Dr. Felicia Jefferson is an associate professor at Fort Valley State University. Through her teaching, research and community engagement activities, she partners with students and other scientists and educators to use science and engineering to solve problems in local communities and encourage STEM delivery mechanisms that broaden participation in these fields. Her work, which has been funded by multiple federal grants, has appeared in top science journals.

Currently funded projects include the following:

Catalyst Project: Integrated Learning of Sleep Science
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1900572&HistoricalAwards=false

Broadening Participation in Engineering through Center-based Research
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1842510&HistoricalAwards=false

Collaborative Research: Workshop – BP in STEM, Computer Science and Engineering through Improved Financial Literacy https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1939739&HistoricalAwards=false

EAGER (HBCU-DCL): Broadening Participation in Neural Engineering, Bioengineering, and Systems Engineering Research
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1649717&HistoricalAwards=false

FELICIA JEFFERSON, PH.D.

Fort Valley State University
1005 State University Drive
Fort Valley, GA 31030
Office: (478) 827-3254
Fax: (478) 825-6104
Email: jeffersonf@fvsu.edu

PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION

B.S.
Biotechnology and German Language
Rochester Institute of Tech Rochester, NY

M.S.
Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

Ph.D.
Biomedical Science and Neuroscience
Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA

Postdoc
Clinical Behavioral Neuro/Sleep Med
Emory University and MSM Atlanta, GA

APPOINTMENTS

• 2015-present
  Assistant Professor, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA
• 2013-2014
  Assistant Professor, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA
• 2003-2004
  Staff Scientist, Schering-Plough (now Merck), Kenilworth, NJ
• 2002-2003
  Staff Scientist, Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, OH
• 2001-2002
  Research Assistant, University of Louisville Medical Center, Louisville, KY

SYNERGISTIC ACTIVITIES

1. PI – Broadening Participation in Neural Engineering, Bioengineering, and Systems Engineering Research, National Science Foundation, Award #1649717. This NSF Engineering Directorate R&D award addresses two of the National Academies’ fourteen grand challenges and aligns with the Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development report from the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, and National Science Foundation. The overarching goal of this exploratory
research project is to establish initial connections (e.g., improvement of sleep quality and/or duration) to
the outcome of interest (e.g., increase in number of underrepresented minority and women college
students majoring in STEM fields, particularly noted “brilliance” fields of bio-/biomedical/neural
engineering, or entering STEM careers), May 3, 2017 – April 30, 2019.

2. HHMI Undergraduate Science Education Program Faculty Research Mentor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Spelman College faculty research adviser to six undergraduate African-American female dual degree science and engineering students, 2014. Four (the maximum given to a single institution in a single year) of these six students received a Society of Toxicology Research Award.

3. Faculty Undergraduate Education Award, Society for Toxicology, 2015. Received an undergraduate education award for teaching and research excellent in biochemistry. PI’s research laboratory was awarded the maximum number allowed (four) research travel award student recipients to annual the Society of Toxicology meeting during the same year.

4. Associate Editor, International Supply Chain Technology (ISCT) Journal, An official journal of the International Supply Chain Education Association (Engineering), (Print ISSN 2380-5730; Electronic ISSN 2380-1204), 2015 – Current.
5. Grant Reviewer, National Science Foundation (NSF), 2015 – Current and NIH NNRS Study Section, National Institutes of Health, 2016

1. Professional Preparation

Rochester Institute of Tech        Rochester, NY Biotechnology and German Language    B.S.,

Georgia State University            Atlanta, GA      Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry    M.S.,

Morehouse School of Med         Atlanta, GA      Biomedical Science (Neuroscience)       Ph.D.,

MSM and Emory University      Atlanta, GA      Clinical Behavioral Neuroscience           Postdoc

1. Appointments

2020-Current    Associate Professor (Tenured), Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA

2015-2020        Assistant Professor, Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA

2014-Current    Visiting Staff Scientist, College of Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, TX

2013-2014        Associate Professor (NTT), Spelman College, Atlanta, GA

2003-2004        Staff Scientist, Schering-Plough (now Merck), Kenilworth, NJ

2002-2003        Staff Scientist, Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, OH

