Kendra completed her BA in Biology at Willamette University and her PhD in Biology at the University of Utah. She is broadly interested in the evolution of symbioses, particularly in fungi. Her graduate work focused on using phylogenetics and genomics to investigate the evolution of parasitism of fungi by other fungi (mycoparasitism) in the agriculturally and industrially important order Hypocreales. She is currently working to characterize undiscovered diversity in the mycoparasitic genus Hypomyces and exploring poorly understood associations between Hypomyces molds and their mushroom hosts. Her mentorship style welcomes students to ask questions and make mistakes as they gain experience and confidence in a laboratory setting. She is invested in public science communication and prioritizes student involvement in outreach projects.

Rodolfo received his B.Sc. in Biology at the State University of São Paulo and an M.Sc. in Systematics, Taxonomy, and Biodiversity at the University of São Paulo, both in Brazil. He recently obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Utah (Ecology, Evolutionary and Organismal Biology), where he investigated the evolution of ant-plant mutualistic interactions while working in the lab of Jack Longino. His research uses genomic tools, taxonomy, and natural history to understand ant-plant symbioses. He is led by his interest in insect evolution and his passion for tropical fieldwork, teaching the public about bugs and conservation, and exploring the outdoors. When not at the lab or collecting ants, he likes going road biking and hiking around Utah, cooking, and writing poetry.

Robyn Brooks received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Tulane University in 2020. She was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston College from 2020-2023, and in the Fall of 2023, is a Postdoctoral scholar at Brown University at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics. Her research interests lie in Algebraic and Computational Topology, including multi-parameter persistence, as well as in Knot Theory, Functor Calculus, and most recently, in using topology to understand feed forward neural networks. As a fellow at the University of Utah, she will continue to research the theory and applications of Topological Data Analysis. TDA can be used to tackle any scientific question with associated data, and has broad applications in finding meaning shapes and patterns within data from any field. As a mentor, she encourages creativity when approaching problem solving, and hopes to build confidence in technical communication and collaboration skills.

Kasey recently received a Ph.D. in Anthropology, with an emphasis in zooarchaeology (the study of animal bones from archaeological sites) and paleoecology, at the University of Utah. As a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Science Research Initiative, she is studying the fossil animal remains recovered from Utah’s high-elevation cave deposits to establish what animal communities looked like prior to anthropogenic climate change. Using this data, her work compares these past records with recent zoological survey data to evaluate whether ongoing climate change has contributed to range shifts or local extinctions, as has been predicted for the region’s montane mammals. Her research is interdisciplinary, incorporating theory and methods from Anthropology, Ecology, Geology, and Climate and Environmental Sciences. As a mentor, she strives to build a collaborative research environment aimed at equipping students with transferable skills and experience with science communication.