Piyush Mehta is an assistant professor of aerospace engineering and space systems at the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University. He’s an expert in astrodynamics, machine learning and space weather — conditions caused by solar winds, explosions on the sun’s surface, and other solar phenomena.

Jessica Ware is an entomologist and associate curator in invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History, where she is also an assistant professor at the Richard Gilder Graduate School. She is the president of the Worldwide Dragonfly Association and vice president of the Entomological Society of America.

Kishana Taylor is a postdoctoral researcher of virology at Carnegie Mellon University and the co-founder and president of the Black Microbiologists Association. Her work looks at the role of two types of white blood cells — monocytes and macrophages — in the development of severe COVID-19.

Sarah Aarons is an earth scientist and assistant professor in the Geosciences Research Division of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. She can speak about the effects of global climate change, the patterns of weather throughout history, and decolonizing science.

Jason Hong is a professor at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, where he is part of the Human Computer Interaction Institute.

Philip Higuera is an associate professor in the Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences at the University of Montana, where he leads the PaleoEcology and Fire Ecology Lab.

Tony G. Reames is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, where he directs the Urban Energy Justice Lab. He’s an expert in energy justice and can provide insight into the racial and economic disparities surrounding access to energy in the United States.

Ernesto Alvarado is a research associate professor of wildland fire sciences in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington. He’s an expert on fire ecology and management, and can provide insight on the role climate change plays in wildfires and what we should do to better manage forests.

Angela Anandappa is the founding executive director of the nonprofit Alliance for Advanced Sanitation, an organization focused on improving food safety.  Anandappa has researched and worked in food industry safety and genomics for over 20 years.

Aditi Pai is a professor of biology and co-director of the Teaching Resource and Research Center at Spelman College. She is an expert on genealogy and evolutionary biology, focusing on sexual selection. Pai piloted Spelman’s Genetic and Genealogy Program, where students track their genes, their history, and their relatedness to other humans in the world.

Moriba Jah is an associate professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at the University of Texas, Austin.

César A. Hidalgo leads the Collective Learning group at the MIT Media Lab and is an associate professor of media arts and sciences at MIT. He is an expert on data visualization, physics, and economics. Hidalgo’s work focuses on understanding how teams, organizations, cities and nations learn.

Kiho Kim is a professor of environmental science at American University. His work focuses on how environmental drivers, such as climate change and nutrient pollution, impact coastal ecosystem health.  At the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Kim has examined the origins and spreading of diseases.

Ada Monzón is the WAPA-TV chief meteorologist for Noticentro al Amanecer, Univision Radio (WKAQ 580 am) and the Noticel digital platform. She is the first woman in Puerto Rico to be named a fellow of the American Meteorological Society. Additionally, she is the founder and president of EcoExploratorio: Science Museum of Puerto Rico.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an assistant professor of physics and a core faculty member in women’s studies at the University of New Hampshire. She is a particle physicist and cosmologist driven by a desire to understand the origin of spacetime and the particles that populate it.

Jay Shendure is a professor of genome sciences at the University of Washington. His lab investigates the genetic basis of human disease and develops new technologies for genetics, genomics and molecular biology, largely using next-generation DNA sequencing.

Nicole Hernandez Hammer is the environmental scientist at UPROSE. Her work focuses on the mobilization of the Latino community to better understand and address climate change, and she speaks across the country on climate change, environmental justice issues, and her experiences as a Guatemalan immigrant.

Gurtina Besla is an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. She is a theoretical astrophysicist who focuses on formation and evolution of low-mass dwarf galaxies, which are the most common class of galaxies in the universe.

Paloma Vargas is an assistant professor of biology, director of Hispanic-Serving Institute Initiatives and co-director of ALLIES in STEM at California Lutheran University. She is an expert in microbiology and host-parasite relationships.

Erika Zavaleta is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She directs the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program and the CAMINO (Center to Advance Mentored, Inquiry-based Opportunities) at UCSC. In 2021, she was appointed by the governor to the California Fish and Game Commission.

Esmeralda Casas-Silva is a scientific program manager at the National Cancer Institute, where she leads the Cancer Moonshot Biobank project. Her research focuses on gene expression and cancer biology, specifically the genetic drivers of cancer. She blogs at Vulgar Science. Expertise: Biomedical science, oncology, human genetic networks Location: Washington, D.C. Email: mail@emicasas.com | emi.casas-silva@nih.

Mariel Vazquez is a professor of mathematics and of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of California, Davis. She is faculty director of the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science. Vazquez’s research lies at the intersection of mathematics, polymer physics and molecular biology.

Stephon Alexander is a musician and professor of physics and astronomy at Brown University. Born in Trinidad, Alexander is a theoretical physicist, jazz saxophonist and author specializing in the interface between cosmology, particle physics and quantum gravity.

Kristala L. Jones Prather is Arthur D. Little Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on the design and assembly of recombinant microorganisms for the production of small molecules, with additional efforts in novel bioprocess design approaches.

Pearl Chiu is an associate professor at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, the department of psychology and the department of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Virginia Tech University. She specializes in the emerging field of computational psychiatry.

Dr. Wendy Chung is a clinical and molecular geneticist and the Kennedy Family Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University. Her work is in human genetic research, looking at diseases such as breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, congenital heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, inherited arrhythmias, obesity, diabetes and autism, among others.

Anthony Brickhouse is an associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s department of applied aviation sciences. He is an expert in aviation and aerospace accidents and safety. Brickhouse has researched flight operational quality assurance, airport ground safety, the use of flight recorders in accident investigations, and the mental health aspects of accident investigation.

Nalini Nadkarni is a professor of biology at the University of Utah. Her forest ecology research focuses on how biodiversity, forests and the stability of world climate interact, with an emphasis on the forest canopy. Her field sites are in Monteverde, Costa Rica, and on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.

Ainissa Ramirez is a science evangelist. Her latest book is The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another, which looks at eight inventions and how they shaped human experience. She also wrote Save Our Science: How to Inspire a New Generation of Scientists and co-authored Newton’s Football: The Science Behind America’s Game.

Nita Farahany is the Robinson O. Everett Professor of Law at Duke University, the founding director of Duke Science & Society and principal investigator of SLAP Lab. Farahany is an expert on the intersection of science and ethics.

Freeman Hrabowski has been president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, since 1992. In 2012 President Obama named him to chair the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans, and his leadership has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report, Time and The Washington Post.

Amir Muhsin Abo-Shaeer is an American teacher and mechanical engineer. In 2001, during his first year of teaching, he established the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy (DPEA) on the Dos Pueblos High School campus. In addition to being the director of the DPEA, he teaches physics, engineering, robotics, machining and manufacturing.

Danielle Lee is an assistant professor of biology at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and a self-described hip-hop maven and outreach scientist who writes about urban ecology and biology.

Lekelia “Kiki” Jenkins is a senior sustainability scientist and associate professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University.