Brady Brick, Marie-Line Lubin and Natasha McCombs

Simons STEM Scholars Program
Start Dates:  October 6, 2022, January 3, 2023, and January 28 , 2023 (respectively)

As soon as you step into the Simons STEM Scholars’ lounge on the second floor of the Heavy Engineering building, you’ll feel the same exhilaration as a bright-eyed high school senior ready to take that leap of faith into the realm of higher education. The spacious room floods with natural light, illuminating decorative towers made of red and white balloons, streamers hanging from the ceiling, and a small plush Wolfie wearing a Stony Brook shirt – the selection process for our first class of Simons STEM Scholars couldn’t have come with a better ambiance. [See the SBU News story here.]

Executive Director Erwin Cabrera and his warmhearted team of colleagues – better described as a family – are responsible for the difficult task of selecting 30 participants from a pool of roughly 800 high-achieving applicants. “When the students come here, they feel like each of us is able to see them for who they are,” Erwin says. “We call them by their preferred names, we understand their dreams, and we care about connecting with them on a personal level.”

Erwin, who decidedly compares his staff to the Avengers, could not be happier with the team of heroes he’s assembled – Brady Brick, Marie-Line Lubin and Natasha McCombs.

Brady Brick
Recruitment, Special Events and Family Outreach Coordinator

To establish the ideal inaugural class of Simons STEM Scholars, Erwin and his team must get to know the human beings behind the resumes, essays and test scores. Brady Brick knows who every potential member is before they even set foot on campus for an interview.

“The big mantra of our program is always looking for the who, not the what,” he says. “It’s great if you have a 1500 on your SATs, it’s great if you have a 100 GPA, but it goes deeper than what you've done in the classroom – we care far more about you as an individual and what you've accomplished.”

Before he joined the Simons STEM Program faculty, Brady spent three months as an academic success coach for Stony Brook’s football team. He has also served as an academic assistant at Portland State Athletics and as a substitute teacher at Battle Ground Public Schools in Washington State.

“I love that this job is all about encouraging people to fulfill their greatest potential,” he says, adding that working with special populations was the highlight of his previous roles. “I get to seek out students who have that drive and desire for greatness, then match them with the programs available to help them achieve it.”

Brady is a Sherlock in his own right – tracking down students poised to succeed in STEM fields who might get overlooked in the general admissions process – and presenting opportunities they might not otherwise receive.

“My best case scenario for the students we’re bringing in is that when they get to the end of their journeys, they say ‘man, this is what I wanted to do, and I’m glad I had people nudge me in the right direction based on what I love,’” he says. 

When it comes to his personal life, Brady is an avid “sneakerhead” who always impresses his coworkers with his fresh kicks. You’ll usually find him exploring Long Island with his wife, Natalie. The couple moved here from Portland, Oregon in June 2022 when they both started working at Stony Brook. Natalie is a pediatric dental resident at the hospital.

“We had never even been to New York before,” Brady says, “but it didn’t take long at all for Stony Brook to feel like home.”

Marie-Line Lubin
Executive Assistant

Marie-Line Lubin has an endearing sense of humor that immediately draws you in. She puts her heart and soul into her work, recalling her time as an administrative assistant to five doctors in CitiMed’s radiology department during the early 2000s.

“A lot of people were intimidated by some of the doctors – one was chief of the department – but I opened up to them and they loved me,” she says. “They even went to my daughter’s sweet 16!” 

Before she came to Stony Brook in early January, Marie-Line was executive assistant to the vice president of HR at the corporate office of The Bristal Assisted Living. A friend who used to work with her, who is now a senior recruiter at Stony Brook, invited her to apply for the Simons STEM executive assistant position.

“When I found out what the whole program was about, I was like ‘oh my God, this is perfect,’” she says. “And the fact that Dr. Cabrera himself went through the Meyerhoff Program we're modeling it after – you can’t go wrong.”

Marie-Line is equally grateful to work with the rest of their team. They all share Erwin’s vision for how the program will flourish at Stony Brook.

“The staff makes such a difference,” Marie-Line says. “Yesterday I was out of the office, and I kind of missed it. You feel like you’re coming to your second home.”

Ever since she started, she’s worked tirelessly to ensure that her second home reflects the warmth of the people who make it one. Now, thanks chiefly to her, the Simons STEM office is fully supplied, well organized and impeccably decorated. She and her colleagues are eager to welcome their first cohort of scholars.

“I’m excited to get to know them and watch them grow from high school seniors to undergraduates and beyond,” she says. “I told my kids to get ready for hundreds more to join the family!”

Fluent in four languages and family-oriented, Marie-Line is a mother of five who recently graduated to grandmotherhood with the birth of her first grandchild, Ruby, in September 2021.

“What I bring to Stony Brook is love and care and lots of patience,” she says. “Whether a student needs advice, encouragement or just someone to talk to, I’m going to be there – ready to listen and prepared to help however I can.”

Natasha McCombs
Academic Advisor and Summer Bridge Coordinator

Natasha McCombs has been hard at work since the moment she arrived for her first day on the job. As Summer Bridge Coordinator, she’s in charge of the six-week program that prepares Simons STEM Scholars for their collegiate careers.

“I was already juggling meetings on my first day,” she says. “Contacting vendors and laboratories who will be involved in the Summer Bridge Program, calling people from the Meyerhoff staff to help optimize the schedule, checking in with my teammates to offer support – I really just dove right in.” 

Natasha instantly clicked with her colleagues. Even though she and Marie-Line came aboard more recently than Erwin and Brady, you’d think the four of them have been friends for years. They laugh together, they eat lunch together, and they take daily walks around campus together.

“I know we’ve all said it, but having such a strong team with all of these great personalities – that’s the best part of the job,” Natasha says. “I just met a bunch of the students on selection weekend and, not gonna lie, some of them made me cry, so I know they’re going to be a close second. But without this team, we couldn't bring them here.”

Her goal for the Summer Bridge Program is to give students a once-in-a-lifetime experience – one that helps them grow and gets them excited for what the future holds.

“Sometimes I stop and smile about the fact that I have a budget to make students happy,” Natasha says. “So I’m super excited for Summer Bridge, but I’m also excited for the first day of school, which I’ve loved since I was little. Seeing those familiar faces and building on those existing relationships will be really nice.”

Maintaining a healthy mind and body is important to Natasha, who leads an active lifestyle and is just as comfortable going on a solo adventure as she is having brunch with her friends. Her passion for health and wellness makes her all the more prepared to mentor busy college students who might need help learning how to de-stress.

Natasha specialized in public relations when she was an undergrad at Temple University and went on to earn a master's degree in higher education and student affairs at NYU. From there, she came straight to Stony Brook. Her mother, Jennette Allen McCombs, attended Stony Brook as a postgrad and subsequently worked here – so really, Natasha has been part of the Stony Brook community since she was 10 years old.

“It's full circle for me to come back as a staff member and collaborate with departments that I kind of volunteered at and also was the annoying little kid that ran around,” she says with a laugh.

Whether it’s the first day of school or the Friday before a break, Natasha will approach it with the same mentality – “I show up to a space and I bring my whole self,” she says. “I think that’s super important, especially in higher education. And it’s a philosophy all of us share here.”