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 San Diego who can speak about the effects of global climate change, the patterns of weather throughout history and decolonizing science. Decolonization efforts are designed to counteract the overrepresentation and dominance of white European values and ideas in numerous disciplines.

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.

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 a climate scientist and expert on sea levels. She works for the Union of Concerned Scientists as their Southeast Climate Advocate. Her work focuses on the mobilization of the Latino community to better understand and address climate change.

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 an expert in Environmental Science. She is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research concentrates on conservation, biodiversity, and climate change. Erika Zavaleta serves on the boards of EcoAdapt, The Tropical Forest Group, and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Climate Adaptation Fund.

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. Contact Information: Email: mail@emicasas.com | emi.casas-silva@nih.

Mariel Vazquez is a professor of Microbiology, Mathematics, and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Davis. She is an expert on the topology of DNA, or how DNA strands are looped and knotted. She uses mathematical tools to understand it’s tangled structure. Vazquez is the 2012 recipient of the U.S.

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 teaches at the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech and in the Virginia Tech Carilion Institute in Roanoke, VA. Dr. Chiu’s research team studies the neuroscience of how, when, and why humans make and change their decisions. Using functional neuroimaging, behavioral tasks, and quantitative analytic methods, Dr.

Wendy Chung, M.D., Ph.D. teaches and directs the clinical genetics program at Columbia University. She is a clinical and molecular geneticist who performs human genetic research. Her current research focuses on the genetics of many types of diseases including breast cancer, birth defects, heart disease, autism, rare and undiagnosed disorders. Dr.

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.

Adapted from AinissaRamirez.com: Ainissa Ramirez is a science evangelist who is passionate about getting the general public excited about science. She co-authored (with Allen John) Newton’s Football: The Science Behind America’s Game and authored Save Our Science: How to Inspire a New Generation of Scientists.

Nita Farahany is the Robinson O. Everett Professor of Law at Duke University, the founding firector 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 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.