Prof. Taviare Hawkins is currently a Professor of Physics and Chair of the Math and Sciences Division at St. Catherine University. Prior, she was chair and professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse (UWL). UWL grants the most undergraduate degrees in physics from a primarily undergraduate institution. Before that, she completed her postdoc at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in an experimental biophysics' lab. She attended graduate school at Syracuse University in New York, where she completed two MS degrees (in Computer Science and Physics) and a Ph.D. in Physics. She is an alumna of the University of Iowa, receiving her BS in Physics and minoring in African American Studies. 

While at UWL, Prof. Hawkins ran a productive biophysics research laboratory and trained over 50 undergraduates in research. About half have gone on to graduate school. Her research involves working on problems at the intersection of physics, mathematics, engineering, biology, and chemistry. Dr. Hawkins is also very involved in activities that increase the number of women and other underrepresented groups in physics and astronomy, promote the sciences, and improve science students' retention and graduation rates. She uses her voice at the national and international levels to serve several professional societies. Dr. Hawkins is vice-chair elect on the American Physical Society's (APS) Forum on Outreach and Engaging the Public and is an outgoing member-at-large on the Division of Biology executive committee. She is a member of the Biophysical Society (BPS) nominations committee and serves as an elected counselor on the Council on Undergraduate Research's Physics and Astronomy Division (CURPA).