Meet the Mapping Freedom 2025 Team

Co-Principal Investigator
Elizabeth La Beaud is the Interim Head of Library Technology for the University of Southern Mississippi and the Interim Director of the Mississippi Digital Library.
She holds a MLIS, a certificate in Archives and Special Collections, the Digital Archives Specialist certificate from the Society of American Archivists, and is a Library of Congress trained Digital Preservation Topical Trainer. She served on the National Digital Stewardship Alliance’s (NDSA) Levels of Preservation Revision Subgroup and the Levels of Preservation Implementation Subgroup. Elizabeth specializes in digital preservation, project planning and implementation, and copyright as it pertains to digital collections.

Co-Principal Investigator
A Mississippi native, Dr. Aleise McGowan is an Assistant Professor for Cybersecurity & Information Technology in USM’s School of Computing Science and Engineering.
McGowan received her Ph.D. in computing from the University of South Alabama, an M.S. in Management Information Systems with a Dual Concentration in IT Management and Information Security from University of Alabama at Birmingham, and her B.S. in Management Information Systems from USM. Her research includes information security, data mining, machine learning, consumer engagement, and persuasive technology.
In addition to over two decades of information technology work experience, she is active as an advisor and mentor. McGowan is the co-founder of Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Northern Alabama Affiliate, treasurer of WiCyS Global’s Neurodiversity Affiliate, Assistant Chief Learning Officer for Black Girls Hack, and is active in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. While at USM, she serves as USM’s WiCyS student chapter’s faculty advisor, works with the Mississippi Alliance of the National Center for Women and Information Technology’s Aspirations in Computing program, and performs as a research mentor to students in the Louis Stokes Mississippi Alliance for Minority Participation (LSMAMP).
Outside of work, McGowan enjoys spending time cooking, reading, and enhancing her red teaming skills. She and her husband have two children and a dog named Cooper.

Personnel
Kayla Stan, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Geography in USM’s School of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, transplanted straight from Canada.
Stan received her MSc from the University of Alberta, and her Ph.D. jointly between the University of Alberta in Canada and the Ludiwg-Maximilians-Universitat in Munich. Her research interest includes human-environment dynamics and environmental economics, with a focus on geospatial and GIS technology. More recently, she has begun to work on bringing historical and modern data to life online to communicate with the public.
Outside of research, she is an avid woodworker, hiker, new scuba diver, and just generally enjoys getting lost.

Program Manager
Maeve Losen works as the manager for Southern Miss’s Center for Digital Humanities and for the newly established Mississippi Digital Hub at USM. She graduated from USM in 2022 with a Dual Master of Arts in History & Anthropology, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Public History. Her research interests include 20th century U.S. history, cultural anthropology, and public humanities.
A Richmond, Virginia native, she loves to cook, read, and get outside as much as possible. She and her fiancé have three rescue boy cats: a silly orange guy named Red, a handsome orange tuxedo called Kennedy (Ken for short), and Eugene (Gene or Genie for short), a recent black-and-white tuxedo addition.

Program Coordinator
Darcie Conrad is the Program Coordinator for the NSF REU and the Assistant to the Director for the School of Humanities.
She graduated from USM with a Bachelor's degree in Social Work. After a brief stint working in the private sector she returned to USM to work for the South Mississippi Writing Project and has expanded to grants administration for other projects like the World Class Teaching Program and the Civil War Governor's of Mississippi project.
She enjoys spending her free time with her husband and two children. They like to travel and make a point to visit at least one new place a year.