2001-2002        Research Assistant, University of Louisville Medical Center, Louisville, KY

1. Products

(i) Five closely related to the proposed project (peer-reviewed) (* = with undergraduate co-authors) 

1. Paul J and Jefferson F (2019). A Comparative Analysis of Student Performance in an Online vs. Face to Face Environmental Science Course from 2009 to 2016. Frontiers in Computer Science. 1:7. doi: 10.3389/fcomp.2019.00007
2. Wolyniak, MJ, Austin, S., Bloodworth III, LF, Carter, D., Harrison, SH, Hoage, T., Hollis-Brown, L., Jefferson, F., Krufka, A., Safadi-Chamberlin, F., Santisteban, MS, Soneral, P., VanWinkle, B., Challa, AK (2019). Integrating CRISPR/Cas9 Technology into Undergraduate Lab Courses: Perspectives from a National Science Foundation (NSF) Workshop for Undergraduate Faculty, June 2018. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education (JMBE). doi: 10.1128/jmbe.v20i1.1702
3. Jefferson F. “Convergence Bioengineering to Interest non-STEM Majors in STEM” Speaker for Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) and White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (WHIHBCU), Washington, DC, 2018.
4. Pickens S, Boss L, Ahn H, Jefferson F. (2018). Identifying Cognitive Impairment in Hospitalized Older Adults to Prevent Readmission: Two Case Studies. Clinical Gerontologist, May 25:1-7. doi: 10.1080/07317115.2017.1333971.
5. Moore, DD, Mamidana P., Lyons M., Holmes T., Jefferson, F (2018). Male Bariatric Patients, Six Years Later: Where Are They Now? Journal of Men’s Health (JOMH): doi: 10.22374/jomh.v15i3.102 *

(ii) Other significant publications (peer-reviewed) (* = with undergraduate co-authors)

1. Jagne, J., White, D., Jefferson, F. (2016). Endocrine disrupting chemicals: adverse effects of bisphenol-A and parabens to women’s health. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 227(6): 182-192.*
2. Price, A., Jones, E., Jefferson, F. (2015). Vertical greenery systems as a strategy in urban heat island mitigation. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 226(8): 247-258.*
3. McKinney, J.A., Ortiz-Young, D., and Jefferson, F. (2015) Gender differences in obstructive sleep apnea and the associated public health burden. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 13(3): 196-209.*
4. Brown B; Jones EC; Clark KP; Jefferson F. (2014). Sleep disturbances and post-traumatic stress disorder in women. Neuroendocrinology Letters, 35(7):560-566.*
5. Jefferson, F., Ehlen, J., Williams, N., and Paul, K (2014). A dopamine D2-receptor agonist attenuates the ability of stress to alter sleep in mice. Endocrinology, 155:4411-4421.*
6. Ehlen, J.C., Jefferson, F., Brager A.J., Benveniste, M., and Paul, K.N. (2014). Period-amplitude analysis reveals wake-dependent changes in the electroencephalogram during sleep deprivation. Sleep, 1;36(11):1723-35.
7. Jefferson, F.A., Xiao, G.H., and Hein, D.W. (2009). 4-Aminobiphenyl Downregulation of NAT2 Acetylator Genotype–Dependent N- and O-acetylation of Aromatic and Heterocyclic Amine Carcinogens in Primary Mammary Epithelial Cell Cultures from Rapid and Slow Acetylator Rats. Toxicological Sciences, 107(1): 293-297.
8. Synergistic Activities 

