WonderFest 2025!

Ravinder Sehgal

Ravinder Sehgal is a professor in the Dept. of Biology at San Francisco State University where he teaches courses in parasitology and emerging infectious diseases. His research focuses on the ecology of diseases in birds. 

Julia DeMarines

Julia DeMarines is an astrobiologist and science communicator with the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science. Her research involves detecting life in space through biosignatures and technosignatures, and the ethics of sending intentional messages into space.

Kathy Ho

Kathy Ho is a classroom teacher at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital School at Stanford, in Palo Alto, California. She is passionate about providing a stable and regular school experience to pediatric patients, and hopes to connect them with the outside world.

Brittney Beck

Brittney Beck is an associate professor of teacher education at California State University, Bakersfield. Her body of work resides at the intersections of citizen science, environmental justice, storytelling, and education.

Natalia Erazo

Natalia Erazo is a Ecuadorian conservationist and environmental activist and a PhD candidate at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, she is interested in microbial genomics, metabolomics, and the responses of marine microbiomes to anthropogenic stressors. 

Austin Meyer

Austin Meyer is National Geographic Explorer and documentary film director/cinematographer based in Berkeley, who has worked on films for HBO, Hulu, Apple TV, NYT, PBS, Washington Post, and The Atlantic. He was the winner of the NYT International Reporting Trip competition, where he reported in Baltimore, India, and Nepal.

Rebecca Tarvin

Rebecca (Becca) Tarvin is a professor in the Dept. of Integrative Biology at the University of California Berkeley where she teaches courses in genomics and zoology. Her research focuses on how animals - especially reptiles and amphibians - adapt to neurotoxins. www.tarvinlab.org

Kate Furby

Kate completed her PhD in marine biology with specialization in science communication from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2017. Her dissertation focused on coral community dynamics and recovery mechanisms in the central Pacific. 

Christine Wilkinson

Christine Wilkinson is a conservation biologist, carnivore ecologist, and science communicator. Her research interests include mapping, human-wildlife conflict, carnivore movement ecology, and using participatory methods for inclusive conservation outcomes. 

Katherina Audley

Katherina Audley has dedicated her career to community-driven marine conservation. Since 1997, she has combined her skills in whale research, community building, and science communication to create impactful programs around the globe.

Alejandra Echeverri

Alejandra Echeverri is a biodiversity conservation scientist, professor, science communicator, and advocate for women, Latinx, and youth in STEM. She is an assistant professor of conservation science at UC Berkeley with a focus on Berkeley Wildlife.

Kalani Heinz

Danielle Kalani Heinz is an assistant professor at UC, Riverside researching Hawaiian archaeology inspired by Native Hawaiian ways of knowing, and their own relationship with ʻāina (land) which has caused them to consider the ways that their project can mālama (care for) ʻāina. Her research looks at the impact of sugarcane plantations on hydrology in Nā Wai ʻEhā, Maui. 

Luisa Genes

Luísa Genes is a Ph.D. candidate in ecology and evolution at Stanford University. She is Brazilian and grew up in Rio de Janeiro, where she received her undergraduate and master's degrees in ecology from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. 

Maia Dedrick

Maia Dedrick conducts archaeological research in Yucatán, Mexico. Her expertise includes the study of plant remains (wood, seeds, starch) from archaeological sites as well as community-engaged research. 

Maria Fadiman

Maria Fadiman researches the human/environmental aspect of conservation, focusing on ethnobotany, the study of the relationship between people and plants. She works primarily in rural areas with the majority of her research addressing the rainforests of Latin America. 

Anita Palmer

Anita Palmer is a 2019 Education Fellow working on a new online interactive mapping tool for educators and students. Palmer is the president and co-owner of the woman owned business GISetc, an education company that provides GIS professional development, geospatial curriculum to educators and students. 

Mike Kai Chen

Mike Kai Chen is a Taiwanese American documentary photographer and engineer based in San Francisco. His work explores human connection and societal impact from culture and science through photographing and documenting climate change, Taiwanese and Asian American identity, and the long-term disproportionate human impact of the coronavirus.

Sierra Garcia

Sierra Garcia is an environmental writer, science educator, and interdisciplinary social-marine scientist from Monterey. Her Fulbright will take her to Roatán, a Caribbean island off the coast of Honduras, where she’ll write in-depth journalistic articles about coral reef restoration efforts there and the strategies of the people who devote themselves to those efforts. 

Diego Ponce de Leon Barido

Diego Ponce de Leon Barido is a founder at Threestone Analytics, where he develops information and communication solution products for reducing waste in cities of Latin America. Diego has extensive experience in sustainability science and has implemented various information technology solutions for urban sustainability.

Pedro Peloso

Pedro Peloso is a Brazilian biologist and nature photographer with a passion for wildlife and wild places. He studies the diversity and evolutionary history of amphibians and reptiles around the world, with a focus on the documentation of new, rare and threatened species.