Issuu

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2026

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EST | ROOM 310

THE ROOT OF INNOVATION

Innovation happens when we cultivate the expansive STEM research taking place on our college campuses that ultimately becomes part of our nation’s industrial fabric and our daily lives. We sow. We reap. We grow. Nowhere is this more evident than in the multicultural richness of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. HBCUs have a long legacy of research innovation that provides answers to pivotal questions and provides solutions to problems. An Evening with BEYA’s Leading Voices celebrates STEM Innovators, four experts in their fields who deliver thought-provoking TechTalks that enlighten and challenge conventional thinking.

HOST: DR. VICTOR MCCRARY PROVOST FOR NATIONAL SECURITY INNOVATION | THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

A native of the Washington, D.C., metro area, Victor McCrary received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Catholic University in 1978, followed by a Ph.D. in chemistry from Howard University and then an executive Master of Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995.

Prior to joining Catholic University, McCrary was the vice president of research for the University of the District of Columbia (UDC). There, he developed the Office of University Research; established annual Research Weeks to showcase current university research; initiated a technology capture (patents) effort; and led numerous research initiatives that culminated in the designation of UDC as a Carnegie-classified “Research College & University” in February 2025.

Prior to UDC, he served as vice chancellor for research at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and as the first vice president for research and economic development at Morgan State University in Baltimore. In this role at Morgan State, McCrary developed a university-wide research ecosystem, increasing external support for faculty research and growing an entrepreneurial culture among faculty and students that led to its first patents and R2 Carnegie research designation. Prior to that, McCrary was the Business Area Executive for Science & Technology and Principal Professional Staff at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory where he directed internal research and development funding to develop new core competencies and innovations in the areas of national security and space technologies for civilian and military applications.

McCrary started his career at AT&T Bell Laboratories-Murray Hill as a postdoc and then as a member of the technical staff before being selected to be a program manager with the Advanced Technology Program and becoming the first chief of the Convergent Information Systems Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). At NIST, he led the first efforts to develop industry standards for electronic books, where he was a co-recipient of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Gold Medal for his efforts. He is a former national president of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCCHE), a fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS), and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Among the numerous honors he has received throughout his career is the Alumni Achievement Award for Research Excellence from Catholic University in 2015. McCrary was inducted into the DeMatha Catholic High School Hall of Fame in 2013, and he also He has been a member of the Knights of Columbus Council 7559 in Columbia, Maryland, since 1997.

TECH TALK PRESENTERS

DR. MICHELLE JOHN

VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH & INNOVATION | TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY, CHAIR HBCU S&T COUNCIL

Dr. John (formerly Penn-Marshall) is the inaugural VP for Research and Innovation at Texas Southern University. Dr. John previously served as the Vice President for Research, Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate College at Hampton University. Her other roles at Hampton University included Assistant Provost for Research and Grantsmanship, Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, and Director of Student Academic Support Services in the School of Nursing. In Virginia, Dr. John was actively involved in numerous regional and national grants as well as professional service. She was appointed to the National Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) Advisory Committee on Advocacy and Public Policy for the Council of Graduate Schools and the Board of Directors for the Girl Scout Council of the Colonial Coast. She served as a member of the Governor’s Health Sciences Academy Advisory Board in Hampton Roads and was also affiliated with the Society of STEM Women of Color. She has also served as a co-Principal Investigator for numerous NIH and NSF grants. Additionally, she secured funding for and designed a mobile health unit to provide healthcare to urban, rural, and underserved community members. Dr. John is well-versed in developing community and industry partnerships. Dr. John earned her B.S. in Biology and M.S. in Biology with a concentration in Environmental Science from Hampton University. She received her Ph.D. in Community Nutrition from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.

DR. KAYE HUSBANDS FEALING

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND ECONOMIC (SBE) DIRECTORATE | NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Kaye Husbands Fealing is the Assistant Director of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF). She is the former Dean of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a former Chair of the School of Public Policy Georgia Tech, where she currently holds the title professor. She specializes in science of science and innovation policy and the public value of research expenditures. Prior to her positions at Georgia Tech, Husbands Fealing taught at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, and she was a study director at the National Academy of Sciences. Prior to the Humphrey School, she was the William Brough professor of economics at Williams College, where she began her teaching career in 1989. She developed and was the inaugural program director for NSF's Science of Science and Innovation Policy program and co-chaired the Science of Science Policy Interagency Task Group, chartered by the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Subcommittee of the NSTC. At NSF, she also served as an Economics Program director. Husbands Fealing was a visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Technology Policy and Industrial Development, where she conducted research on NAFTA’s impact on the Mexican and Canadian automotive industries, and research on strategic alliances between aircraft contractors and their subcontractors