1. Panelist, “The Impacts on STEM Undergraduate and Graduate Student Experiences of Higher Education’s response to COVID-19.” The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) workshop, September 22, 2020. https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/09-22-2020/the-impacts-on-stem-undergraduate-and-graduate-student-experiences-of-higher-educations-response-to-covid-19-resilience-and-innovation-in-online-learning-and-stem-progression and Lead Author, “The Impact of COVID-19 on Tenure Clocks, the Evaluation of Productivity, and Academic STEMM Career Trajectories.” Commissioned Paper for National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), Presentation November 5, 2020 (https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/11-05-2020/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-tenure-clocks-the-evaluation-of-productivity-and-academic-stemm-career-trajectories-for-women-in-stemm); Publication December 2020.
2. Delegate to ASEE Board’s Committee for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (CDEI), Minorities in Engineering (MIE) and Women in Engineering (WIE) Divisions, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) 2019-2024. Delegate appointed to National CDEI under ASEE’s Board of Directors.
3. Workshop/Special Session Organizing Chair, Brain Informatics (BI) 2018, 11^th International Conference on Brain Informatics, Jointly Sponsored by IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, International Neural Network Society, and Springer Journals. December 2017 – Current. Conference scheduled for December 7-9, 2018 in Arlington, Texas, USA. http://uta.engineering/conferences/bi-2018/index.php and Research Advisory Board, NSF Award #1740103, Villanova University, PI: Michael Westrate, Training Successful Trajectories: Interventions to Increase Minority Student and Future Engineering and Other STEM Faculty Application Success Rates, August 2017-July 2019.
4. HHMI Undergraduate Science Education Program Faculty Research Mentor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Spelman College faculty research adviser to six undergraduate African-American female dual degree science and engineering students, 2014. Faculty Undergraduate Education Award, Society for Toxicology, 2015. Received an undergraduate education award for teaching and research excellent in biochemistry. PI’s research laboratory was awarded the maximum number allowed (four) research travel award student recipients to annual the Society of Toxicology meeting during the same year.
5. Current and Previously Awarded NSF Funding (PI). Awards #2028573, 1939739, 1900572, 1842510, 1649717 (https://www.fvsu.edu/news/dr-felicia-jefferson-receives-federal-grant-to-help-students-become-researchers/) and Associate Editor, International Supply Chain Technology (ISCT) Journal, An official journal of the International Supply Chain Education Association (Engineering), (Print ISSN 2380-5730; Electronic ISSN 2380-1204), 2015 – Current.

PRODUCTS

(i) Five most closely related to the proposed project (peer-reviewed) (* = with undergraduate co-authors)

1. Pickens S, Boss L, Ahn H, Jefferson F. (2017). Identifying Cognitive Impairment in Hospitalized Older Adults to Prevent Readmission: Two Case Studies. Clinical Gerontologist, May 25:1-7. doi:10.1080/07317115.2017.1333971. [Epub ahead of print]

2. McKinney, J.A., Ortiz-Young, D., and Jefferson, F. (2015) Gender differences in obstructive sleep apnea and the associated public health burden. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 13(3): 196-209.*

3. Brown B; Jones EC; Clark KP; Jefferson F. (2014). Sleep disturbances and post-traumatic stress disorder in women. Neuroendocrinology Letters, 35(7):560-566.*

4. Jefferson, F., Ehlen, J., Williams, N., and Paul, K (2014). A dopamine D2-receptor agonist attenuates the ability of stress to alter sleep in mice. Endocrinology, 155:4411-4421.*

5. Ehlen, J.C., Jefferson, F., Brager A.J., Benveniste, M., and Paul, K.N. (2013). Period-amplitude analysis reveals wake-dependent changes in the electroencephalogram during sleep deprivation. Sleep, 1;36(11):1723-35.

(ii) Five other significant publications (peer-reviewed) (* = with undergraduate co-authors)

1. Jagne, J., White, D., Jefferson, F. (2016). Endocrine disrupting chemicals: adverse effects of bisphenol-
A and parabens to women’s health. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 227(6): 182-192.*

2. Price, A., Jones, E., Jefferson, F. (2015). Vertical greenery systems as a strategy in urban heat island mitigation. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 226(8): 247-258.*

3. Jefferson, Felicia; Jesus, Jairo De; Jones, Erick C; Ortiz, Deborah. (2014). Evaluating the economic impact of water regulation and sustainability on urban supply chain facility planning. International Journal of Supply Chain Management, 3(4):1-12.*

4. Jefferson, F.A., Xiao, G.H., and Hein, D.W. (2009). 4-Aminobiphenyl Downregulation of NAT2 Acetylator Genotype–Dependent N- and O-acetylation of Aromatic and Heterocyclic Amine Carcinogens in Primary Mammary Epithelial Cell Cultures from Rapid and Slow Acetylator Rats. Toxicological Sciences, 107(1): 293-297.

