Valerie Eviner is a professor of Ecosystem Management and Restoration in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis. Much of her research is in collaboration with diverse land managers to simultaneously address holes in our fundamental ecological understanding, and key challenges in ecosystem management, including: plant invasions, conservation of native plant communities, ecosystem services, restoration, and the resilience of ecosystem structure and function to multiple environmental changes. She also works closely with bridge organizations and government agencies to integrate the most recent scientific insights into policies affecting the environment and sustainable land management.

Milmon F. Harrison, Ph.D. (Sociology) is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work focuses on the experience of people of African descent in the context of the continental United States. Using qualitative and/or digital humanities-based approaches, his work engages questions of race, religion, stratification, public policy, and social and geographical mobility. He is the author of the book Righteous Riches: the Word of Faith Movement in Contemporary African American Religion (Oxford 2005). His latest book project is titled “The Sunset Limited: the Great Black Migration to California, 1940s-1970s.” He is an Associate Professor in the Department of African American and African Studies.

Dr. Heather Jane Hether is a faculty member in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Davis. Her research interests focus on digital media in the health and education contexts; communication campaigns; and innovative pedagogy. Dr. Hether’s work has been published in academic journals and books, as well as presented at national and international conferences. Dr. Hether has held previous academic and research positions at the University of the Pacific in Stockton and UCD’s Center for Healthcare Policy and Research in Sacramento.

Kristin Kiesel is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. She teaches a variety of large undergraduate classes including Marketing, Behavioral Economics, and Cooperative Business Enterprises, directs the Undergraduate Honors Thesis Program, organizes the Career Connections Seminar Series, and is the faculty advisor for a Dean’s office program that takes students to the Produce Marketing Association Summit. Her research focuses on value-added foods and consumer attitudes toward product attributes influenced by labeling, marketing claims or media coverage. Kristin conducts cost-benefit analyses for changes in labeling requirements, evaluates the effects of food education as well as more restrictive policy approaches such as bans of and taxes on select foods, and develops strategies to promote healthier and more sustainable food systems. She serves on advisory boards for several local initiatives and consults on large-scale projects like the USDA’s Food Loss and Waste Champions Initiative.​

Lee Martin is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Davis. His research looks across in-school and out-of-school settings to investigate the varied ways that people assemble social, material, and intellectual resources to help them to meet their goals. He studies participation in making and the maker movement as activities that may help youth become more flexible and adaptive in their thinking and problem-solving. In addition, he examines processes of identity development and sense of connection to STEM fields. His research group, Beta Lab, built a mobile maker studio to facilitate their work in schools and community centers. They also work to create new thinking tools to foster noticing, reflection, ideation, and collaboration.

Tim McNeil is Professor of Design at the University of California Davis and Director of the UC Davis Design Museum. With experience developing over 200 exhibition, signage and interpretive environments, his research, teaching and practice explore the exhibition space as a medium for the effective communication of objects and narratives, and seeks to define the exhibition design field and its impact on communities and audience engagement. Recent projects include exhibitions at the California Museum, and co-curating Chaos at the Museum, a series of international summits to advance the understanding of experience and exhibition design practice. McNeil has an MFA from the University of the Arts London, his award-winning work has been featured in multiple publications, and he is a frequent writer and speaker both nationally and internationally on museum and design issues. Most recently as a contributing author to the new book “The Future of Museum and Gallery Design”.

Lindsay Poirier is a cultural anthropologist of data cultures, expertise, and infrastructure. Interlacing training in both ethnography and computer science, Poirier critically examines datasets and data infrastructures as ethnographic artifacts, while she also theorizes and implements alternative data models and platforms. Poirier has worked with the civic technology community in New York City to advocate for data publishing practices, curriculum, and legislation that promote civic engagement with the city’s open data program. At UC Davis, she teaches courses that unpack the cultural forces shaping the availability, structure, and governance of data in diverse civic domains - such as environmental health, criminal justice, and affordable housing. She also runs Hack for California - a weekly civic hack night at the UC Davis DataLab.​

Lisa Rasmussen is a general pediatrician and attending physician at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. She is the director of the Community Health and Advocacy rotation for pediatric residents. She is committed to engaging with her local community through community health initiatives. She also leads the effort to integrate mental health and development specialists into pediatric resident clinics. This effort seeks to expand and improve future pediatrician’s ability to identify and manage children with mental health and developmental concerns.