Sharlene is responsible for overseeing the Broader Impacts aims of the STC for Quantitative Cell Biology. She serves on the Executive Committee and chairs the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) committee. She will manage outreach, diversity, and professional development programs for the center, including the annual Summer School in Quantitative Cell Biology, the Villa-Cisse Scholars Program, the Summer Sabbatical, and STC-QCB CARES Program.
She received her B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the UC Santa Cruz and her Ph.D. in Biophysics and Quantitative Biology from Illinois. She is currently a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Physics Department at Illinois, where she oversees the development of courses in biological physics to be ported to other universities with help of the QCB, as well as many diversity and public engagement initiatives.