Forum Network

Marc Albert is the Program Manager at the National Park Service. Albert studied Environmental Studies and American Studies at Tufts University,and went on to receive an M.A., in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently the Boston Harbor Islands Stewardship Program Manager.

Lytton Smith is a poet, professor, and translator from the Icelandic. His most recent translations include works by Kristín Ómarsdóttir, Jón Gnarr, Ófeigur Sigurðsson, Bragi Ólafsson, and Guðbergur Bergsson. His most recent poetry collection, _The All-Purpose Magical Tent_, was published by Nightboat. Having earned his MFA and PhD from Columbia University, he currently teaches at SUNY Geneseo.

Kaveh Akbar’s poems appear in The New Yorker, Poetry, The New York Times, Paris Review, The Nation, Best American Poetry, The New Republic, The Guardian, American Poetry Review, The Poetry Review, PBS NewsHour, and elsewhere. His debut full-length collection, _Calling a Wolf a Wolf_, is out with Alice James in the US and Penguin in the UK, and his chapbook, _Portrait of the Alcoholic_, was published by Sibling Rivalry Press. The recipient of honors including a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, a Pushcart Prize, the Levis Reading Prize, and a Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, Kaveh was born in Tehran, Iran, and teaches at Purdue University and in the low residency MFA programs at Randolph College and Warren Wilson. Kaveh founded _Divedapper_, a home for dialogues with the most vital voices in American poetry. With Sarah Kay and Claire Schwartz, he writes a weekly column for the Paris Review called "Poetry RX." Previously, he ran _The Quirk_, a for-charity print literary journal. He has also served as Poetry Editor for _BOOTH_ and Book Reviews Editor for the _Southeast Review_. Along with Gabrielle Calvocoressi, francine j. harris, and Jonathan Farmer, he starred on All Up in Your Ears, a monthly poetry podcast. Image: [Writer's Site](http://kavehakbar.com/#/about)

Dr. Tripathi is an astrophysicist studying planet formation and evolution at Harvard University. Tripathi developed the first 3D simulation of planets evaporating due to extreme atmospheric heating and has been on the hunt for dark matter in the Milky Way.

Sigrún Pálsdóttir completed a PhD in the History of Ideas at the University Oxford in 2001, after which she was a research fellow and lecturer at the University of Iceland. She worked as the editor of Saga, the principal peer-reviewed journal for Icelandic history, from 2008 to 2016. Her previous titles include the historical biography _Thora_, _A Bishop’s Daughter_ and _Uncertain Seas_, a story of a young couple and their three children who were killed when sailing from New York to Iceland aboard a ship torpedoed by a German submarine in 1944. Sigrún’s work has been nominated for the Icelandic Literary Prize, Icelandic Women’s Literature Prize, HagÞenkir Non-fiction Prize, and the DV Culture Prize. _Uncertain Seas_ was chosen the best biography in 2013 by booksellers in Iceland.

John Craig Hammond, Ph.D. is the Assistant Director of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of History at Penn State University, New Kensington. Hammond has been published in academic journals, such as the _Journal of American History_, _Oxford Bibliographies in Atlantic History_, and _The Historical Journal of Massachusetts_. Hammond was a Democratic nominee for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2016, and the recipient of the Dorothy Schwieder Prize for best article in Midwestern History in 2018. He is currently writing several book chapters to appear in historical publications.

Lani Asuncion uses video, performance, sculpture, and the flora in conjunction with technology to survey how disparately cultures meet and mix to negotiate experiences of loss, transformation, and belonging. Storytelling is at the core of her practice, by using her body and the camera she is able to navigate landscapes and recall personal stories that are constructed into abstract narratives used to explore her identity as a multicultural, biracial womxn. Blending digital media with elements of nature Asuncion constructs interactive environments, like that in her [HUMAN GARDEN](https://laniasuncion.com/human-garden) series to present alternative perspectives on conversations around green spaces and urbanization. Finding ways to use her work as a way to connect people to their natural world through technology. See her work on [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/laniasuncion ) and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/lani.asuncion/?hl=en) .

Keaton Fox is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and curator who uses art and technology to reflect the digital disarray of the modern world. Fueled by child-like fascination and frustrations, Fox combines the natural with the virtual to create visual experiments that playfully explore the varied realities of our time. She has exhibited nationally, internationally, physically, and digitally. She is currently the Assistant Director at Boston Cyberarts as well as a Teaching Media Artist at Cambridge Community Television. The overarching goal of her multiple creative endeavors is to use art and technology to bring humans together.

Christina Balch is a Somerville-based, multi-media artist interested in the way people define themselves digitally, especially through the use of mobile technology and self-documentation. Process and experimentation play an important role in Christina’s practice. Her latest project titled Extensions explores digital memory and personal data by creating both physical and digital objects. Christina recently curated two exhibitions at the Nave Gallery titled AVATARS exploring artist representations in the digital, information age.

Delaware North is one of the largest privately held hospitality and food service companies in the world. Founded in 1915, Delaware North has global operations at high-profile locations, including the New England Aquarium’s café and catering service, Patina Restaurant Group. Debbie is responsible for implementing and managing Delaware North’s sustainability program and ensuring that each of its properties are implementing and managing environmental, interpretive, facilities stewardship, and sustainability programs. She works closely with others through community outreach and education to achieve balance for the health of our planet and ourselves. Twitter: @delawarenorth Facebook: @DelawareNorthCompanies

UPSTREAM is a national nonprofit organization sparking innovative solutions to plastic pollution. It works with entrepreneurs, policymakers, and culture-hackers to make throw-away go away. UPSTREAM is developing model policy and incentives for reuse businesses to scale and is partnering with iconic venues throughout the country to move them away from single-use to reuse and amplify their stories. UPSTREAM is also developing storytelling assets to support a culture shift, making single-use seem weird and reuse cool. Matt Prindiville is a recognized thought leader within the plastic pollution community and advised the United Nations Environment Program on its plastic pollution strategies. Contact Matt by email: matt@upstreamsolutions.org Twitter: @upstream_org

Jesa Damora runs [FunnelCake Marketing](https://funnelcakemarketing.com/) , an arts marketing and business development consulting firm, out of Somerville’s Artisan’s Asylum. Her clients include artists of all stripes. She also provides arts event development and execution (TED talks, Somerville Open Studios). She offers curation services, helps with crowd-sourced funding, develops publicity campaigns, and she gives arts marketing presentations and workshops in Boston and in Brooklyn. She produced a long-running vlog/TV show on the arts, was the executive director of a consortium for the US Department of Energy, a championship speedskater, and is a recovering architect. As an artist, she specializes in enormous graphite drawings on Mylar that are about the wildness in both nature and ourselves that we think we have tamed.