Guests

C. Daniel (Dan) Azzara, Ph.D.

Alan R. Warehime Faculty Chair in Agribusiness and Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State

Dr. Azzara is the Alan R. Warehime Professor of Food and Agriculture in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State. In this position he is responsible for building interdisciplinary programs integrating technical, business and international perspectives. He also serves as the Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Here, he works in the College to develop a strong Entrepreneurship and Innovation program that includes students, faculty, industry partners and alumni as stakeholders.

Dr. Azzara teaches classes in Innovation Management, Business Strategy and International Agriculture. He also mentors students who are preparing for positions in industry. His work is designed to better understand how industry, academia, and policy makers interface to address challenges in the global food sector.

He earned a Ph.D. in food science from Penn State.

Lesley Jackson

Associate Director of Graduate Student Career and Professional Development

Lesley recently joined The Graduate School as the Associate Director of Graduate Student Career and Professional Development. Previously, she worked for Penn State Career Services for 9 years and enjoyed a 7-year career in a corporate environment prior to coming to Penn State. In this newly created role at The Graduate School, Lesley will collaborate with academic departments, student organizations, administrative offices, and industry employers to bring career and professional development programming to all students working towards advanced degrees at Penn State. Throughout her career, Lesley has had a particular interest in advocating for underrepresented students, and she will work closely with the Office of Graduate Educational Equity Programs to ensure DEI will be a priority throughout career programming. Lesley has enjoyed working with graduate students and looks forward to serving them in all their professional development endeavors.

Tiffany Knearem

User Experience Researcher at Google

Dr. Knearem earned a Ph.D. in information sciences and technology from Penn State in 2022. She is currently a user experience researcher at Google where she owns the research process for an early-stage tool within Material Design.

During her doctoral studies, Dr. Knearem completed internships at Facebook (Meta) and Google. She has extensive industry experience in technology companies, having worked in technical support and operations in Silicon Valley prior to attending Penn State. 

Tiffany is passionate about the professional benefits of mentoring. She will provide valuable insights into how graduate students can identify mentors and build productive mentoring relationships throughout their careers.

Dr. Joslenne Peña

Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Dr. Joslenne Peña is assistant professor of computer science at Macalester College. Her research interests are in human-computer interaction and computer science education.

Dr. Peña’s research focuses on understanding how we teach and engage underrepresented groups in computer science education through a variety of design opportunities in the classroom. Recently, her work has focused on validating assessments and the psychometrics of an instrument to measure one’s grounding toward more computational activities. She is keen on understanding how to solve design or computing problems, regardless of domain, through the lens of the user.

Dr. Pena previously served as human factors research associate in the Human-centered Systems group at Honeywell Aerospace conducting studies to improve aviation-related tools for pilots.

She received a Bachelor of Arts in multimedia web design and development from the University of Hartford, a Master’s in information science and technology and a Ph.D. in informatics from Penn State. She is a passionate volunteer and mentor for students from underrepresented groups through her work in STEM teaching and mentoring programs such as iD Tech Camps, iTech Academy, and Code for Her.

A member of the Penn State Graduate School Alumni Society Board of Directors, Dr. Peña serves on the Professional Development Committee. In this role, she supports career and professional development programs that help connect graduate students to Penn State alumni to explore a wide range of topics related to careers, industry insights, and networking.

Dr. Peña grew up in New York City, and is therefore a huge Yankees fan, and given her time in Happy Valley, a Nittany Lions fan.

Moderator

Sarah Ades, Ph.D.

Associate Dean for Graduate Student Affairs

Dr. Sarah Ades is Associate Dean for Graduate Student Affairs in the Graduate School at Penn State.  In this role, she serves as an advocate for all graduate students and helps address their issues and concerns. Dr. Ades joined Penn State in 2002 and is an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Eberly College of Science. Her research focuses on investigating how information is communicated between the two compartments of a bacterial cell, the cell envelope and cytoplasm and leveraging this knowledge for antibiotic development. She is the recipient of a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation and a winner of the GlaxoSmithKline Discovery Fast Track Competition.

Dr. Ades is also an award-winning teacher and has developed courses designed to help students master fundamental concepts of biology through scientific inquiry. She is a recipient of the Penn State Teaching Fellow Award, the Alumni Association and Student Award for Teaching Excellence and the C.I. Noll award for Excellence in Teaching from the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society. She brings this student-centered approach to her position at the Graduate School.

Prior to arriving at Penn State, Dr. Ades received her bachelor’s degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University and Ph.D. in biology from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She pursued postdoctoral work at University of California, San Francisco and the Institut de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire in Strasbourg, France.