Director of Center for Teaching and Learning
University of Puerto Rico Humacao
Humacao, Puerto Rico
Dr. Lilliam Casillas Martinez is the director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning at the University of Puerto Rico-Humacao conducting pioneering work on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts within Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), workforce development and science advising to the local goverment. She is also principal investigator of two grants in Puerto Rico to accelerate capacity building of STEM faculty through the creation of a national faculty Hub. Casillas as served as coach in many DEI trainings, especially under the Teaching to Increase Diversity inEquity and STEM (TIDES) program of the AACU and is currently part of the Advisory Board of national programs like Bio-Interactive from the Howard Hughes Medical Institution (HHMI) and the STEM Reform Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) of the AACU. She also acts as the director of the Puerto Rican PKAL branch for faculty professional development.
In 2010, Casillas received the Arturo Carrion Award for Teaching from the Puerto Rican Microbiology Association, and in 2011, she became the first Latina in the United States to receive the Carski Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education from the American Society for Microbiologist (ASM). As researcher, Casillas has been the principal investigator of proposals including the NSF-Cabo Rojo Salterns Microbial Observatory that conducted a bio-geochemical characterization of the locations, the TIDES-Cybernetic Girls can be Pinky to increase the number of Latinas in STEM into computer science and more recently is co-PI of DIVAS (Diversificadas y Valientes) to increase the success of Latinas in Mathematical fields with more than 25 publications on strategies to improve STEM education and professional development, Casillas wants to advocate for more anti-colorism strategies that will allow the inclusion of more black-LatinX into STEM fields. A main passion for Casillas is the inclusion of first-generation undergraduates coming from low-income homes (like herself) into STEM careers.
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W8 - Strategies to Decolonize STEM Classrooms
Friday, November 8, 2024
8:15 AM – 9:30 AM East Coast USA Time
