Scientista Team Biographies

Julia Tartaglia | Founder & Executive Director
Julia Tartaglia is the Co-Founder, Executive Director, and Chairman of The Scientista Foundation. A wearer of many hats, Julia is the mastermind behind Scientista's many programs. She has spoken at Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, and numerous conferences, including the Harvard Women's Leadership Conference, the Harvard Intercollegiate Business Convention, the Association for Physical Sciences (APS) Conference, the Rosalind Franklin Society Board Meeting, and the White Plains Girl's Club. For her work with Scientista, Julia was named a semifinalist and TECH prize winner for best senior-led team in the Harvard I^3 Innovation Challenge. She is also a contributor for The Huffington Post. 

Julia currently attends medical school at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School wher she serves on the Board graduated from Harvard College cum laude with a BA in Human Evolutionary Biology and an honors track in Mind, Brain and Behavior. Passionate about all that is related to the brain and the evolution of human behavior, Julia spent her four years at Harvard conducting research in the Stickgold Lab Center for Sleep and Cognition. In addition to research, she volunteered as a Health Leads fellow, an Advocating Success for Kids advocate, and as a mentor for various science organizations. 

Julia enjoys reading up on the latest science news, traveling, visiting museums, and serving on other non-profit boards, including Harvard in Technology and the Harvard Entrepreneur Association.

Christina Tartaglia | Founder & Deputy Director & Board Member
Christina Tartaglia is the Co-Founder, Deputy Director, and Vice President of The Scientista Foundation. Christina is passionate about disease and drug development, studying autoimmune diseases in both high school and college. Christina first discovered her passion for communities in science when she attended the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) as a senior in high school. She spent much of her undergraduate years working on a novel therapy for Multiple Sclerosis in the Strominger Lab. 

Christina graduated from Harvard College with a BA in Molecular and Cellular Biology and minor in Health Policy. Since graduating college she has worked in various stages of the drug development pipeline including as a research coordinator of clinical research trials at Brigham and Women’s hospital, and investigating where endothelial precursor cells undergo vascular repair in angina patients at NYMC. The latter research resulted in a publication in the Journal of American College of Cardiology. She has spoken on the topic of women in science at Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, and numerous conferences. Christina also serves on the board of the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneur Association.

She believes that The Scientista Foundation can change the stereotype of what a female scientist is. Christina is excited to continue to meet and build communities with other passionate young female Scientistas!

Ashley Lannquist | Treasurer & Board Member

Ashley Lannquist serves on the Board of Directors as the Treasurer of the Scientista Foundation. Ashley is an MBA student at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. She previously worked as an Analyst at BNY Mellon Investment Management, one of the world’s 10 largest asset management firms. She has earned the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation and has written articles on subjects such as financial regulation, housing market reform, and digital innovation in investment management. 

​Ashley has been the Treasurer of The Scientista Foundation since 2012. During college, she interned in equity research at The TCW Group, in the Economics Office of the American Embassy in Cyprus, and at the Council on Foreign Relations. Ashley graduated cum laude from Barnard College in 2010 with a B.A. in Economics and European Studies. 

Sarah Tartaglia | Co-Chief of Campus Relations


Sarah Tartaglia is the Co-Chief of Campus Relations at the Scientista Foundation. Sarah offers weekly support and guidance to Scientista's campus directors. Her role includes ongoing email and Skype support, maintaining a monthly newsletter, leading the monthly Director's Circle video conference calls, and organizing the annual Director's Circle Leadership Dinner at the Scientista Symposium.

Sarah is a social worker and completed her training at Columbia University School of Social Work. Sarah graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a BA in psychology. During her time at Loyola she founded and directed the Loyola University of Maryland Scientista Chapter. She has served as a Co-Chief of Campus Relations since 2012.

Neha Uppal | Co-Chief of Campus Relations

Neha Uppal



Amanda Applebaum | Co-Chief of Campus Outreach


Amanda studied Finance, Accounting and Economics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. where she graduated salutatorian and summa cum laude in May 2013.  After interning in various finance and accounting roles throughout college, she began work full-time at J.P. Morgan’s Investment Banking Division in the Healthcare group.  In September 2014, she joined Nielsen Corporation as an Associate in the Corporate / Business Development and Global M&A group. With an undergraduate business background, she is excited to share her experiences in alternative career paths within the healthcare and technology spaces as Co-Chief of Campus Outreach.  In her spare time, she enjoys spinning and barre fitness classes, keeping up with college basketball, and exploring NYC!

Editorial Team 

Lauren Koenig | Editor-in-Chief

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Lauren is a graduate student at Michigan State University studying the behavior and physiology of electric fish. Since obtaining her B.A. in biology from Vanderbilt University, she worked on several wildlife research projects throughout North and South America. She is excited to work with Scientista to increase accessibility to research and expand outreach efforts geared for women in STEM. Her experience in science writing includes an internship with publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc., working as science editor for the Vanderbilt McLaughlin neurology lab, and serving on the staff of her university’s newspaper.  In her free time, Lauren enjoys wildlife photography, kayaking, and dance.

