Dr. Kristina Henry Collins is the core faculty of Talent Development at Texas State University, San Marcos. She is a Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) Institute Faculty Research Fellow, currently serving as the NASA STEM Engagement Research Fellow and HBCU Strategic Projects Specialist. Her duties and responsibilities include, but not limited to, recruitment, development and retention of underrepresented faculty and students in STEM. Initially funded in part by NSF, she is the special research personnel and coordinator for Mentoring Matters (https://mentoringmatters.wp.txstate.edu), a vertical STEM mentoring program designed to sustain and build capacity for research and development for underrepresented faculty and students in STEM. Her current research includes a phenomenological study of women in science and engineering across the lifespan at various stages in the STEM pipeline.

Dr. Collins earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at The University of Georgia, where she also holds an Ed.S. degree and certification in Gifted and Creative Education. Dr. Collins holds a M.S.Ed. degree in mathematics from Jacksonville State University, and a B.S. degree in Engineering from The University of Alabama with a specialization and diploma in Cryptology and Electronic Surveillance certified by the United States Navy and six (6) years of military service. Dr. Collins has over 25 years of teaching, leadership, and formal mentoring experience in secondary, post-secondary, and military-based education. Dr. Collins' research foci include social, emotional, and cultural (SEC) contexts of identity and talent development, especially in the field of STEM and for underrepresented students in STEM. She introduced the Black Student STEM Identity model, which is referenced and used as a framework in many STEM talent development programs. Dr. Collins expertise in multicultural gifted education, mentoring across the lifespan, and culturally-responsive STEM curriculum design affords her opportunity to engage professionals through graduate course instruction, professional development training and keynote presentations. Dr. Collins serves as the 2020-2021 President for Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted, Inc. (SENG), one of the leading international, advocacy organizations for gifted and talented education.

Select scholarly articles include: Confronting Color-Blind STEM Talent Development: Toward a Contextual Model for Black Student STEM Identity https://doi.org/10.1177/1932202X18757958 Undergraduate Research Experiences: Mentoring, Awareness, and Perceptions—A Case study at a Hispanic-Serving Institution https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-018-0105-8