Anita Krishnamurthi is a passionate advocate for equitable access to education and science with a deep commitment to young people. She has a PhD in Astrophysics from The Ohio State University and moved to a career focused on STEM education and informal learning, recognizing its intersection with social justice and social mobility. 

Anita is the President of the Collective for Youth Empowerment in STEM & Society (CYESS) and Senior Vice President for STEM & Youth Engagement at the Afterschool Alliance.  CYESS will bring together partners using afterschool and other out-of-school-time programs as spaces to more actively engage young people in tackling problems that impact their futures - solutions to which are often rooted in STEM.  The CYESS vision is to empower young people and ensure they have a seat at the table as we craft agendas and policies at the federal, state and local levels. 

Prior to this role, Anita lived and worked in the UK for a few years. She most recently served as the Head of Education and Learning at the Wellcome Trust, a global health philanthropy based in London. She has previously worked in a range of organizations based in Washington, DC, that included non-profits, government, and academia. Her roles included serving as Vice President for STEM Policy at the Afterschool Alliance, Program Manager at NASA Headquarters, Lead for Education and Public Outreach in the Astrophysics Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, and the John Bahcall Public Policy Fellow at the American Astronomical Society.  In addition to serving on this Board, Anita serves on the Board of Nobel Prize Outreach in Sweden.

Hilary Lozar was born and raised in the Flathead Valley in Western Montana. She always had a deep affinity for science and astronomy growing up, and became an elementary educator to help foster joy and excitement in those fields in her students. After teaching second grade for 11 years, she was able to follow her true passion and transition to teaching STEM full time to her entire elementary school body. This opportunity opened many new doors within her educational career and she was able to take on many new challenges, designing her own curriculum for grades K-4th. Hilary used this position as a way to become a STEM mentor to many of her students, and became increasingly aware of the impact that she could make with her female students especially. This became her primary focus as her school district faced a teacher shortage and it became apparent that STEM would no longer be offered there. After 5 years of STEM education, Hilary left the world of public education and joined her local Boys & Girls Club to become STEM Coordinator for three Clubs in the Flathead Valley. She brought many of her original materials to the new position, and has greatly enjoyed serving her community more widely as a STEM resource for multiple districts. She currently sits on several advisory panels for STEM both locally and nationally, and is always looking for new ways to increase her students' exposure to STEM and other STEM mentors.

Kata Lucas is a Senior Researcher with the National Girls Collaborative Project, supporting efforts to communicate research-to-practice through professional development training, written products, and program design. She manages the program implementation for BRITE Girls Online STEM Practices: Building Relevance and Identity to Transform Experiences, an NSF AISL research-to-practice grant. She is interested in the impacts of role model engagement on girls’ STEM identity development and is passionate about communicating and integrating intersectionality and feminist research into practice. Kata has a Master’s in International Affairs from The New School.