Louis Stokes Midwest Regional Center of Excellence

As a Latina and woman in science, Dr. Cammi Valdez has a lived experience and understanding of the pressures and challenges facing women and people of color. Dr. Valdez’s passion for diversifying the landscape of higher education is evidenced by the many leadership roles she has held in academia, professional organizations, and in local communities. While at Harvard, Dr. Valdez served as President of the Harvard Graduate Student Council, where she was able to implement policy changes such as Parental Leave for graduate students.

She also developed the first ever orientation program to create a sense of community amongst the 600+ graduate students based at Harvard Medical School. For this work, Dr. Valdez was recognized at the state-level by the professional organization for Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education with the Richard F. Stevens Outstanding Graduate Student Award.

Following her graduate work, Dr. Valdez served as the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at Harvard College. In this role, Dr. Valdez started the Harvard Amgen Scholars Program and co-directed the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship working with diverse students pursuing a graduate education. Her other roles include serving as the inaugural Director of the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program at Wellesley College, and as president of the McNair Association of Professionals.

Dr. Valdez gives of her time to mentor to undergraduate students inside the classroom and in her laboratory. She regularly travels with her students to present at research conferences around the country. Collectively, Dr. Valdez has individually mentored more than 225 undergraduates and published more than 15 student co-authored conference publications

Currently, Dr. Valdez is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern State University where she conducts research and serves as a professor, mentor, and advisor for undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students. She holds several leadership positions in professional and local communities, as a member of the Harvard Graduate School Alumni Association Council, a trustee for the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Foundation, and immediate past-president of the McNair Association of Professionals. In addition to her important work as a scientist and mentor, Dr. Valdez has equally important responsibilities as a partner, a mother, and an empowerer of diverse STEM innovators.

As the Associate Dean of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement, Dr. Berhan leads the development and execution of initiatives and programs to assess, increase, and support all forms of diversity within the College of Engineering, and fosters an atmosphere of inclusiveness, equity, and respect among students, faculty, and staff. She is committed to cultivating and maintaining a culture of inclusive excellence in the college and to ensuring that all students, faculty, and staff have the opportunities and resources they need to be successful.

Her duties also include developing and facilitating relationships between the college and community stakeholders to increase the interest in, and exposure to, engineering to residents of Toledo and NW Ohio.

Dr. Berhan is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering at The University of Toledo. She received her BS. in Civil Engineering from the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad in 1994. She worked as a civil engineer in Trinidad for one year before beginning her graduate studies. In 1997 she received her M.S. in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after which she worked for two years as a structural engineer at Albert Kahn Associates in Detroit, Michigan. In 2003 she received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She taught for one year at the University of Detroit Mercy before joining the MIME department in Fall 2004.