Join us to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science! Dr. Knatokie Ford will be the speaker this year (bio below).

Co-sponsors: University Speaker Series, Women’s Advocacy Council, Women’s Center, Reeve Union, UW System Women and Science

This event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Knatokie Ford is Founder and CEO of Fly Sci™ Enterprise, an education and media consulting organization focused on leveraging the power of storytelling to promote social change, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. An international advocate for STEM inclusion, Dr. Ford works with a number of leading organizations, including YouTube, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, and the Association of National Advertisers where she serves as the STEM & Entertainment Engagement Advisor for the #SeeHer initiative.

She previously served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) during the Obama Administration. In this role, Dr. Ford oversaw development and implementation of a national initiative, the “Image of STEM,” which was designed to raise visibility and improve the image of STEM fields and careers in order to help promote diversity in the STEM workforce. This effort is listed in the top 100 S&T Accomplishments of the Obama Administration. From 2012-2014, Dr. Ford served as a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at OSTP with the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) where she managed concurrent projects on education technology and improving the Nation’s health care system. Prior to working at OSTP, Dr. Ford was a postdoctoral research fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. She also spent time in Los Angeles where she had the opportunity to work in the entertainment industry and serve as a middle school teacher in an underserved community in South Central Los Angeles.

Dr. Ford currently serves on the Barbie Global Advisory Council as well as the Toy Association’s STEM/STEAM Strategic Leadership Committee. She was a nominee in the “Shero” category of the inaugural Women’s Choice Awards in 2017 and is featured in the “BLACK GIRLS ROCK!” book by DJ Beverly Bond. Dr. Ford earned her PhD in Experimental Pathology at Harvard University where she studied age-related macular degeneration and she received a BS/MS in Chemistry/Biological Chemistry from Clark Atlanta University. Regis College awarded Dr. Ford an honorary doctorate of science in 2017.