By Teni Agbesanwa, MS-CC Program Coordinator
We’re pleased to introduce you to three of the innovative mentors, who helped organize – and will be supporting – the MS-CC Student Hackathon. These mentors bring significant technical expertise to this year’s MS-CC Student Hackathon, which is part of the student programming at the 2025 MS-CC Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN, later this month.
The hackathon will take place on May 29 at Meharry Medical College, where students will collaborate to create an innovative household carbon footprint calculator. This project aims to enhance their technical skills while also encouraging greater awareness of the environmental impact of everyday actions.
Our mentors from the Environmental Data Science Innovation & Inclusion Lab (ESIIL) and The Black Codes will be there to guide students as they work. Read on to learn more about their work and what inspires them.
Nathan Quarderer is the education director at Earth Lab and ESIIL, both part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nathan holds a PhD in teaching and learning with an emphasis in science education. He leads efforts to teach and learn environmental data science through open educational resources, faculty training, and national initiatives like the Earth Data Science Corps (EDSC) and ESIIL Stars. Nathan’s work focuses on creating inclusive, modular pathways into data-intensive science with a strong emphasis on supporting learners and educators at Minority-Serving Institutions, including Tribal Colleges and Universities.
Glenn Dixon is the co-founder and president of The Black Codes, an organization dedicated to supporting and empowering software engineers. His journey into software for emerging music artists in Nashville. What began as a creative endeavor soon evolved into development. In 2015, a passion project began, building a blog site to spotlight a new career in software development—and ultimately, a commitment to building community and opportunity for others in the tech space.
Calvin Foster is a software engineer and IT professional with expertise in Linux administration, cloud infrastructure, and system optimization.. As the co-founder and president of The Black Codes, he has built a tech community of 500+ members, fostering mentorship, networking, and collaboration. Calvin has experience leading large-scale IT projects, including migrating enterprise systems and developing data-driven solutions. Passionate about problem-solving and innovation, he continuously seeks to improve technology workflows. He is also committed to mentoring the next generation of technologists and driving positive change in the tech industry.
We cannot thank these mentors enough for their incredible support in organizing the Hackathon. To learn more about the MS-CC’s ongoing community efforts, visit https://ms-cc.org/get-involved.