Contact

Dr. Valerie Imbruce (She/Her)

Director

Dr. Valerie Imbruce is Director of the External Scholarships and Undergraduate Research Center at Binghamton University. Her teaching and scholarship focus on sustainable food systems, ecological agriculture, food justice, community engagement and place-based education. She also specializes in educational program design and assessment and academic advising. Her work has been supported by grants from SUNY, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment of the Humanities and the US Department of Education. Imbruce is author of the book “From Farm to Canal Street: Chinatown’s Alternative Food Network in the Global Marketplace” with Cornell University Press. She holds a Ph.D. in Economic Botany from the City University of New York and the New York Botanical Garden and a B.A. in Environmental Science from Binghamton University. Read more about her work here: www.valerie-imbruce.com.

Dr. Imbruce has two boys, two English setters, a cat, and a betta fish. She loves to cook and explore cuisines of the world, and to spend time outdoors on the river, the lake, in the woods or just relaxing on the back deck.

Dr. Vanessa Jaeger (She/Her)

Assistant Director

Vanessa is the Assistant Director for the office. She received her Bachelor’s degree in History and English literature as well as her Master’s degree in English literature from the University of Rochester. Vanessa is also a proud Bearcat alumna, having received her Ph.D. at Binghamton in literature with a concentration on medieval romance. Her research focuses on decentering the human in canonical medieval texts and examining how such an approach pushes against the modern tendency to label the period the “Dark Ages.”

Outside of academia, Vanessa loves playing Dungeons and Dragons with her friends and reading fiction of all genres. You can typically find her wearing a cat shirt and drinking a cup of coffee. The easiest way to break the ice with Vanessa is asking for her opinions on the latest episode of The Bachelor or Master Chef. 

Lynn Schmitt (They/Them)

Research and Scholarships Advisor

Susan Flynn (She/Her)

Faculty Fellow

Gervlyne Auguste (She/Her)

McNair Scholars Program Coordinator

Gervlyne Auguste currently serves as the program coordinator for the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program (McNair Scholars Program). She brings over 15 years of experience in educational and administrative management. Her academic experiences serve as an important framework that better allows her to understand and identify with a diverse range of students. Gervlyne's familiarities of being a first-generation college student with English as a second language present the main ideals that are the backbone of her educational philosophy. As a project coordinator, her primary mission is to help students navigate successfully through their academic careers while exploring their educational and career options. Her immediate responsibility is to prepare students to be self-sufficient and life-long learners. Her obligation is to contribute and remain attentive to issues pertaining to student services and retention. This is especially important when addressing the needs of underrepresented and underserved students.

In her spare time, she serves on several nongovernmental organizations as an advocate for better access to education, youth development and women owned businesses reaching life-long independence.

Gervlyne holds a Masters in Science degree with an Administration and Planning concentration from the University of Massachusetts in Boston and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Emmanuel College, Boston. 

Umme Ayman (She/Her)

Office Assistant

Adelaide Cagle (She/Her)

Research Communications Coordinator
and Assistant Editor

Adelaide (or Addie) is the Research Communications Coordinator. She is a senior majoring in biomedical engineering and minoring in sustainability engineering. Adelaide is also engaged in research at Dr. German’s Soft Matter Mechanics lab, and she is a Residential Assistant on Campus.

Adelaide loves hiking, reading, and writing, and spent a large part of summer quarantine clearing out the DVR. She also very much enjoys eating the baked treats shared by colleagues.