t r i s e e d Consultants

Sekazi K. Mtingwa

Prinicipal Partner

Principal Partner of TriSEEDConsultants and formerly Visiting Professor of Physics at Harvard University and MIT, Senior Physicist Consultant to Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics at North Carolina A&T State University. Dr. Mtingwa has made many major contributions to accelerator, nuclear and high energy physics over the past 30+ years. The theory of intrabeam scattering that he developed with Dr. James Bjorken sets the limitation on the performance of practically all modern intense particle accelerators and was crucial in many scientific discoveries, such as the top quark at Fermilab and long-sought Higgs particle at CERN. For their work, they shared with Anton Piwinski of Germany the 2017 American Physical Society’s Robert R. Wilson Prize for Outstanding Achievement in the Physics of Particle Accelerators. He has been a national leader in promoting nuclear science and engineering education for which he received the American Nuclear Society’s 2015 Distinguished Service Award and has served for many years as advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy's nuclear energy R&D program. He is President of INCREASE, which is a consortium of Minority-Serving Institutions, and has made many important contributions to science and technology development in Africa, including being a co-founder and current advisor to the African Laser Centre, a former board member of the Saltpond Redevelopment Institute, co-author of the Strategic Plan submitted to the government of South Africa on behalf of its synchrotron science community, co-author of the design for the new Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere University of Agriculture and Technology in Tanzania, and member of the founding Steering Committee of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)-Ghana. In other international work, he serves as Chair of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics C13 Commission on Physics for Development and Chair of the Executive Committee of the Light Sources for Africa, the Americas, Asia and Middle East Project (LAAAMP), which enhances advanced light source science in those regions.

W. Estella Johnson

Managing Prinicipal Partner

Johnson is the Managing Partner of the Triangle Science, Education & Economic Development LLC, (TRISEED). She is also the former Director of Economic Development in the Economic Development Division (EDD) of the Community Development Department for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts. As Director, she was responsible for a wide range of economic development activities designed to meet the needs of a diversified and thriving urban economy. The Division's emphasis included programs such as commercial district revitalization, entrepreneurial development and the promotion and preservation a strong employment base.

Prior to joining the City of Cambridge, Ms. Johnson spent nine years as President and CEO of the Gate City Community Development Corporation of Greensboro, NC. Previously, she served as Assistant Commissioner of Economic Development for the City of Chicago, a senior management analyst for Continental Illinois National Bank and as an academic and admissions counselor for the University of Rochester.

Appointed by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to the Board of MassDevelopment, she currently serves as a Board Member of Connecticut College. She has been instrumental in starting numerous organizations, and has served as a Board Member of the Union Social Action Foundation, and the Greensboro Women's Resource Center. Other awards and recognitions include the Leadership Award from the Harvard Square Business Association and the Small Business Advocate of the Year from the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and the Golden Eagle Award by Dudley Products.

Estella received a B.A. in social psychology from Connecticut College and a Master of Public Administration from American University.