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121st Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Academy of Sciences Keynote Speaker

Christine S. Grant, Ph.D.

Resilience: Research Empowered Science, Innovating Life-changing improvements, Educating North Carolinians Everywhere

Christine Grant is a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State (1989- present) and served as inaugural Associate Dean of Faculty Advancement in the College of Engineering from 2008 to 2022, in this role she was responsible for faculty development, promotion and tenure (and post tenure review) in the college. 

In the realm of STEM Policy, Grant has been a Visiting Senior Scholar at AAAS she’s also served as an Expert and Program Director in the ENG directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF).  The 2022 President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE); She served as the first African-American woman AIChE president. AIChE is  a global organization of 60,000+ members in 110 countries.  Grant has chemical Engineering (ChE) degrees from Brown (Sc.B.) and Georgia Institute of Technology (M.S. and Ph.D.).  From 2020 to 2024, she served as the Program Director for Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) on an IPA assignment in the NSF ENG directorate.  She's been PI of numerous NSF grants in: (i) ChE interfacial phenomena and (ii) broadening participation in the ADVANCE, EFRI and REU programs with an emphasis on mentoring URM and women at all levels in the academic STEM career pathway supporting personnel and workforce development. Recognized extensively for academic leadership and broadening participation in STEM her awards include the: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Mentor Award; NSF Presidential (from President Clinton) Award for Excellence in Science, Math and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) and the Brown University Engineering Alumni Medal. Her writings include a co-edited book entitled, “Success Strategies from Women in STEM: A Portable Mentor” by Elsevier/ Academic Press and contributed chapters to: (i) “Growing Diverse STEM Communities: Methodologies, Impact and Evidence” (2019), (ii)  Handbook of STEM Faculty Development (2023),  and (iii) the American Chemical Society (ACS) Book “Overcoming Barriers for Women of Color in STEM Fields” (2020).  Grant is a Fellow of AAAS, AIChE and American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) and she is a Life Member of the: Society of Women Engineers (SWE), AIChE,  National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), American Association of University Women (AAUW), Advancing Indigenous People in STEM (AISES) and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW).

Grant has conducted motivational keynotes, career coaching and professional development workshops across the U.S., and for student and professional groups in India, Nigeria, Ghana and Australia. Her consulting company ( CoolSci Productions LLC/stemresilience.com) designs custom, targeted STEM programming for groups and individuals in corporate and academic environments.  

She and her engineer (MIT/Duke) husband of 35 years, Kwame Yeboah, a Ghanaian, have provided educational and mentoring support to the Chemical Engineering Department at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.  They are the proud parents of a son, Kofie Yeboah (University of Maryland -College Park ‘17), an esports writer/engagement editor.