Staff
Karian Wright
Assistant Dean for Diversity & Inclusion, Graduate School
Director, Center for Inclusive Education
Karian Wright joined the Center for Inclusive Education in 2013 as the program manager for the NSF-funded Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program titled "The Stony Brook-Brookhaven AGEP Frontiers of Research and Academic Models of Excellence (FRAME) Alliance for Transformation. Since then, Karian has also served as the program manager for the NIH-funded Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) New York Consortium for the Advancement of Postdoctoral Scholars (NY-CAPS) program and the AGEP Alliance Model to Advance Underrepresented Minority STEM Faculty at Predominately Undergraduate Institutions. Prior to Stony Brook University, Karian served as Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Adjunct Faculty of Information Technology at Monroe College in New Rochelle, NY. Karian has over 20 years of experience in higher education including admissions, recruitment, student advising, and retention. She also managed a College Jumpstart program serving over 500 high school students annually and developed a female empowerment program for over 300 young women, most of whom were first-generation college students from minoritized backgrounds. Karian has a firm commitment to the advancement of students who have been historically underrepresented in higher education. She holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Monroe College and is currently pursuing a PhD in Higher Education Leadership at Colorado State University.
Rosalia Davi 
Program Manager
Rosalia Davi joined the CIE in March 2016 as the CIE Diversity Outreach Coordinator, where her primary focus was to grow the successful recruitment of underrepresented scholars for graduate and postdoctoral study across the STEM disciplines, and for the CIE's suite of externally funded programs. Rosalia is now the Program Manager for the NIH IMSD MERGE T32, Dr. W. Burghardt Turner, and GEM Fellowship programs. Prior to her time in higher education, Rosalia worked for a college access non-profit helping to bridge the opportunity gap for underresourced students at Let's Get Ready. With over 15 years of experience in higher education and non-profit management, specifically in experiential education, diversity graduate and postdoctoral recruitment, and program management, Rosalia has a demonstrated committment to supporting scholars from historically marginalized communities. She has a dual master’s degree in Gender and Cultural Studies and Communications Management from Simmons College, and is a Stony Brook University alumna.
Lisa Ospitale
Program Manager
Lisa Ospitale joined the Center for Inclusive Education in July 2021 as a Program Coordintor. In September 2022, Lisa became the Program Manager for the NSF-funded Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) and the NIH-funded Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA), Postdoctoral Fellowship. Lisa also coordinates the Community of Student Mentors (CSM) program and the summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Nanotechnology and SUNY Summer Opportunities for Academic Research (SOAR). Lisa came to the CIE with over 20 years of higher education experience, with a background in student affairs, communications, and mentoring students while also providing support to families. Lisa has her BA in Philosophy with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies and her Master’s in Social Work from Stony Brook University. Lisa has a focused commitment to mentoring students, providing mental health and wellness support, and networking with faculty in order to support the needs of their students and postdocs.
Michelle Juarez
Diversity Outreach Coordinator
Dr. Michelle Juarez joined the CIE in Aug 2023 as the CIE Diversity Outreach Coordinator, to cultivate PhD recruitment and outreach activities through the CIE and Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS). Dr. Juarez has over 25 years of experience in Biomedical research, STEM Literacy, DEIAJ, and higher education administration. Her previously held roles include Assistant Professor at the CUNY School of Medicine, Science Education Fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Assistant Director of Diversity and Research Readiness for the DNA Learning Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Dr. Juarez earned her PhD in Genetics at Stony Brook University and was a recipient of the Dr. W. Burghardt Turner Fellowship. She continued her training as an IRACDA postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, San Diego, and San Diego State University. Dr. Juarez is a member of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), the Society for Developmental Biology (SDB), the Genetics Society of America (GSA), Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), and National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN). In 2020 Dr. Juarez was featured in100 inspiring Hispanic/Latinx scientists in America, in recognition for her scholarly achievements, mentoring excellence, and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Diana Champney
Program Coordinator
Diana Champney serves as the Program Coordinator at the Center for Inclusive Education since January 2024. In this role, she manages the NSF-funded Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) and the NIH-funded Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) Postdoctoral Fellowship. Additionally, Diana contributes to the Community of Student Mentors (CSM) program, as well as the Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Nanotechnology and SUNY Summer Opportunities for Academic Research (SOAR). Leveraging her expertise in flexible office space management for entrepreneurs, Diana brings a diverse skill set to the CIE. With a background in art history and museum studies, she holds an undergraduate degree in sociology with a minor in family studies from Wagner College in Staten Island. Diana is dedicated to fostering genuine connections and collaborating with faculty and staff to address the unique needs of scholars and postdocs.
Bremelin Romero
Program Coordinator
Bremelin Romero joined CIE as a Program Coordinator in January 2024, where she will be coordinating The Turner Fellowship, the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development: Maximizing Excellence in Research for Graduate Education (IMSD-MERGE), and the GEM Fellowship. Bremelin brings a wealth of unique skills and multidisciplinary professional experience to CIE, ranging from teaching and fintech to entrepreneurial pursuits as an Apiarist (a fancy word for beekeeper) for which she managed 25 hives in various locations in Suffolk County, and she is a candidate for a “Master Beekeeping” certificate program with eCornell University. Bremelin holds a BA in Mass Communication from Hofstra University, which paved the way for many years as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. She also holds a graduate degree in International Trade and Economic Cooperation from Kyung Hee University in South Korea, where she worked and lived for seven years. In her spare time, Bremelin loves to travel (she would love to share stories with fellow adventurers), and she enjoys sharing good food and the culinary arts with friends and family.
Erica Valdez
CIE Administrator
Bio coming soon!