Our Team
Dr. Pheather R. Harris
Program Director
prharris@uci.edu
Dr. Harris has worked in postsecondary education for over two decades in various capacities. She began her career at Santa Monica College as a counseling aid at the Extended Opportunities Programs and Services office prior to her role as an Assistant Director of Admissions at the University of Southern California. She then moved to Cambridge, MA to pursue her Master’s Degree in Higher Education, with a focus on Risk and Prevention, and began working at Tenacity, a non-profit organization focused on social-emotional learning and literacy development for middle school youth, as a Prevention Specialist. Dr. Harris formally moved to the east coast when she began her work at the Gates Millennium Scholars Program as a Senior Program Manager – managing the Academic Empowerment Program across partner organizations: the United Negro College Fund, The Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund, The Hispanic Scholarship Fund, and the American Indian Graduate Center Scholars. Dr. Harris received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from the University of Southern California, a Master of Arts degree in Education from Harvard University, and a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from The George Washington University. She is also an NSF IASPIRE Fellow and the Principal Investigator on a nearly $3-million dollar grant aimed at supporting underserved students in STEM . Her research interest includes exploring the relationship between faculty mentor engagement and underserved student STEM persistence. She is a critical methodologist who uses both post positivism and postmodernism to guide her inquiries.
Dr. Derek Dunn-Rankin
Faculty Liaison
Professor Emeritus
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr. Dunn-Rankin studies combustion, sprays, and particles using optical diagnostics and laser spectroscopy. Generally, he is interested in the fundamental information that can be obtained from simplified systems, such as linear droplet arrays, two-dimensional gas burners, and sub-scale ventilation and biomedical environments, which mimic a specific behavior in more complex systems. Using non-intrusive laser diagnostics, he probes the simplified systems in order to develop physical insight into influencing factors. His current research activities include a study of the electrical aspects of microgravity combustion; an effort to develop techniques to measure the size of airborne droplets and particles using laser light scattering; and development of a hydrogen-enhanced IC engine. Dunn-Rankin also is studying combustion control, the formation of droplet streams at high ambient density, and acoustic interactions with burning droplets. His work can be applied in the area of combustion for size reduction, performance improvement, and emissions reduction in the area of spray processing for the novel production of biomedically relevant materials.
Leonora Peña
Program Specialist
ldwillia@uci.edu
Mrs. Leonora Peña, also referred to as Leo, is a Program Specialist for the California Alliance for Minority Participation at the University of California, Irvine. Leo has worked at UCI for nineteen years and is a proud alumna of both UCI and the CAMP Program. She began her academic career as a chemistry major; however, found her passion in the social sciences. Leo received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 2002. She enjoys science and also has a deep interest in the arts.
Ana Tecuanapa
Program Professional
atecuana@uci.edu
Ana Tecuanapa is a Program Professional for the California Alliance for Minority Participation at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to joining UCI’s CAMP team, Ana was an assistant director and educator for five years. She has a passion for ensuring that students have a positive experience while they pursue their undergraduate and graduate degrees. Ana is a proud UCI alumna, having received a partial Zot scholarship to fund her studies. Ana graduated in 2021 with a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and Psychological Sciences and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. Ana’s passion for education gives her a unique lens from which to contribute to the mission and vision of the CAMP Program.
Dr. Yu-Chien (Alice) Chien
CAMP Faculty Partner
chieny@uci.edu
Dr. Chien is currently the principal investigator for a NASA datamining project to extract insights from the microgravity E-FIELD Flames experiment data she took. She served as the realtime remote operator on earth for the NASA E-FIELD Flames experiments aboard the international space station (ISS). Her first in-depth aerospace teamwork experience was in 2002 building a plane in the UAV Lab as an Aerospace Engineer undergraduate, and her first combustion project was in 2004. She continued as an experimentalist through her M.S in Aeronautics and Astronautics (2005 -2007), her Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (2009 – 2014), and up to the present. Her research interests also include gas hydrate studies for combustion, fire extinguishment and CO2 sequestration, aerosols and spray holographic imaging, and optical diagnostics techniques. Chien supervises graduate research theses/dissertations, and undergraduate projects/individual research. She devotes herself to bridging the gap between conventional course work and academic research with various curricula she created.