NASA asks for proposal teams to consider inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility in their proposals and projects. Outside of her NASA duties, Dr. Watkins volunteers as a Community Programs Manager for the non-profit international group Mothers in Science, which advocates for increased awareness and support of working mothers in the STEMM (science, technology, mathematics, and medicine) fields.
Dr. Kevin Reath
Dr. Kevin Reath is the Associate Program Manager for the Earth Surface and Interior focus area in the Earth Science Division. Dr. Reath has a background in science and has been committed to advancing DEIA within NASA since he began his Headquarters employment in June 2020. He is currently the co-chair of the Inclusive and Diverse Science Teams IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) group, an active member of the Earth Science JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) group, and has been involved in multiple other DEIA related groups. In his time at NASA, he has helped to identify and implement multiple actions supporting these groups. He is joining the Inclusion Plan Best Practices Workshop because he believes inclusion needs to be the first step towards truly reaching equity and that science improves when everyone has a voice.
Dr. J. Bruce Stewart
Dr. Stewart currently serves as CEO of Small World Solutions Consulting Group, a certified Small Business specializing in inclusive diversity. Bruce was formerly the Deputy Director of Training, Compliance, and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and was responsible for the coordinated implementation of President Obama's Executive Order on Diversity and Inclusion. He also co-chaired the White House Committee on Increasing Diversity in the STEM Workforce by Reducing the Impact of Bias.
Dr. Stewart designed, developed, and implemented several initiatives to ensure government-wide progress on diversity and inclusion. These initiatives included authoring the first-ever government-wide diversity and Inclusion strategic plan as well as the associated 47-page implementation guidance. He was the chief architect of an innovative new way to measure inclusion (The New IQ) adopted government-wide. He developed a 6-step change management process course with over 600 government-wide change agents graduates and designed, implemented, and managed the first-ever Feedback Assistance Roundtables (FAR) – a government-wide diversity and inclusion accountability audit process.
Dr. Stewart retired as a Lt Colonel from the United States Air Force in October 2007 after 23 years of service. During his service, he was attached to Air Force Special Operations, served as a Management Engineer, and was a Computer and Communications Commander. His last assignment was as the Air National Guard's (ANG) Director of Cultural Diversity Transformation.
Dr. Stewart has served and been involved in numerous Leadership and Diversity initiatives at the local, state, and national levels. He has lectured on diversity at several educational institutions, including MIT, Harvard, and West Point.
Dr. Stewart serves as an Adjunct Professor at American University in the KEY Leadership Program. He has authored a book on diversity leadership titled "Cultural Leadership: The New Chemistry of Leading Differently" and last year released his second book, "The Click Code – Why Some Teams Click and Others Don't.," It is already receiving excellent reviews - "This book will forever change the way you view collaboration and teamwork. This is by far one of the most important books I've read this year…" Goodreads Review. Dr. Stewart's next book, "The Race Ahead: How to Rewire the American Mind to Overcome Racial Bias and Win in a Future of Differences," is scheduled for release in the spring of 2023.
Dr. Stewart's Education and Certifications include:
- Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Illinois University
- Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Friends University
- Doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern University
Jade Singleton, Ed.D
Jade Singleton is the co-founder of Johnson Squared Consulting and operates as the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) firm's strategic partner.
She served most recently as a senior DEI consultant at NASA's Science Mission Directorate, leading a full team of consulting specialists as they worked to actualize an agency that represents the nation's diversity.
Before her DEI-focused work, Jade spent more than a decade designing and deploying impactful communications, people, and leadership strategies at the nation's top investment firms, including Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
Jade earned a master's degree in Leadership & Communications from Gonzaga University. Her published thesis: Leadership Challenges: African American Communication in the Corporate Environment, has been highly cited by academics and business practitioners. She holds her Doctor of Education from George Fox University, completing a forward-leaning dissertation on workplace gaslighting and its impacts on psychological safety.
Jade's greatest joy is teaching. She has led DEI memorable workshops and panel experiences at organizations of all sizes and across education, science, and finance sectors.
