board members

Dr. Gregory Jenkins is the founder for CI4CJ.   He is a native of West Philadelphia and currently a professor in the Department of Meteorology & Atmospheric Science, with affiliate appointments in African Studies and Geography at Penn State University. He is the Director of the Alliance for Education, Sciences, Engineering, and Design with Africa (AESEDA) in the College of Earth & Mineral Sciences (EMS). Previously, worked at Howard University in the Atmospheric Sciences program and was Chair of the Department of Physics & Astronomy.   He has worked in West Africa for more than 30 years undertaking observations and modeling research. He has a B.S from Lincoln University in Physics and a Ph.D in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Michigan. 

Born and raised in Kano, Nigeria, Dr. Ibrahim has a PhD in mathematics with a concentration in statistics from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She is currently an assistant professor of mathematical sciences at Penn State Harrisburg. Her research areas multivariate time series, spatio-temporal analyses, and high dimensional data with applications in environmental and public health, environmental and climate justice, and epidemiology. She remains involved in community outreach programs in Kano. She is a Technological Council of Central PA Women in Tech mentor, a faculty mentor in the Penn State Environmentors program, and a Skype  Scientist volunteer. She enjoys nature walks, good music, literature, TV, cooking, and developing recipes.

Dr. Jamese Sims is an innovative, strategic, and transformational leader.  She is the Chief Executive Officer of Thee Anomaly, LLC, a meteorology consulting firm, and the creator and host of Thee Anomaly Podcast.   Dr. Sims is the former Director of the National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI)Modeling Program, and served as NOAA Senior Science Advisor for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Dr. Sims received her B.S. in Meteorology from Jackson State University and her Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from Howard University.

Dr. Jonathan Smith is a Physical Scientist at NOAA/Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, NJ. Dr. Smith and improves the representation of lightning in Models.  He serves at his local church, DC Regional Christian Church in Suitland, MD.  He has a passion for justice and politics that he gets from his grandfather Leroy Wynn, who in the 1990s was the first black town council member in the history of Huntersville, NC. Jonathan received a Ph.D. (2012) in Atmospheric Sciences at Howard University, a M.S. (2007) in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University and a B.S. (2004) in Physics from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Mariya Ronczyk, is a well-rounded, Paul Quinn College (PQC) Honors student who is spending her undergraduate studies exploring diverse experiences and developing skills in public policy, environmental justice, and banking-finance. Ms. Ronczyk was selected in the spring of 2022 to serve as a research intern with the Urban Research Initiative at PQC, wherein she collaborated with the University of Texas at Dallas as an environmental justice advocate to build air monitors and to explore the impact of environmental inequity in the southern sector of Dallas. In result of excellent work, she has gone to intern for Paul Quinn’s highest paying partnership, JP Morgan Chase and Co. and now, Wells Fargo, to expand her network and skills in advocating for environmental justice in the finance sector.