Isabel Cardenas-Navia is the director of emerging workforce programs at BHEF, where she develops and manages innovative partnerships between industry and postsecondary institutions to increase persistence to degree of STEM students, particularly women and minorities, and align undergraduate STEM education with workforce needs. Dr. Cardenas-Navia has consulted for the U.S. Navy where she had the responsibility to develop, implement, manage, evaluate, and report on activities and programs that strengthen and support the capabilities of non-profits, schools, and postsecondary institutions to participate in Naval STEM education programs and develop the next generation of Naval scientists and engineers. She served as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Human Genome Research Institute, and she received her PhD in biomedical engineering from Duke University and B.S. in mechanical engineering from Yale University.