Frank Gonzalez
Frank Gonzalez is the Deputy Director, HQ NASA Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, Washington, D.C. He mediates workplace and other conflict cases, designs conflict management processes, facilitates small and large workgroups, trains, and facilitates throughout NASA. Over the past twenty-six years, he has worked in DEIA, EEO, and ADR programs in the US Air Force and DOD (both as a military member and civil servant), in the US Coast Guard as Regional Deputy Director, and today is a member of the great team at NASA. He has provided mediation for hundreds of workplaces, civil, and family cases. During his military service, Frank conducted mediations both in the US and overseas, including combat areas in Afghanistan and other locations in Southwest Asia, addressing both interpersonal conflicts as well as multicultural conflicts between multi-national coalition partners.
Proud Boricua, he spent much of his life growing up around the world as a military brat and has been competent in cross-cultural communication. He finds food is a common language to share and spend time learning about each other. He is grateful that his childhood nerd dreams of being at NASA eventually came true, albeit not on board a rocket ship headed to new galaxies (YET!).
Dr. Michael New
Dr. Michael New is the Deputy Associate Administrator for Research within NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Major responsibilities encompass ensuring scientific quality, integrity, accessibility, and equity of research processes, including oversight of SMD scientific competition processes for research awards and flight programs; representing SMD research goals, policies, and programs inside and outside NASA; overseeing SMD's relationship with the National Research Council; and managing Directorate-level coordination of suborbital-class flight programs.
Kim W. Barnette, PhD
Dr. Kim Barnette is the program manager for NASA’s LMI team, implementing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives within their Science Mission Directorate. Kim previously managed the General Services Administration (GSA) portfolio at LMI. She has over 20 years of experience as a skilled facilitator, executive leader, program evaluator, and academic trainer. She offers a wealth of experience as a consultant, project director, and senior researcher, translating local and federal government agency data into useful information. As an LMI Fellow (2022–23 cohort), she is an outstanding source of deep domain expertise in people analytics and takes a data-driven approach to employee recruitment, selection, engagement, and retention. As a 2022 Community Connector LMI Luminary Awardee, she was recognized for benefiting LMI’s academic community, growing LMI’s academic partnerships, and expanding on LMI’s DEIA goals and initiatives.
Kim received her PhD in operations research in 2000 from North Carolina State University, her master’s in applied mathematics in 1994 from Clark Atlanta University, and her bachelor’s in mathematics in 1992 from Spelman College. In her spare time, she volunteers as an experienced member and leader on non-profit Boards: current President of the Board of Trustees for Imagination Stage, bringing theatre arts education to youth in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and a member of the Board of Directors for D.C. Action, an organization focused on making the District of Columbia a place where all young people grow up safe and resilient.
Tim Sacco
Tim Sacco is a postdoctoral research associate working on the U.S. Extremely Large Telescope Program’s Research Inclusion Initiative. He is a Sociologist of Science, and his research focuses on the dynamics of research collaboration and issues of equity in STEM fields. On U.S. ELTP, Tim has been developing a Research Inclusion Toolkit that details collaboration best practices for the Astronomy and Astrophysics community.
Lisa M. Frehill, PhD
Dr. Frehill is internationally known for her science and engineering workforce diversity analytics. In 2000, she was a Principal Investigator/Program Director of a highly successful National Science Foundation-funded Advance: Institutional Transformation Program at New Mexico State University. Her analytics work as a visiting program director for the Advance Program at the University of California at Irvine provided the foundation for institutionalizing UCI’s equity advisor model and expanding Advance best practices to other UC campuses. Additionally, Dr. Frehill led multi-university teams to develop toolkits with guidelines on reporting common equity metrics to support the assessment of program impact. Other similarly collaborative projects include “Effective Strategies to Diversify STEM Faculty,” and a co-edited volume titled Advancing Women in Science: An International Perspective. In her current position, her responsibilities include annual workforce diversity reporting for the Department of Energy to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and related internal data-rich communications about the DOE workforce.
