Forum Network

Roifield Brown is a prolific podcaster and founder of the [Agora Podcast Network](https://www.agorapodcastnetwork.com/ ""). Among podcasts he has created are [Ten America Presidents](http://www.10usp.com/ ""), The Things That Made England, [DumTeeDum](https://dumteedum.com/ ""), How Jamaica Conquered the World, Mid-Atlantic and ReConsider.

Kristin Torres is a graduate of the University of Missouri's Bachelor's (2012) and Master's (2017) degree programs in Russian literature. She participated in NPR's Next Generation Radio program in early 2017 and has written for artinrussia.org, a primer on Russian visual art and a project of The School of Russian and Asian Studies. Kristin has held radio production internships with NPR and affiliates KQED (San Francisco/Central Valley), KBIA (Columbia, Missouri) and St. Louis Public Radio.

Joelle Renstrom is a robot columnist for the Daily Beast, a regular contributor to Astrobiology, and a staff writer for Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. Her science writing has appeared in Slate, Aeon, New Scientist, and others. Her collection of essays, Closing the Book: Travels in Life, Loss, and Literature, was published in 2015. She teaches writing at Boston University with a focus on space exploration and artificial intelligence.

Jonathon Alsop is founder & executive director of the Boston Wine School and author of The Wine Lover’s Devotional: 365 Days of Knowledge, Advice & Lore for the Ardent Aficionado published by Quarry Books. Jonathon started life as a wine writer covering wine, food & travel in 1988. He is author of the wine column In Vino Veritas by Jonathon Alsop as well as many articles for the Associated Press, Frequent Flyer, La Vie Claire, Beverage Business Magazine, Mobil Travel Guides, Fodor’s Travel Guides, Boston Globe, and many others. He founded the Boston Wine School in 2000 where he teaches wine and food classes.

J.A. Walsh worked in intelligence and counter-terrorism after the 9/11 attacks, before embarking on a career advising the U.S. military on energy security strategies. He was born in Boston and is a graduate of Boston University and Suffolk University Law School. He also received a BA in Russian from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. He lives in North Carolina with his family. Purpose of Evasion is the first book in the Sami Lakhani Thriller Series. Sami is a new kind of spy hero, whose experiences are drawn from the author’s own service in counter-terrorism, and inspired by some of the great writers and heroes of the spy and political thriller genres, including Alex Berenson’s John Wells, and Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon, as well as the novels of Stephen L. Carter, Michael Crichton and John Grisham.

Michael Meagher entered into the hospitality industry as a jack-of-all-trades for the Elizabeth Creed & Co. catering company in Beverly, MA while pursuing his undergraduate degree in Sociology at Harvard University. Not convinced that law school was the best use of his talents, Michael enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America. After a few years of earning his keep in the kitchen, Michael packed his bags and moved to Australia, enrolling in the Masters degree program in Gastronomy at the University of Adelaide. Michael is one of the few people worldwide to hold the Master Sommelier credential, and also has completed his Diploma in Wine Studies from the WSET in London. He won the title of Best Young Sommelier in America in 2010, finished second in the competition for Best Young Sommelier in the World in 2010, placed third in TOP|SOMM in both 2010 and 2011 and has been published in the Journal of Culinary Science and Technology.

Marian Leitner-Waldman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Archer Roose Wines. Founded with her husband, David Waldman, co-founder of Pheasant's Tears Winery, Archer Roose is a modern wine company that brings terroir driven wines to consumers with a rebellious spirit. Their wines are served at James Beard Award Winning Restaurants, boutique hotels and hip rooftop bars and have been recognized by Wine Enthusiast, SevenFifty, CNBC, Forbes and the Washington Post for their quality and sustainable formats. Marian holds a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University in International Relations. She is a MassChallenge Finalist and a Babson Breakaway Challenge Finalist. While Archer Roose has operations in four countries (Argentina, Chile, France and Italy), Marian lives in Boston's South End with her husband and their dog Flashman.

Chris Schmidt is an award-winning filmmaker who has worked as executive producer, writer, director and editor with a focus on documentary and non-fiction television programming. He has traveled the world to produce and direct movies and television programs for PBS, Dreamworks Animation, The Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic and others.

From 1994 to 2006 he served as the founding Dean and from 2016 to 2018 as the Interim Dean of the School. He is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and its John L. Thornton China Center (Washington), and a Visiting Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (Washington). Petri has held appointments as Visiting Scholar or Professor at the OECD (Paris), Keio University (Tokyo), Fudan University (Shanghai) and Peking University (Beijing), and as a Fulbright Research Scholar and Brookings Policy Fellow. He has consulted for APEC, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank Institute, the World Bank, the OECD, the United Nations and the governments of the United States and other countries.

Lynn Adler is a widely recognized expert on the interdependences of insects and their environments –in this case, bumblebees-- and how that relationship affects bee health and adaptation.

Joe Bagley joined the City Archaeology Program in 2011 as the fourth City Archaeologist since 1983. Bagley curates a growing repository of archaeological collections currently housed at the City Archaeology Laboratory at 201 Rivermoor St. in West Roxbury, acts as the review and compliance agent for below-ground cultural resources in the city, educates the public in archaeology through a number of city programs, manages Rainsford Island, and manages the Archaeology Programs social media platforms. Joe received his Bachelor's Degree in Archaeology from Boston University and a Master’s Degree in Historical Archaeology from UMass Boston. While a senior at BU he worked at the City Archaeology Lab under the previous City Archaeologist, Ellen Berkland, to analyze the Native American artifacts excavated by former City Archaeologist, Steven Pendery, on Boston Common. Joe has conducted archaeological surveys from the woods of Maine to the Florida Everglades. He specializes in both Native American and Historical archaeological analysis and the archaeology of Boston. In 2016 he was awarded the John L. Cotter Award from the Society for Historical Archaeology for early career achievements. He lives in the Lower Mills neighborhood of Dorchester with his wife, Jen, and their dog, Jack.

Sri Thumati is a freelance photographer and Cyanotype print maker. She has been working in the Boston area since 2003, having trained at the Maine Media Workshops and Rockport College for two years prior to that. Before coming to the United States in 2000, Sri had worked extensively as a freelance photographer in New Delhi, India. After exploring many photo subjects over the years, Sri has settled into interior and architecture photography, which she has been doing for the past 6 years. She has photographed commercial properties such as restaurants, yoga studios, offices and banks; as well as research labs and residential properties. Her primary clients are architects and construction companies.