Lisette Torres-Gerald

• Racialized gender justice and disability in STEM and higher education
• Inclusive science communication
• Critical Race Theory (CRT)
• Intersectionality
• DisCrit
• Critical disability studies

Dr. Lisette E. Torres-Gerald (she/her/ella) is a trained scientist and disabled scholar-activist who is a Senior Researcher at TERC, a non-profit made up of teams of math and science education and research experts. She is also the Director of Operations and Communication for the new national NSF AISL equity resource center called the Reimagining Equity and Values in Informal STEM Education (REVISE) Center. Dr. Torres-Gerald has a doctorate with a Certificate in Social Justice from the School of Education at Iowa State University and a M.S. in Zoology with a Certificate in Ecology from Miami University. Her academic research focuses on addressing racialized gender justice and disability in science and higher education. She is an active member of Science for the People, a co-founder of Sines of Disability: Dismantling ableism in mathematics and beyond, and a co-founder and former executive board member of the National Coalition for Latinxs with Disabilities (CNLD). Dr. Torres-Gerald is also an advisory board member of the Women in Engineering Pro-Active Network’s (WEPAN) ADVANCE Resource and Coordination (ARC) Network.

Ph.D. Education with Certificate in Social Justice (Iowa State University)
M.S. Zoology with Certificate in Ecology (Miami University)
B.A. Earth and Environmental Science AND Religion Studies (double-major) (Lehigh University)

American Educational Research Association (AERA)
Critical Race Studies in Education Association (CRSEA)
Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS)
Science Education for Equity, Diversity and Social Justice (SEEDS)

Torres, L.E. & Peralez, K. (2024). What about disabled Latinos in engineering? Book chapter for the edited book Latin* students in engineering: An intentional focus on a growing population by L. Perez-Felkner, S. Rodriguez, and C. Fluker (Eds.). Rutgers University Press.

Torres, L.E. (2022). Training the next generation of science activists using Critical Race Pedagogy. In T.M. Mealy, H. Bennett (Eds.), Equity in the classroom: Essays on curricular and pedagogical approaches to empowering all students (pp. 31-47). Jefferson, North Carolina: MacFarland Publishing.

Torres, L.E. (2021). Sobreviviendo sin sacrificando – An intersectional DisCrit testimonio from a tired mother-scholar of color. Submitted to a special issue of Race Ethnicity and Education.

Torres, L.E. (2021). Digital contemplative community in pandemic times. Networking Knowledge, 14(1), 94-97.

Torres, L.E. (2020). Straddling death and (re) birth: A disabled Latina’s meditation on collective care and mending in pandemic times. Qualitative Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800420960169.

Torres-Gerald, L.E. (2019). “Speaking truth to power and to the people”: Scientist bloggers of color as public intellectuals. Dissertation in ProQuest (Iowa State University).

Osei-Kofi, N., & Torres, L.E. (2015). College admissions viewbooks and the grammar of gender, race, and STEM. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 10. (2), 527-544.