Pre-/Post-Doctoral Fellows 2023-2025 William Paterson University welcomes its 2023-2025 class of pre- and post-doctoral fellows. This teaching fellowship program selects candidates from historically underrepresented backgrounds who bring multiple forms of scholarship to William Paterson University and supports their development as exceptional instructors in their fields. This program aims to advance faculty diversity at the university by engaging highly-qualified advanced standing graduate students or recent degree earners of diverse backgrounds in the teaching, scholarship, service and mentoring that will equip them with the skills and competencies for success as tenure-track faculty members. Nishikant Satam (Chemistry) Nishikant Satam previously served as an NIH Postdoctoral Scholar at Northeastern University where his research focused on medicinal chemistry and anticancer agents. Nishikant earned his B.S. in Chemistry from V.G. Vaze College, Mumbai University, his Masters in Organic Chemistry program at S.P College at Pune University, and his Ph.D. in 2019 from the Indian Institute of Technology—Bombay. His graduate research focused on novel synthetic methodologies for the generation of novel hetero- and carbo-cycles scaffolds for medicinal chemistry. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and serves as a Reviewer for the American Chemical Society (ACS) and (Royal Society of Chemistry) RSC journals. While at William Paterson University, Dr. Satam will be researching novel synthetic methodologies for the efficient formation of small molecules for medicinal chemistry, especially Neglected Tropical Diseases. The research focuses on developing sustainable approaches or modern synthetic tools such as electrochemistry and photochemistry to provide unique access to different scaffolds of bioactive molecules. He plans to use these methods to prepare natural products for the medicinal chemistry and SAR study. Latifa Sebti (Special Education) Latifa Sebti is a licensed early childhood teacher with a master’s degree in education from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, a master's degree in finance and accounting from INTEC in France, and a bachelor's in business administration from ISCAE in Morocco. She has served as an adjunct instructor, professor in residence, and research coordinator at Rowan University and brings teaching experience in both higher education and elementary and secondary schools in the US and in Morocco. Latifa is an AACTE Holmes Scholar and received a Holmes Scholar Dissertation Award for her study of teachers’ critical consciousness, self-efficacy, and agency in inclusive practices. Her research interest is focused on questioning educational policies and practices that sustain the reproduction of systems of racism and ableism, as well as advocating for equitable educational opportunities for students with disabilities. A native Arabic speaker, Latifa is also fluent in English and French. Jameelah R. Wright (Teacher Education) Jameelah R. Wright is a graduate of Douglass College at Rutgers University and is currently a doctoral candidate in the Teacher Education and Teacher Development (TETD) program at Montclair State University. She is NJ certified as a Teacher of P-3, Teacher of K-6, Teacher of Reading, Reading Specialist, and Supervisor. Jameelah brings many years of experience as a teacher, mentor, and administrator at the early childhood level. Her scholarship includes work on transformational classrooms, promoting parental/family involvement, and the experiences of Black women early childhood educators. Her research interests include Black Childhood/Girlhood Studies, the Professionalization of the Early Childhood Workforce, and Equity in Gifted Education. In 2021, Jameelah was awarded Teacher of the Year by the New Jersey Association for the Education of Young Children (NJAEYC) and was recognized as a Child Care Hero by the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA) in 2022. Most recently, she received the 2023 National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE) Foundation Early Childhood Doctoral Student Research Grant.
