Research Week 2025 Professional Development Series

Marilyn McDonald Hendricks, known as "Mimi", is an Executive Licensing Manager at Springer Nature. In the past 16 years at SN, she has covered institutional sales in the Latin America and Caribbean regions and now manages a College Market sales team covering the western US. She is the sponsor of the Springer Nature Black Employee Network, Co-Chair of the Global Black Employee Network, and member of the Steering Committee for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Marcus Ballenger is a Senior Editor in Business at Palgrave Macmillan, with a decade of experience in the publishing industry. He began his career as an Editorial Assistant in 2015, shepherding authors through the publication process. In his current role, he commissions across various business disciplines, including HR, marketing, entrepreneurship, and supply chain management

Esinu Abadjivor is a publishing professional with experience overseeing the editorial direction of academic journals. As Senior Publisher at Springer Nature, she manages journals publishing in the Engineering and Computer Science disciplines. Topics of interest include Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Signal Processing, and Circuits and Systems. Graduating from American University and The University of Arizona, she has a passion for progressing scientific research communication through working closely with authors, reviewers, and editorial board members. She is dedicated to advancing representation in academic journals to reflect the global community and advocates for equitable, open-access initiatives.

Tyrome ‘Ty’ Smith, has over 25 years of consulting and leading executives and their teams by helping them understand human and organizational dynamics. As part of his work, he developed an innovative education program for the DoD; including coaching and mentoring product development teams engaged in an internal incubator. In addition, he has provided support to several organizations either as faculty or entrepreneur-in-residence; including Bowie State University, University of Maryland Innovation Extension Program, StreetCode Academy, Digital Undivided, and TechStars.  

Dr. Talitha Washington is the Executive Director of the Center for Applied Data Science & Analytics, the Sean McCleese Endowed Chair in Computer Science, Race, and Social Justice, a Professor of Mathematics, and co-chair of the AI Advisory Council at Howard University.  She is the Past-President of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), a former Vice President of the National Association of Mathematicians (NAM), and a former Program Director at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). Her research spans applied mathematics, dynamical systems, data science, artificial intelligence, and education. Dr. Washington earned her bachelor's degree in mathematics from Spelman College and her master’s and doctoral degrees in mathematics from the University of Connecticut, which later awarded her an honorary Doctor of Science. She is a Fellow of AWM, the American Mathematical Society (AMS), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 

Dr. Eileen Vo is the Research Officer in the Office of University Research at UDC where she oversees research compliance and UDC Research Week. Between 2017-2023 she was an Assistant Professor of History at Gallaudet University where she taught courses on Asia and world civilizations. She has also taught courses on Asia at the Foreign Service Institute to help Foreign Service diplomats and officers prepare for their postings in the region. She has conducted research in Vietnam, Cambodia and France for her upcoming articles and book project, Surveilling Communications: Institutionalizing Translation and Interpreters in Colonial Vietnam, 1863-1954. She received her MA in Asian Studies, and her PhD in Asian Literature, Religion and Culture from Cornell University.