5. Muller, A., Boiter, E., Hu, T., Carr, G.J., Le Ferve, A.C., Marchandeau, J.P., Flor, M., Jefferson, F.A., Aardema, M.A., Thybaud, V. (2005). Laboratory variability does not preclude identification of biological functions impacted by hydroxyurea. Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, 46:4 221-235. Invited Article: 25th Anniversary of Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, 2005.

(i) Five closely related to the proposed project (peer-reviewed) (* = with undergraduate co-authors)
1. Paul J and Jefferson F (2019) A Comparative Analysis of Student Performance in an Online vs. Face to Face Environmental Science Course from 2009 to 2016. Frontiers in Computer Science. 1:7. doi: 10.3389/fcomp.2019.00007

2. Wolyniak, MJ, Austin, S., Bloodworth III, LF, Carter, D., Harrison, SH, Hoage, T., Hollis-Brown, L., Jefferson, F., Krufka, A., Safadi-Chamberlin, F., Santisteban, MS, Soneral, P., VanWinkle, B., Challa, AK (2019). Integrating CRISPR/Cas9 Technology into Undergraduate Lab Courses: Perspectives from a National Science Foundation (NSF) Workshop for Undergraduate Faculty, June 2018. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education (JMBE). doi: 10.1128/jmbe.v20i1.1702

3. Jefferson F. “Convergence Bioengineering to Interest non-STEM Majors in STEM” Speaker for Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) and White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (WHIHBCU), Washington, DC, 2018.

4. Pickens S, Boss L, Ahn H, Jefferson F. (2018). Identifying Cognitive Impairment in Hospitalized Older Adults to Prevent Readmission: Two Case Studies. Clinical Gerontologist, May 25:1-7. doi: 10.1080/07317115.2017.1333971.

5. Moore, DD, Mamidana P., Lyons M., Holmes T., Jefferson, F (2018). Male Bariatric Patients, Six Years Later: Where Are They Now? Journal of Men’s Health (JOMH): doi: 10.22374/jomh.v15i3.102 *

(iii) Other significant publications (peer-reviewed) (* = with undergraduate co-authors)

1. Jagne, J., White, D., Jefferson, F. (2016). Endocrine disrupting chemicals: adverse effects of bisphenol-A and parabens to women’s health. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 227(6): 182-192.*

2. Price, A., Jones, E., Jefferson, F. (2015). Vertical greenery systems as a strategy in urban heat island mitigation. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 226(8): 247-258.*

3. McKinney, J.A., Ortiz-Young, D., and Jefferson, F. (2015) Gender differences in obstructive sleep apnea and the associated public health burden. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 13(3): 196-209.*

4. Brown B; Jones EC; Clark KP; Jefferson F. (2014). Sleep disturbances and post-traumatic stress disorder in women. Neuroendocrinology Letters, 35(7):560-566.*

5. Jefferson, F., Ehlen, J., Williams, N., and Paul, K (2014). A dopamine D2-receptor agonist attenuates the ability of stress to alter sleep in mice. Endocrinology, 155:4411-4421.*

6. Ehlen, J.C., Jefferson, F., Brager A.J., Benveniste, M., and Paul, K.N. (2014). Period-amplitude analysis reveals wake-dependent changes in the electroencephalogram during sleep deprivation. Sleep, 1;36(11):1723-35.

7. Jefferson, F.A., Xiao, G.H., and Hein, D.W. (2009). 4-Aminobiphenyl Downregulation of NAT2 Acetylator Genotype–Dependent N- and O-acetylation of Aromatic and Heterocyclic Amine Carcinogens in Primary Mammary Epithelial Cell Cultures from Rapid and Slow Acetylator Rats. Toxicological Sciences, 107(1): 293-297.

FVSU Faculty Dr Felicia Jefferson