Morgan is a first-year graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin studying geological sciences. Currently, they are working on geomorphology, specifically lithologic controls on bedrock rivers on Earth and Mars. Their interest in sciences was sparked in 4th grade, when she learned how geodes were formed and the beauty of nature. 

Community outreach is the most important aspect of the CDLS to Morgan. They believe being a good scientist is important, but taking that work to the community level is even more crucial. She emphasizes that STEM is made better by having diverse members. “Allowing the space for individuals from all backgrounds, especially those that are historically underrepresented, to have a platform and be heard allows for better and more ethical science to be done,” they said.

Morgan would love to become a professor and continue their strides to increase DEI in geosciences through mentorship, outreach, and training for future geoscientists. In her free time, Morgan loves to explore the outdoors, concerts, and play instruments.

“I’m incredibly happy to be able to continue on this career path as a black woman coming from a family of strong black women who have trail-blazed paths for themselves for over four generations. I dedicate everything I do to my family (both ancestral and living) and friends. It is because of them that I am who I am and continue to work hard towards my goals.”

Kaitlynn Sandstrom-Mistry is a PhD student in IoES, studying under Dr. Deepak Rajagopal and Dr. Manisha Shah. She completed her master’s degree at Michigan State University in Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics. She completed her BA at Drake University, triple majoring in Sustainability & Resilience, Economics, and Politics. Her research interests involve environmental economics and sustainable development. 

Jared Coffelt is a PhD student in the Institute of Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in chemical engineering and minors in chemistry and economics. During his time there, he conducted research on electrochemical reactors and methods to electrify the chemical manufacturing industry. Jared’s long-term interests lie in understanding the socioeconomic drivers and outcomes of sustainable infrastructure and how such infrastructure can create prosperous communities. Additionally, he is enthusiastic about maximizing the use of local resources and increasing collaboration around sustainability-oriented efforts. In the future, Jared is looking forward to serving in a government, non-profit, or non-governmental organization position where he can help guide communities in implementing the infrastructure most applicable for their situation. Outside of research, Jared enjoys reading, writing, traveling, and playing and listening to music.

Olivia Sanderfoot worked with Dr. Morgan Tingley to study the impacts of wildfire smoke on birds in California. During her La Kretz Center Postdoctoral Fellowship, Olivia explored how wildfire smoke influences bird behavior and shapes species distributions. Additionally, she partnered with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to launch “Project Phoenix”, a community science project focused on learning more about how smoke impacts local birds.

Before her postdoctoral fellowship, Olivia conducted her doctoral research in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her dissertation explored how wildfire smoke and urban air pollution impacted the detection of birds in Washington state.

Olivia has been interviewed about her research by National Geographic, Discover Magazine, Audubon Magazine, Popular Science, The Seattle Times, The Washington Post, and several local radio and TV stations.

She was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, and is a proud alumna of the University of Wisconsin – Madison; she received her B.S. in Biology and Spanish in 2015 and her M.S. in environmental science in 2017. Born and raised in Wisconsin, Olivia is driven by her passion for environmental policy and conservation, her love for birds, and her strong belief in the Wisconsin Idea, the philosophy that a university’s research should be applied to solve problems and improve the health, well-being, and environment of the community it serves.

In 2025,  Olivia began working with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology where she is the Lead for the citizen science program, Project FeederWatch. 

Adiba Hassan is a third-year Ph.D. student in Epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health and a 2020 Tillman Scholar. Over the past decade, she has been engaged in monitoring and evaluating HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs in sub-Saharan Africa. Adiba’s research in HIV/AIDS has been on molecular epidemiology, using surveillance data to characterize the dynamics of the genetic transmission network to assist public health officials in prioritizing limited resources to individuals who may benefit from assistance in navigating the HIV care continuum.

Born in Bangladesh and growing up in developing countries in Southeast Asia, Adiba witnessed the effects of poverty and socio-cultural segregation on a global scale. Those experiences fueled her to pursue a career in global health, using epidemiology as a tool to guide effective and sustainable health programs. Adiba is also interested in the intersection of infectious disease and climate change; by participating in CDLS, she hopes to further her knowledge by learning from colleagues and climate scientists on opportunities where epidemiology can help mitigate the effects of climate change.  Adiba believes it’s important to have fairness and inclusion in STEM because without it, it would be difficult for science to have any significant reach or contribution.

Currently, Adiba is training to further analytical skills for causal inference research on HIV/AIDS and dementia. She is also a co-facilitator of the VRC/CDLS Veterans in Stem program, assisting with program implementation, manuscript preparation, and monitoring and evaluation. During her time off, she enjoys dancing salsa and bachata with her husband, performing with her dance team, and competing in beach volleyball tournaments. In the future, Adiba aspires to implement sustainable change from within to improve life outcomes in communities affected by the disproportionate effects of poverty and climate change.

Amber Reimondo is energy director for the Grand Canyon Trust, an environmental non profit focused on safeguarding the Grand Canyon and greater Colorado Plateau while supporting the rights of Native People. She was born and raised in rural Wyoming where she learned first-hand what it’s like to live amid rampant energy development. Amber has a dual bachelor’s degree in environment and natural resources and philosophy from the University of Wyoming and a master’s of science in environmental science and policy from Northern Arizona University, where she studied groundwater policies and their inadequacies in the face of mineral extraction. 