Husbands Fealing is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is an Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She was awarded the 2023 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award from the American Economic Association's Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, and the 2017 Trailblazer Award from the National Medical Association Council on Concerns of Women Physicians. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum-Georgia Chapter, and member of the YWCA's Academy of Women Achievers. She serves on the Society for Economic Measurement's board and the trustee board for the R. Howard Dobbs Jr. Foundation. She has served on several committees and panels, including: the National Academy of Public Administration board; AAAS' Executive Board and other AAAS committees; National Academies’ panels; Council of Canadian Academies panels; American Academy of Arts and Sciences working groups; NSF’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Advisory Committee, STEM Education Advisory Committee, and the Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering; NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences Council; General Accountability Office’s Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics Polaris Council; and American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economic Profession. At Georgia Tech, she co-chaired the Arts@Tech Institute Strategic Planning committee, and she has served on the Institute for Data Engineering and Science Council, the Intellectual Property Advisory Board, and other committees.

DOROTHY J. PHILLIPS

2026 IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY | MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dr. Dorothy J. Phillips is the 2026 American Chemical Society (ACS) Immediate Past President. She is the first African American woman to be elected to the ACS presidential succession and the first African American woman to be elected to the ACS Board of Directors, where she served three terms from 20142022. In 1967, Dorothy was the first African American woman to complete a bachelor’s degree at Vanderbilt University and completed her doctoral studies at the University of Cincinnati and was the first African American woman in Cincinnati to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1974.

At the University of Cincinnati, Dorothy studied the conformation of viral RNA with polarized light (circular dichroism). After graduation, she worked for Dow Chemical, where she developed growth promoters for livestock and poultry. Dr. Phillips then worked at Waters Corporation, where she prepared solid supports to purify proteins and then helped to develop novel solid-phase extraction techniques for determining the levels of drugs and pesticides in complex media such as serum, food, and water. She became a manager at Waters, retiring as their Director of Strategic Marketing in 2013. Her works in circular dichroism and bio separation are well known, in essence, her work helps scientists better understand biological processes and produce high-quality treatments.

Among her honors are the Roland H. Hirsch Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Analytical Chemistry from the Division of Analytical Chemistry, 2023;The Percy L. Julian Award, from National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) 2022; Lifetime Achievement Award from NOBCChE, 2020; the Vanderbilt University Dr. Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips Endowed Chair, 2015 with investiture of Professor Renã Robinson in the chair, 2023; Vanderbilt University Trailblazer, Class of 2019; American Chemical Society Fellow, Class of 2010; and Distinguished Alumni, University of Cincinnati, College of Arts and Sciences, 1995 and Center for Women Studies, 1993.

Dr. Phillips is a co-editor and a co-author of a chapter in Responsible Conduct in Chemistry Research and Practice: Global Perspectives (2018), an ACS symposium series book. Dr. Phillips is featured in African American Women Chemists in the Modern Era by Jeannette E. Brown (2018). She is the co-author of an editorial for the special virtual issue of Langmuir honoring the work of Dr. Bettye Washington Greene, (https://go.acs.org/7lh). In addition, she is the author of a chapter in the virtual ACS Symposium Series book 1367, Building Your Best Chemistry Career (2020).

KIM LEWIS

VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH & CHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER | HOWARD UNIVERSITY

Kim Michelle Lewis, Ph.D. is from New Orleans, Louisiana. She received her secondary education in the New Orleans Public school system and graduated from McDonogh #35 Senior High School, the first high school for African-American students in the State of Louisiana. She studied at Dillard University, a Historical Black College and University in New Orleans, and received the David and Lucile Packard and the UNCF/Mellon Fellowships. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Physics. In that same year, Dr. Lewis was accepted to the University of Michigan Applied Physics Ph.D. Program and received a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship and several Pre-doctoral Research Grants from the Social Science Research Council. Dr. Lewis’ thesis work in Condensed Matter Physics was the development of single electron devices for application as low-noise electrometers. Her work led to a U.S. Patent No. 6,777,911. Dr. Lewis completed her Master of Science in Electrical Engineering while working toward her Ph.D. in Applied Physics which she earned from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Lewis was awarded a Career Enhancement Fellowship by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and a National Science Foundation (NSF) BRIGE Award and she received the NSF Career Award. Her research expertise is in quantum transport in nanoscale structures, such as thin films and molecular junctions using techniques that include inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy. Other interests of Dr. Lewis include the study of the electrophysiology of biological systems, including adult stem cells for therapeutic and regenerative medicine applications.

Currently, Dr. Lewis is the Vice President for Research and Chief Research Officer. She is also a Professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her interests are to provide university-wide leadership to strengthen its research enterprise through stronger faculty engagement, optimization of organizational capacity, advancement of interdepartmental collaboration, and promotion of institutional alignment.