Confirmed Panelists

Day 1 (January 20th). Saying I'm Not Ok: Wellness and Wellbeing in the Academic/Research Workplace

Siobhan Braybrook (she/her/hers) University of California - Los Angeles Dr. Siobhan Braybrook is a lifelong plant biologist with first-gen college experience, raised to appreciate the beauty of plants by a horticulturist father and artist mother. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology and part of the Plant & Algal Mechanics Lab at UCLA. She has studied around the world in Canada, Switzerland, and England. Her main research interest is pattern formation in plants and algae, from sunflower patterning to epidermal cell shape.Together with her lab at UCLA, she works to create an environment where characteristics of oppressive cultures and structures are resisted; this work centers on knowing, caring, joy, and accountability. Twitter: @BraybrookSA	Leila Durr (she/her/hers) AdventHealth West Florida Division Dr. Leila Durr currently works as the Director of Physician Well-Being at AdventHealth West Florida Division. She promotes wellness, self-care, and resilience, and provides support and clinical services to physicians and advanced-practice providers. She is committed to the creation of safe places for physicians to be heard and understood, to helping them reconnect with the meaning in their work, to connecting them more effectively with their colleagues, and to finding ways to improve the quality of their personal and professional lives. Dr. Durr is a licensed psychologist and received her doctoral training in Counseling Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has extensive experience providing culturally-sensitive counseling, supervision, and educational programming focused on mental health and wellness. Dr. Durr is fluent in Spanish and Arabic and brings a global perspective and strong commitment to diversity and inclusion in all of her work and professional endeavors. LinkedIn: leila-durr-69a2251
Nichole Guillory (she/her/hers) WellAcademic Dr. Nichole Guillory is a Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, and African and African Diaspora Studies, at Kennesaw State University. Her research lies at the intersections of race and gender and focuses on Black mothering as liberatory praxis. She is a co-editor of two books entitled Race, gender, and curriculum theorizing: Working in womanish ways (Rowman & Littlefield) and Black women theorizing curriculum studies in colour and curves (Routledge). As a Black feminist scholar and a mom who often juggles life and work responsibilities, Dr. Guillory has spent the past 16+ years in academia trying to create humanizing environments for faculty of color colleagues whose work focuses on social justice. For the last two years, she has offered coaching support to faculty of color through WellAcademic and written a blog Mothering in Color about her experiences as a Black mother-scholar. As a coach, she has helped faculty of color learn how to align their research, teaching, and service with their values as well as prioritize their own well-being and happiness in the academy. Twitter: @GuilloryNichole	Jennifer Nemhauser (she/her/hers) University of Washington Dr. Jennifer Nemhauser is a Professor of Biology at the University of Washington and an HHMI Faculty Scholar. Since her arrival in Seattle, she has studied plant hormones, signaling networks and development in Arabidopsis, along with synthetic biology and maize research. Jennifer's doctoral research on auxin and flower development at UC Berkeley with Dr. Pat Zambryski was followed by postdoctoral work on hormone-hormone and hormone-light interactions with Dr. Joanne Chory at the Salk Institute. As a scientist and faculty member, Jennifer pursues every opportunity to disrupt structural inequities in academic science including systemic racism. She recently served as the Chair of her department's Graduate and Postdoc Committee that enacted equity-centered practices. She also co-founded the DiversifyPlantSci database and was a founding supporter of the Front & Center Network, as part of her service as an elected member of the North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee (NAASC). She currently represents NAASC on the Steering Committee of an NSF-funded Research Coordination Network (which also includes the MGC) that aims to "seed and cultivate cultural change (in plant sciences) towards an inclusive, equitable, scientific future." During a recent sabbatical, Jennifer recorded a series of reflections on mentorship and lab culture collectively titled Srsly?Srsly. Jennifer is white, queer and recently disabled with Long Covid. She uses therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction and peer coaching to cope with job-related threats to her mental health. Instagram: @nemhauserlab_unofficial

