Dr. Lewis-Strickland is a program planning and implementation professional with over 8 years of experience directing programs that build leadership, professional, and skills capacity for students, alumni, and community members. Currently, she is the Program Coordinator for the South Big Data Hub in the Institute for Data Engineering and Sciences. In addition, she manages the operations of initiatives that support broadening participation in data science through community consortium building. She earned her Doctorate of Education in Organizational Leadership, emphasizing Higher Education Leadership from Grand Canyon University. Her dissertation empowered black women to share their leadership resilience experiences to inspire and support aspiring black women leaders. In addition, Dr. Lewis-Strickland is a member of numerous professional organizations such as the International Leadership Association and the Network for Change and Continuous Innovation.

Shkina Halbert joined IDEaS in 2016 to provide Administrative support. In 2019, she was promoted to IDEaS Program & Operations Manager. She has over eleven years of experience in the administrative field. She previously work at a successful immigration law firm that assisted the top partners of the company. She primarily handles planning and coordinating workshops/conferences, department HR duties, department operations, travel and various other tasks to support the team. She holds a Masters in Business Administration and Bachelor of Arts in history.

Charmain M. Alston is the senior grants administrator for IDEaS. She joined the team in 2017 with more than 26 years of experience in the federal government, and 18 years of experience with proposal and financial administration at the National Science Foundation's Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate. Charmain has a BBS with a concentration in Acquisition and Contract Management.