Samantha Theresa Mensah is a 5th year PhD candidate in Materials Chemistry at UCLA. Samantha’s academic passions include introducing others to the excitement of scientific discovery, dismantling obstacles that discourage diversity in STEM fields, and advocating for students struggling with mental illness. Samantha has a long track record of community and policy leadership and serves as co-President of UCLA’s Organization for Cultural Diversity in Science and leads this division-wide coalition advocating for increasing diversity and inclusion efforts in the sciences. Samantha is also the President of BlackInChem, a minority-serving 501(c)(3) organization.