Amber spent the first four years of her career working closely with conservative lawmakers and regulators to improve state oil and gas environmental rules in Wyoming before coming to the Grand Canyon Trust in 2016. She has since worked with tribes, elected and community leaders, and nonprofit partners to end uranium mining in the Grand Canyon region, particularly through the Grand Canyon Protection Act, a bill that would create a permanent moratorium on mining on federally managed lands adjacent and hydrologically connected to the Grand Canyon. The threat uranium mining poses to the Grand Canyon region has only become more urgent with the shift away from fossil fuels and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as mining proponents suggest the Grand Canyon region should become a source of domestically mined uranium. 

Amber has testified before Congress twice (see here and here) and formed friendships and working relationships with impacted Indigenous community leaders who she collaborates with on the challenges they face protecting their homelands, their communities, and their cultures. She has authored two reports that make important information about uranium mining near the Grand Canyon more accessible to advocates and decision-makers, Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon Region and Canyon Mine: Why No Uranium Mine is ‘Safe’ for the Grand Canyon Region. Amber lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, the ancestral homeland of at least fourteen tribes, including many people she now works with who are members of the Navajo Nation, Havasupai, Hopi and Zuni Tribes.

Thematic image via Unsplash by Omer Nezih Gerek

Mr. Spataru completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and business at UCLA. He served as a U.S. Army Officer and then worked in aerospace, oil & gas, and management consulting firms in the US and abroad. In 1983, he started The ADEPT Group, Inc. (ADEPT), an engineering consulting firm and an early promoter of green and environmentally friendly technologies.

ADEPT conducts tech transfer and product development engagements that yield cost-effective solutions to energy and environmental challenges. A non-exhaustive list of such projects includes onshore & offshore wind energy, industrial solar, air quality sensing instruments, biodiesel in HD engines, and UAVs with sensors to monitor ocean going vessels’ emissions.

Alex has led many green sector engagements including geothermal plants, WTE systems, LFG extraction & processing, and water
conserving appliances. As an accomplished ideas chief pollinator, he accelerates engineering concepts into practice.

Mr. Spataru is a Certified Gas Engineer. He sits on one UL committee, two NFPA committees, and one ISO committee. He served for 14 years on the Board of the Coalition for Clean Air and is an AltaSea Ambassador. He occasionally teaches at UCLA’s School of Engineering as well as leads Practicums and independent research projects at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He currently leads two applied research projects at the Bourns College of Engineering at UC Riverside.

Dysmus Kisilu is founder of Solar Freeze, a Kenya-based enterprise that has pioneered mobile cold storage units powered by renewable energy to help rural smallholder farmers reduce post-harvest losses.

In much of the developing world, post-harvest losses are as high as 80% and the cold‐storage chain is virtually non‐existent due to the high cost of equipment and spotty electricity. Because fresh produce can perish in a matter of days under ambient temperatures, temperature control alone can extend the shelf life by weeks or even months. Solar Freeze cold storage units are powered by renewable energy.

Dysmus has worked with smallholder farmers in Eastern Kenya to increase agricultural yields by more than 150 per cent from 2016 to date, innovating through a simple “pay-as-you-store” payment system allowing farmers to pay as little as $0.1 cents to store perishable produce such as fruits and vegetables inside the portable solar cold rooms.

 

Thematic photo by Solar Freeze

Kealoha Fox applies Indigenous innovation for collaborative solutions in business, science, and policy and is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) scientist, practitioner, business leader and advocate based in Hawai‘i. She is president & senior advisor to the Institute for Climate & Peace recognizing climate and peace as integrated collaborative fields helping to advance just and sustainable peace for thriving, cohesive communities.

Dr. Fox is co-chair of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Climate Commission; an Obama Leader Asia Pacific with the Obama Foundation; policy co-chair of The Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Hawaiʻi COVID-19 Response, Recovery & Resilience Team; technical contributor to the5th National Climate Assessment with the U.S. Global Change Research Program; and a member of the Embassy of Tribal Nations Climate Action Task Force. Her actions elevate healthy people, places and futures — including with her new work entitled Kūkulu Ka Wanaʻao, which uplifts the worldview of Pacific women to combat climate change. She serves on the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Hawai‘i Budget & Policy Center, among many other community leadership roles.

Dr. Fox has published numerous articles and editorials on designing social-ecological well-being strategies with measurable impact in the Pacific. She is co-author of the books Mana Lāhui Kānaka: Mai nā kūpuna kahiko mai a hiki i kēia wā and Haumea: Transforming the Health of Native Hawaiian Women and Empowering Wāhine Well-Being, which focus on Indigenous resilience through a Polynesia worldview. Her scholarship on the conceptualizations of illness and disease was published in 2022 by UNESCO in a book which honors The International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL2022-2032). A graduate of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, she is the recipient of more than 50 awards and distinctions, including the 2020 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Snapshot of Innovation award to build a Culture of Health and named one of 20 leaders to follow for the next 20 years in 2022 by Hawaii Business Magazine. Each year, Kealoha mentors dozens of young women of color inside and outside of the academy.

As a Native Hawaiian woman, Kealoha has been deeply and purposefully trained by esteemed community elders in traditional and ancient Native Hawaiian practices and protocol such as ho‘oponopono, hāhā, and lā‘au lapa‘au. When not working, she enjoys spending time with her beloved ʻohana where you will often find them caring for the land and sacred resources of their island.

More important than any accolade or achievement, the roles she is most proud of in her story thus far is as a mother, grateful daughter, and steadfast protector of the place she loves the most, Hawai‘i. 

Feature photo courtesy of Hawaii Business Magazine