I CAN STEM
Role Models
New Jersey Inductees
The New Jersey STEM Pathways Network honors diverse STEM leaders who have made and continue to make significant contributions in STEM.
2023 New Jersey Inductees
January

David Mwangi
Science Supervisor in East Orange School District
David Mwangi
David possesses a PhD in Biomedical Science from Rutgers University, a Masters in Biotechnology from Kean University and a Masters in School Administration from Rowan University. David has over 8 years of experience in the life sciences specializing in immunology and protein characterization. At Bristol Myers Squibb in 2005, David helped validate an isoelectric focusing technique to study the purity of a potential therapeutic agent. Later in 2007, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Bone Marrow Transplant lab, he was a member of a team that generated Wilm’s Tumor 1-specific CD8+ T cells for adoptive transfer into a leukemia-inoculated model. As a graduate student, he discovered functional and phenotypic differences between two subsets of human plasmacytoid dendritic cells.
As an educator, David has experience as a High School Science Teacher, Curriculum Writer, Data Coordinator, STEM Trainer, Department Chairperson, Adjunct Professor and District Supervisor of Secondary Science. In 2008, through the American Association of Immunologists, he helped develop a High School Immunology curriculum. In 2016, David was the teacher of the year at East Orange Campus High School and a reciptient of Kean University’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. As an adjunct in the Biology department at Kean University, he has handled courses taken by Biology majors; Virology, Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Cell/Molecular Biology. He has facilitated the implementation of successful programs, improved the use of data in decision-making, and implemented inquiry-based instructional strategies in science. He continues to support the implementation of STEM Pathways at the district flagship school, East Orange STEM Academy.
February
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Dr. Sandra Daise Adams
Professor at Montclair State University
Dr. Sandra Daise Adams
Dr.Adams was born and grew up in Savannah, Georgia. She attended the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools. Upon graduation she enrolled at the University of Georgia, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. She taught for three years in public schools in Georgia while earning a Master of Education in Secondary Biology Education from Georgia State University. She then earned a Ph.D. in Science Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Adams served on the Education faculty at Birmingham Southern College and West Georgia College for several years before enrolling at Georgia State University to complete a second Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics. Her doctoral research focused on RNA-RNA recombination in rubella virus.
Dr. Adams has served on the faculty at Montclair State University for 22 years and holds the rank of professor in the Department of Biology. She maintains a research laboratory in which various natural products are analyzed for their antiviral properties against Herpes simplex virus 1 and 2, Sindbis virus, and Enterovirus 69. The natural products tested include extracts of polyphenols from green tea, black tea, Embelin, curcumin, and other curcuminoid compounds. Her teaching responsibilities include Principles of Biology I, Virology, and Immunology.
Dr. Adams served as the principal investigator (PI) on a National Science Foundation grant to recruit, prepare and retain biology, chemistry, earth science and physics teachers for New Jersey’s high need schools and was PI on a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to implement a Phage Genomics course in which students conduct an authentic research project to isolate and characterize a novel bacteriophage from the soil. She has secured grant funding as PI of over $1.6 million and as co-PI for approximately $1 million.
I CAN STEM
New Jersey Inductees
The I CAN STEM New Jersey Inductees are selected through a nomination process which is reviewed by the NJSPN’s New Jersey STEM Strategic Advisory Board.
By including role models right in our State, students will have the opportunity to meet or hear from them in real life and learn about the various STEM industries that are right here in New Jersey.
