Iris Wagstaff, Ph.D.

As a chemistry master’s student, Iris R. Wagstaff was not satisfied. At the time, her lab didn’t have the resources she needed to conduct experiments properly. Many of the chemicals sitting on her bench were 20 years old. So when a rep from Rohm and Haas, now Dow Chemical, came to talk to students at her school, she approached him with a bold request: Take me with you.

Wagstaff left her program at North Carolina A&T State University to finish her master’s research as a graduate research assistant at Rohm and Haas in the Philadelphia area. She conducted cutting-edge research involving 2D NMR and solid-state NMR to examine the efficacy of gadolinium-based contrast agents used in MRI imaging that are used today. After a 15-year industry career, she ultimately returned to school to earn a PhD in Science Education Research and Policy from North Carolina State University.

Today, Wagstaff is a STEM program director at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). There, she manages a $20 million portfolio of initiatives focused on broadening participation in STEM at the higher education level to contribute to student education and career success.

Wagstaff recalls that everyone thought that she was crazy when she left her underfunded master’s program to move to Pennsylvania, where she didn’t know anyone, to finish her research in the chemical industry. But the best career moves require calculated risks, she says.

When did you first become interested in chemistry?

I had an amazing high school chemistry teacher, Mrs. Cheryl Alston. We’re still in touch almost four decades later. In her classroom, chemistry clicked for me. I could see the electrons moving around in my head. In my second semester of AP chem, we learned about drug delivery. I saw the power of chemistry for treating diabetes, which my mom suffered from. It may sound cheesy, but I saw chemistry as a way to make the world better—it just had such utility and power. So I majored in chemistry for my undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and then went directly to graduate school.

Why did you shift from your work at Dow Chemical to teaching?

In 2007 my mom became sick and I left a successful career to go back home to North Carolina to care for her. She passed away the following year, which completely devastated me. While at the voting poll, I ran into a woman with an NC State bag, and we began talking as I had always been a Wolfpack fan. I had on one of my geeky chemistry shirts, which sparked conversation, and she mentioned she worked at the local community college in the chemistry department. They were having a hard time finding an instructor and would have to cancel a required course for nursing majors if they couldn’t find someone. While I never imagined teaching at a community college, I applied for the position and taught for 2 years while trying to recover from the loss of my mom. This experience reminded me of my longtime passion for science education and decades of experience leading community-based STEM outreach programs. While living in the metro Philadelphia area, I created and led several informal science programs for middle school students and their parents with the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). I also led science fairs at Temple, Drexel, and Penn for middle school and high school students. So really, I had been teaching on an informal basis for years through my outreach and advocacy.

A big part of the outreach that I continue to lead involves resourcing parents and teachers to help them better support their children in STEM. I’m a first-generation college student from a rural area and a low-income background. My mom didn’t know how to help with my chemistry homework, but she was my biggest proponent and advocate. She always encouraged me and said that I could do anything I put my mind to. So I equipped parents with resources, like tips on inexpensive items they could use to conduct experiments at home.

How did teaching inspire you to return to school for your PhD?

Teaching at the community college level reminded me of my passion for science education and my many years of outreach in the community. I just thought, why don’t I get credentialed in the area that I had volunteered in for so long? This led me to go back to school in my 40s to pursue a PhD in Science Education Research and Policy at North Carolina State University.

My dissertation research focused on examining factors that predict science identity, belonging, and confidence in science for K–12 students who are underrepresented in STEM. Science identity plays a key role in students’ education and career decision-making. It involves how you perceive yourself in science, and also how others perceive you. Women, minorities, people with disabilities, and other groups who have been disenfranchised from scientific pursuits tend to have a lower science identity and sense of belonging in STEM. But my research showed that contextual environments that include family, friends, and the extended community can mitigate these lower levels of motivation in STEM. So that finding reinforced my belief that it’s important to help parents support STEM students.

What are your current responsibilities as a STEM program director at AAAS?

I manage a large portfolio of strategic initiatives supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Microsoft that focus on preparing undergraduate and graduate student researchers nationally from diverse backgrounds for global careers in STEM and advancing innovation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). I conceptualize the initiative, write the grant proposal for funding, and then manage a team of staff to design and implement the initiative’s activities to support national efforts to help students, faculty, and early-career professionals in STEM.

For example, every year I lead the Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM (ERN) where we support about 1000 undergraduate and graduate students who present their research in all areas of STEM to expert judges for prize money. Eighty percent are underrepresented minorities. The conference includes an education and career fair and professional development workshops.

I also lead an innovation showcase where student-led teams from HBCUs develop prototypes in response to one of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. They pitch their innovations for prize money and also participate in innovation-related training and skills development.

And I am currently conducting research funded by Microsoft that is assessing the HBCU innovation community and stakeholders to identify needs, resources, and a viable model for a national HBCU tech transfer center. The center would provide the resources HBCUs most need to enhance their tech transfer capacity.

How are you also supporting students through your involvement with ACS?

As an ACS Career Kick-Starter Professional Development Consultant, I visit chemistry departments across the country and offer multiday courses that help equip graduate students for professional success. I cover topics like how to write quality résumés, identifying job opportunities, and choosing which workforce sector to pursue. And I always share my own personal journey. It’s an amazing course. I love teaching it because I love supporting students. I’ve also been involved with the ACS for over 30 years and often volunteer to speak at schools and other events throughout the year.

This profile has been edited for length and clarity. The opinions expressed in this interview are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the view of their employer or the American Chemical Society.