Lori Adams, PhD, serves as both a lecturer and program director at the University of Iowa, where she directs several undergraduate research programs, is the instructor-designer for numerous STEM-focused student development courses, including an adaptation of “Entering Research”.
Adams earned a BS in Crop Science from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, a PhD in Genetics from Texas A&M at College Station, TX, and was a postdoctoral research scientist at the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell and later at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
At the University of Iowa, Adams co-directs the NSF-funded LSAMP-IINSPIRE Alliance program and the NIH-funded Iowa Biosciences Academy (IBA) IMSD program, whose mission is to increase the diversity of students earning PhDs in the Biosciences.
Lastly, Adams is the Director of the Latham Science Engagement Initiative and is piloting a program that facilitates undergraduate interactions across STEM disciplines and challenges students to communicate the broader impact of scientific research to non-science audiences. Because her work revolves heavily around undergraduates conducting research in on-campus laboratories, she has a strong interest in being part of the movement to create a mentoring culture on campus. For the past three summers, she has implemented the 8-week “Entering Mentoring” summer seminar series for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty mentoring undergraduate researchers.
Adams is recognized as a National Academies Education Mentor in the Life Sciences and a NIH National Research Mentoring Network Master Facilitator.