Mary Jo Parker, Ed.D., is a first-generation, Hispanic, and faculty member in the Natural Sciences at University of Houston-Downtown, a federally designated Hispanic-serving and Minority-serving institution. She also is the Executive Director of the Scholars Academy, an academic unit supporting STEM majors. She has been in higher education at Rice University’s Center for Science and Technology and 14 years with UHD. She currently is PI on several active federal and state awards involving mentored research, workforce development, and bridge programs for precollege students totaling $1.8 M. As part of the grant awards, Dr. Parker believes strongly in the power of PLTL training and has written this into each of her grant proposals, thereby assisting the PLTL emphasis at UHD.