Managing Editors

​Laura Daniel
 
Laura Daniel, Ph.D., is the managing editor of The Scientista Foundation. She has served as editor-in-chief for several blogs and newsletters, most recently, the NIHBEST PhD and postdoc blog. Laura has always had a passion for both science and writing, but it wasn’t until she began her postdoc that she began to merge the two passions. Laura graduated from University of Tennessee at Martin with a BS in biology and a PhD from East Tennessee State University. While working on her PhD, she studied the molecular pathways of cardiac remodeling; she wrote several first author publications. She continued her study of cardiac physiology as a postdoc at Vanderbilt University. Currently, she is the Associate Director of the Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) consortium. Laura joined the Scientista team to help advocate for women in science, as well as other fields.

Section Editors

Courtney Thomas (Tools/Resources section)

Courtney Thomas is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in Cancer Biology at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. She received a B.S. in Chemistry from Furman University in 2007, and a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from UCLA in 2012. While at UCLA, she developed a passion for communicating scientific ideas and for scientific outreach. She has developed scientific lectures for ages 5-adult, educational handouts, and a hands-on lab-based workshop to introduce high school students to academic research. When she’s not working in the lab, Courtney enjoys cooking, photography, and exploring Europe.
Dr. Vijayalakshmi (Viji) Kalyanaraman (DiscovHER blog)

Surface Scientist and Freelance Science writer, Viji Kalyanaraman, received her PhD at the University of Hamburg, Germany, for her research studies on femtosecond interfacial electron transfer processes. Her postdoctoral stint at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) involved investigating astrochemical reactions to understand the origin of life on the earth. She then studied x-ray induced reaction processes in thin film amino acids, and thereafter analyzed oxidation reactions of a potential nuclear fuel material using surface science spectroscopies when she was a visiting researcher at Illinois Institute of Technology for a brief period. She then took a break to care for her child. Now she's putting her science communication skills to use and writing and editing for the Scientista blog!
Sabriya Stukes (Women in Science: News blog)

Sabriya Stukes is a trained microbiologist, a one-time science podcaster, a burgeoning science communicator and fierce supporter of all things STEM. She is actively involved in many organizations that help to increase diversity and awareness in the science fields for women and underrepresented minority communities. She is the acting editor for Women in Science News for the Scientista Foundation, and a writing intern for the Einstein Department of Communications and Public Affairs Office. As the Director of Science Events for the Minority Graduate Student Association (MGSN), she helps to organize career and professional development workshops, along with special events geared towards the NYC graduate community. She is also the co-founder of the science outreach organization Connect With STEM, which she created to increase the visibility of STEM professions, as well as the types of people doing these jobs, to high school students in the NYC area. She recently earned her doctoral degree in Biomedical Sciences at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the laboratory of Dr. Arturo Casadevall researching the mechanisms behind the host-pathogen interactions between macrophages and the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.
Ava Chard  (Advice Section)

Ava is an undergraduate student earning her Bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Physics through Northern Arizona University. She relies heavily on organization and planning to make the most of her education, focused on exploring the intersection between Astronomy and Chemistry. Not only is she passionate about her own science education, but also seeks to increase access to the field for children at a local level. She believes her role in breaking down barriers is sparking an early love for science, advocating for a greater representation of all voices, and taking her own steps to increase international scientific communication; she practices American Sign Language and Spanish by immersing herself with communities of learners. When she's not in the library studying, she'll be on a mountain practicing yoga, or poolside spending time with her family.
Laura Segura Moye (Spotlight Editor and Lifestyle Editor)
 
Laura is currently a 5th year Neuroscience PhD candidate at The University of Illinois at Chicago. During her PhD, she behaviorally and molecularly characterized the effect of delta opioid receptor activation in multiple models of headache. Prior to her PhD, she studied neuroscience and Spanish at Agnes Scott College. In addition to conducting research, she strongly advocates for equality and accessibility. To help communities thrive, she actively volunteers Spanish/English translation services to local organizations and serves on Chicago-area non-profit boards. She is excited to use her writing and editorial skills to further the mission of Scientista! In her free time, Laura enjoys natural light photography, kickboxing, yoga, and spending time with her family.


​Emily Stackpole - Copy Editor
 
Emily Stackpole currently works as a post-doctoral associate at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA.  Dr. Stackpole grew up in Maine and received her BA in Neuroscience from Smith College and PhD in Neuroscience from Brown University. As a scientist, she is passionate about understanding post-transcriptional mechanisms in both the healthy and the diseased brain and has investigated how normal processes go awry in neurological disorders such as Fragile X Syndrome and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.  Dr. Stackpole is also committed to outreach efforts to promote inclusion for women in STEM roles.  While at UMass, she joined like-minded professional STEM women to establish the non-profit Association for Women in Science Central Massachusetts chapter to offer opportunities and tools to foster personal and career growth for local STEM women.  At Scientista, Dr. Stackpole is excited to continue these activities by contributing to the communication of scientific ideas and research to a broad network of STEM women. 

Publisher

Sangeetha Selvam
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Sangeetha Selvam is a PhD student at Kent State University and her research focuses on exploring the effect of DNA supercoiling on non B-DNA structures and proteins at single-molecule level. After her Master’s, she worked as a Project Assistant  in Central Leather Research Institute, India, developing organic compounds to have a strong interaction with the protein and collagen, thus, performing as a synthetic leather tanning agent. During this time, she acquired the passion for exploring these interactions at the molecular level and now she is happy to pursue the same for her doctoral studies. In addition to her role on the Science editorial team, she is also the Director of the Scientista Graduate Chapter at KSU. She spends her leisure time watching documentaries and enjoys cooking.