As a wildlife ecologist, Dr. Desiree Narango investigates conservation solutions that help people and wildlife in shared working- and living-landscapes. In her research, Desiree studies how private land management affects habitat for plants, insects, and birds. Her work takes her to the most overlooked places for wildlife conservation, like suburban yards, cities, and coffee farms. For example, her science demonstrated that when native plants are used in garden landscaping, yards can support sustainable populations of birds (featured in NPR, Popular Science).

Desiree’s passion is empowering people to participate in personal conservation action ‘at home.’ To bring relevant science to the public, Desiree engages in science communication through various platforms like seminars, blogging, workshops, social media, and community science participation. In her outreach, Desiree’s goal is to give people the tools to make informed and meaningful positive change in their own communities.

Desiree’s passion for wildlife began while exploring urban parks as a kid in Baltimore, MD. She received her Ph.D. from University of Delaware and is a 2020 recipient of the David H. Smith Conservation Fellowship. She is currently investigating how to manage urban tree canopies for migratory bird conservation and creating applications to evaluate restoration success on managed properties.  

Co-coordinator of CDLS of the Vets in Stem Program, Jade Knighton mentors scholars and manages their group research project centering on CO2 sequestration technologies. She appreciates the connection the CDLS has made for scholars and faculty who share similar experiences in academia. “Professor Tripati has curated such a welcoming and supportive environment, and I feel a strong sense of belonging through CDLS,” Jade said. Growing up in Texas and identifying as Indigenous and Hispanic, she emphasizes that diversity and inclusion in STEM are essential to the field, as all scientific questions need fresh perspectives, which are the catalysts for new discoveries. 

“Representation in the higher levels of academia is so important for the recruitment and retention of students of color and non-traditional students, who bring with them unique skill sets, talents, and new ideas.”

Jade is a rising third-year Ph.D. student, focusing her research on clumped isotope paleothermometry to study metabolic and dietary patterns in extinct organisms. The goal of Jade’s work is to better characterize how these extinct organisms lived, and what their ways of life can tell us about evolution and mass extinction events. She believes using past extinctions will help us better understand our future as the climate continues to change and we encounter similar circumstances. As a kid, she loved dinosaurs and building terrariums to imagine what the environment looked like in the time of the dinosaurs. “My Tío Julio really encouraged my interests by buying me dinosaurs to add to my collection and listening to me tell him all about what I learned,” Jade said.

Outside CDLS, Jade works in the Tripati Iso-Lab here at UCLA as a graduate student researcher, assisting in running the mass spectrometers. After completing her Ph.D., Jade would like to continue in academia doing research on the origin of life problems and the evolution of endothermy.

Kara Hurst leads Worldwide Sustainability at Amazon. Utilizing Amazon’s scale, speed and innovation, the Sustainability organization includes teams executing the work of The Climate Pledge; Sustainable Operations (renewable energy and energy efficiency, buildings); Sustainability Science and Innovation; Social Responsibility and responsible supply chain management; Circular Economy; Sustainable Products, packaging and shopping; Sustainability Technology; Sustainable Transportation; and social and environmental external engagement and policy setting. Prior to joining Amazon, Kara was CEO of The Sustainability Consortium (TSC), a multi-sector group across academia, the retail industry and the public sector. TSC was named one of Scientific American’s “Top Ten World Changing Ideas” of 2012. For eleven years before that, Hurst worked as Vice President of BSR, where she built several global industry practices and lead BSR’s NY and DC offices, as well as the global partnership practice with governments, multi-laterals and foundations. Hurst also cofounded of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC, now the Responsible Business Alliance) and worked in Silicon Valley as Executive Director of the public-private venture OpenVoice, building out early teen channel content for AOL and others. In her early career, she held roles at the Children’s Health Council, leading interdisciplinary educational and development programs, at the Urban Institute as a Research lead in the public finance and housing division, and worked in the offices of two elected officials – Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco and in New York for the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY). Kara holds a BA from Barnard College of Columbia University and an MPP from the University of California, Berkeley.

Cassie Crockett is Director and Head of Strategy at Schmidt Futures. In this role, Cassie leads strategy development, with a particular focus on the Rise program, oversees the development of new programs for approval, and coordinates efforts with partner organizations.

Prior to Schmidt Futures, Cassie worked for McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm, where she specialized in education technology and served as Chief of Staff of the Social Sector Office. During her time at McKinsey, Cassie managed relationships with and projects for clients, while also working with firm leadership to refine McKinsey’s long-term strategy for social impact. Cassie was also a core member of the global efficacy team at Pearson, the world’s largest learning company. That team helped to design and implement a business-wide transformation with the goal of improving learner outcomes around the globe.

Cassie earned her J.D. from Yale Law School and is a member of the Colorado Bar Association. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale.

Sean Metzger is the Vice Chair of Undergraduate Studies at the UCLA Department of Theater and faculty at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He is a scholar who works at the intersections of several fields: visual culture (art, fashion, film, theater) as well as Asian American, Caribbean, Chinese, film, performance and sexuality studies. 