Day 2 (January 21st). Equity and Inclusion in the Scientific Community

Sterling Field (he/him/his) Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford Dr. Sterling Field is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Dr. Sue Rhee at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University, investigating phase-separated organelles in plants. Dr. Field earned his PhD at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in Biochemistry & Cellular and Molecular Biology. His main research interest is investigating how plants survive abiotic stress through changes in RNA regulation. His work outside the lab focuses on understanding how scientists survive in stressful environments and what can be done to help them thrive. Dr. Field leads the LGBTQ+ Plant Scientist Network which advocates for LGBTQ+ visibility and support in STEM, as well as for support for groups excluded from STEM. His leadership and experience includes anti-bias training, coordinating outreach between LGBTQ+ rights advocacy organizations, facilitating intergroup dialogue, and working with youth empowerment and public outreach. His goal is to provide a podium for people to share their experiences and create space for dialogue on important issues such as race, gender, sex, or socioeconomic status, thereby helping the scientific community to listen and learn from these discussions and ultimately evolve into active allies for these communities. Twitter: @sterling_knox3 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sterling-field-16a48b60	Gustavo Macintosh (he/him/his) Iowa State University Dr. Gustavo MacIntosh obtained his Biology BS/MS degree from Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1993, and his Biochemistry PhD degree from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1997. He was a Postdoctoral Associate at the DOE-Plant-Research Laboratory at Michigan State University (1997-2001) and a Research Scientist at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware (2002-2003). He joined the faculty of Iowa State University in 2003, where he is currently a Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Professor of Biochemistry in the Roy J. Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology. His laboratory investigates plant-insect interactions and the RNA salvage pathway that maintains nucleotide homeostasis in eukaryotes. Dr. MacIntosh has actively promoted equity and inclusion in STEM, both at his university and in the plant science community. He founded and advises the SACNAS ISU chapter, fostering the success of Chicano/Hispanic and Native American scientists. He works with committees and programs committed to increasing the success of marginalized students at ISU. He was a member of the EDI committees in the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) and in the Genetics Society of America, currently serves as president-elect of ASPB, and recently co-authored a letter on EDI in professional societies (Madzima and MacIntosh, The Plant Cell, 33(10):3189-3193). Twitter: @DGusmac
Sandra Marcu (she/her/hers) Iowa State University Dr. Ruxandra (Sandra) Marcu serves as the Director of the Margaret Sloss Center for Women and Gender Equity at Iowa State University and is a member of the board of directors of the ACLU of Iowa. Prior to 2018, Dr. Marcu served as faculty and academic adviser in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at ISU. Her current work centers feminist and queer movements in the US and Eastern Europe, with research interests in social uprisings, queer liberation movements, feminist movements, and immigration narratives. She uses visual culture, film, memorials, and archival content as entry into these topics. Dr. Marcu provides workshops on creating inclusive classrooms and work spaces with a lens on gender, race, ability, and immigration status. Past speaking engagements have included support for DACA and undocumented students, understanding gender diversity and creating gender inclusive spaces, closing the gender wage gap, recognizing and overcoming imposter syndrome, and supporting women in leadership. Dr. Marcu is originally from Romania and now lives with her partner and kids in Ames, Iowa. Twitter: @sandra_marcu LinkedIn: rvmarcu	Chelsea Specht (she/her/hers) Cornell University Dr. Chelsea Specht is the Barbara McClintock Professor of Plant Biology and the inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. She is a faculty member in Plant Biology and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, a faculty fellow of the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, a member of the L.H. Bailey Hortorium, and an affiliate of the Cornell University Botanical Diversity Collections. Dr. Specht focuses on plant diversity and the evolution of plant form and function, supported by NSF and training graduate students postdocs, all of whom engage in innovative research while demonstrating inclusive excellence through their lived experiences and commitments to fostering a diverse and inclusive academia. Before joining the Cornell faculty in 2017, Dr. Specht served at UC Berkeley as a Faculty Equity Advisor for the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology and as Chair of the Academic Senate Committee on Diversity, Equity and Campus Climate. She was also part of the University of California-wide task force on Transforming Graduate Admissions funded by the Mellon Foundation. Her work emphasizes the role of scientific societies as agents of change, the importance of relational versus transactional approaches in DEI work, and the structural and organizational revolutions required to build an anti-racist and accessibility-oriented culture in STEM.