Welcome ABE North Carolina
The ABE Program Office is excited to welcome our 24th ABE program site: ABE North Carolina. This site is supported by the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCATSU) and led by Dr. Joseph Graves. ABE North Carolina will serve school districts in central North Carolina.
Due to a history of residential segregation in North Carolina, its goal will be to engage districts that have differential enrollment of underrepresented minority students. This is consistent with NCATSU’s mission as a Historically Black Land Grant University and the goal of ABE to diversify participation.
Meet the Team
Joseph Graves, PhD, program site director, is a renowned geneticist and the first African American evolutionary biologist. Currently an associate dean for research and a professor of biological sciences at NCATSU, Graves’ professional work is rooted in the evolutionary genetics of aging and untangling genetic misconceptions around the biology of race and racism in American society.
Cailisha Petty, PhD, site coordinator/ABE ambassador, is the Master of Arts in teaching program coordinator and an assistant teaching professor at North Carolina A&T State University. She earned a BS in Biology and MS in Biology Education from NCATSU. She earned a PhD in Curriculum and Teaching from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with an emphasis in science education. Her research interests include equity in science education for students of color and preparing engaging, highly qualified STEM educators.
Dongyang Deng, PhD, has published in peer-reviewed journals and presented research in professional conferences. Her research interests include trace level contaminants removal from aqueous phase; physical, chemical and biological wastewater treatment technology development; environmental microbiology; and sustainable resource and energy development. Deng received her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from West Virginia University in 2017.
Scott Harrison
Liesl Jeffers-Francis
Kristen Rhinehardt
Misty Thomas, PhD, began teaching at NCATSU as a lecturer and teaching assistant professor. While teaching, she also found a way to mentor students in research. She developed an independent research program, which led to her becoming an assistant professor at NCATSU in 2018. Misty teaches course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) and runs a productive research lab, working with 20 undergraduate researchers over the past 5 years. She did her PhD in Microbiology at the University of Manitoba, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences.
Please welcome the ABE North Carolina team to the ABE family!