 Metzger’s first book, Chinese Looks: Fashion, Performance, Race, was published by Indiana University Press in 2014. From yellow-face performance in the 19th century to Jackie Chan in the 21st century, Chinese Looks examines articles of clothing and modes of adornment as a window on how American views of China have changed in the past 150 years. In this book, Metzger shows how aesthetics, gender, politics, economics and race are interwoven and argues that close examination of particular forms of dress can help us think anew about gender and modernity. His second book, The Chinese Atlantic: Seascapes and the Theatricality of Globalization, published by Indiana University Press in 2020, examines site specific performances and on-location shooting in the Caribbean and beyond where Chinese investments, fiscal and cultural, help us shift understandings of local and national cultures.

Metzger encourages collaboration among thinkers and artistis from different disciplines, co-editing three collections of essays: Embodying Asian/American Sexualities with Gina Masequesmay (Lexington, 2009); Futures of Chinese Cinema: Technologies and Temporalities in Chinese Screen Cultures with Olivia Khoo (Intellect, 2009); Race, Space, Place: The Making and Unmaking of Freedoms in the Atlantic World with Michaeline Crichlow (a special issue of Cultural Dynamics, Nov. 2009). A fourth volume of essays entitled Islands, Images, Imaginaries co-edited with Francisco J. Hernández Adrián and Michaeline Crichlow, was published as a special issue of the journal Third Text in 2014. 

Prior to his arrival at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Metzger was assistant professor of English, theater studies, and Asian & Middle Eastern studies at Duke University. He was awarded the inaugural Fulbright Research Chair in North American Society and Culture at Concordia University (Montreal) and has also been adjunct faculty at Antioch University, Loyola Marymount University and the USC School of Dramatic Arts. In addition to his academic work, he spent three years in social services at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and as an independent consultant to school districts and other non-profit institutions. He continues consulting work on an ad-hoc basis.

A closeted actor and director, Metzger occasionally creeps on or behind stage.

Johanna Partin is Deputy Director at the Building Decarbonization Coalition, an organization creating safe, healthy and affordable communities through all-electric, clean energy homes and buildings. Previously, Johanna served as the director for the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, as North America Regional Director for the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and Senior Policy Advisor on Environment to San Francisco Mayors Gavin Newsom and Edwin Lee. Johanna has 30 years’ experience in the fields of climate change, renewable energy, microfinance, sustainable development and gender equity.

Lori Garver is the Founder of Earthrise, a philanthropic organization that creates meaningful earth science content from satellite data to inform and activate educators, journalists and decision makers to combat climate change and sustain humanity on planet Earth. Garver served as Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from 2009 – 2013 and led the agency’s transition team for President-Elect Obama. Previous senior positions have included General Manager of the Air Line Pilots Association and Associate Administrator for Policy and Plans at NASA in the Clinton Administration. She is the author of the book, Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age, released in June 2022.

Lori is a Co-Founder and President of the Brooke Owens Fellowship, an educational non-profit providing internships and mentorship to collegiate women pursuing degrees in aerospace fields. She previously served on the Board of Directors of Maxar Technologies (NYSE: MAXR) and as President of Women in Aerospace and the American Astronautical Society.

Garver is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including three NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the Alumni Achievement Award from George Washington University and an Honorary Doctorate from Colorado College. She holds a B.A. in Political Economy from Colorado College and an M.A. in Science, Technology and Public Policy from George Washington University.

Bob Lalasz is CEO of Science+Story, a consultancy guiding research-driven organizations to be heard. Among Science+Story’s past & present clients: Arizona State University’s Future H2O; The Energy for Growth Hub; the LA 2028 Olympics Sustainability & Legacy Team; the Society for Science & the Public; and the World Wildlife Fund.

Before starting Science+Story in 2015, Lalasz served as a science communicator, editor and digital strategist for research-centered non-profits, including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Population Reference Bureau, and The Nature Conservancy, where he was founding director of its science communications program.

Lalasz received a BA in intellectual history and film studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He lives in Arlington, VA.

Clara Pratte advocates for tribal communities nationwide on economic development and sustainable growth. She grew up on the Navajo reservation and has committed her work to poverty alleviation, economic empowerment, and advancing tribal sovereignty.  Today she assists and advises tribes nationwide on economic development matters. She founded Strongbow Strategies, a government services firm, in 2013 and joined the Navajo Power leadership team in 2018 to implement new energy development models on the Navajo Nation.

Her past experience includes serving as the Navajo Nation Chief of Staff, the Navajo Nation Executive Director of the Washington DC office, the National Director of the Office of Native American Affairs of the U.S. Small Business Administration and as a trade specialist/business analyst with the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration Foreign and Commercial Service. She has had the privilege of working for two U.S. Presidential Administrations, four Navajo Presidential Administrations, and for a member of the United States Congress. She was named the Tim Wapato Public Advocate of the Year in 2009 (NCAIED), a 40 under 40 in Indian Country in 2010 (NCAIED), and a top 50 business leader in Indian Country in 2019 (Native Business Magazine).