Harper College is closed on Friday, April 18, for Reading Day.
Dr. Avis Proctor, President, Harper College
Dr. Avis Proctor became the sixth president of William Rainey Harper College in July 2019. With over 30 years of experience working in multicultural environments as an innovative mathematics educator and administrator, she is committed to transforming lives through the power of education using research-based instructional strategies, strategic community engagement and future-focused economic development which all lead to strengthened educational opportunities that impact generations.
Dr. Proctor believes in working closely with local school districts, the business community and higher education institutions. Her work at previous institutions included expanding articulation, internship and employment opportunities. She has also provided collaborative leadership for early childhood education, dual enrollment and college readiness/completion initiatives.
Dr. Proctor provides leadership on local and national boards including American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research.
During her tenure at the college, Harper has been recognized as an Achieving the Dream Leader College of Distinction, an Aspen Top 25 institution and an Aspen Top 20 institution. Harper is also a lead member institution of The Bloch Quantum Tech Hub established by the CHIPS and Science Act.
Dr. Proctor earned her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics Education at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a Master of Science in Teaching Mathematics at Florida Atlantic University, and her Doctorate in Higher Education at Florida International University.
Dr. Emily Easton, Director of Education and Workforce Development, Chicago Quantum Exchange
Dr. Emily Easton is Director of Education and Workforce Development of the Chicago Quantum Exchange, advancing the science and engineering of quantum information between the CQE community, across the Midwest, and around the globe. The CQE is a consortium - comprised of the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University, and Purdue University, - that fosters emerging research, trains the workforce of the future, and grows the quantum economy.
As the Director of Education and Workforce Development at CQE, Emily oversees the development and implementation of programs that inspire, prepare, and connect students and professionals in the emerging fields of quantum science and engineering, including the Open Quantum Initiative, annual Quantum Recruiting Forum, and NSF-funded Quantum Leap Challenge Institute Quantum Careers Workshop. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Dr. Teague Tomesh, Manager of Quantum Software Engineering, Infleqtion
Dr. Teague Tomesh is Manager of Quantum Software Engineering at Infleqtion where he is a PI on Wellcome Leap's Q4Bio program, DARPA IMPAQT, and DOE EXPRESS working on the co-design of quantum algorithms and hardware. The goal of his work is to minimize the time to practical and impactful quantum computing by developing and compiling applications which are tailored to the details and properties of quantum hardware. Dr. Tomesh received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 2023 and is a recipient of the Siebel Scholars award as well as four best paper awards.
Dr. Ruhee D’Cunha, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago
Dr. Ruhee D’Cunha received her Integrated Master's degree in chemistry from IIT Bombay in 2016, where she did undergraduate research using molecular dynamics to model biological systems. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Virginia Tech in 2021, where her main research focus was on the development of methods for the accurate and efficient prediction of molecular properties. She currently has an interest in the development of quantum chemistry algorithms on quantum computers.
Dr. Derek Leiter, Dean of Health Careers, Harper College