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  • Rhines is a sixth year Applied Mathematics Ph.D student in Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, where he's advised by Peter Huybers. He studies the atmosphere's water cycle and climate variability on a wide range of timescales. A few of his research interests are: Estimation of moisture sources — regions from which precipitation most recently evaporated. Mapping of dynamical causes of rainfall (i.e., the processes responsible for transport of water vapor from source to sink) such as atmospheric rivers. Interpretation of stable water isotopes in precipitation, and where they are recorded in paleoclimate records such as ice cores and speleothems. Orographic precipitation (that which is caused by mountains or other underlying topography), and the effect it has upon ice sheet mass balance and global water resources. The past and future of climate variability and extremes. He uses modern measurements, atmospheric models, and paleoclimate records to examine how temperature and precipitation vary in space and time.
  • Bittleston is a graduate student in the Pierce and Pringle labs in the department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. She studies the ecology and evolution of interactions among microbes, insects, and plants; with a focus on symbiosis and mutualism. Her research examines community diversity and structure in the aquatic microcosms within convergently evolved carnivorous pitcher plants.
  • In her role at the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, Sheila Dillon has oversight of the Section 8 Program, the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, and many of the State’s homeless programs. During her time as Deputy Director of Housing at DND, she oversaw affordable housing development and homeless programs, including management of Community Development Block Grants, Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) and several other programs. After leaving DND, she assumed the role of Deputy Director of Housing at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, where she created housing policy for the City of Boston and managed the Inclusionary Development Program. Before leaving the City, she served as Mayor Menino’s Housing Advisor. Prior to her tenure with the City of Boston, Dillon was Director of Real Estate Development at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership Fund and Director of Housing Development at Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation.
  • David Price, Nuestra Comunidad's Executive Director since 2008, has been a leader in Boston’s community-led development field for 16 years. Before joining Nuestra Comunidad, David worked for eight years as the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for Madison Park Development Corporation, a CDC also serving the Roxbury community. At Madison Park, he transformed a resident services department into a community organizing program whose accomplishments included the founding of the RoxVOTE coalition and co-founding of the Lower Roxbury Youth Collaborative. David has also served as the Executive Director of Tent City Corporation, a CDC serving Boston’s South End. He joined the CDC field after practicing real estate law at the Boston firm of Goulston & Storrs, noted for its affordable housing practice. He has extensive experience in community organizing. David is a graduate of Harvard College and Boston College Law School.
  • Cassandria Campbell is the co-founder of Fresh Food Generation, a farm-to-plate food truck that serves healthy affordable prepared foods in low-income neighborhoods. Cassandria, a Roxbury native, became a food justice advocate while working at The Food Project, a nationally recognized model for youth development and sustainable agriculture. Upon graduating from Swarthmore College, she returned to the organization to be the Youth Development Coordinator in which role she led a 60-youth summer program and coordinated a one-year leadership program. In 2011, she received a Masters degree in City Planning from MIT and continues to work in the field of community and economic development. Cassandria developed the idea for Fresh Food Generation because she wanted to find healthier food options without having to travel outside of her neighborhood.
  • Jamiah Tappin is a Community Organizer at Boston Alliance for Community Health.
  • Lucilda Dassardo-Cooper has represented the United States in India’s Triennale and exhibited her paintings in such places as Egypt and Jamaica. Her oils on canvas have also been shown at the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists in Roxbury, as well as the Parish Gallery and Sumner School Museum and Archives, both in Washington, DC. She is a naturalized citizen from Jamaica of Indian and Afro-Caribbean descent.
  • David Sibley is an author and illustrator of the Sibley Guides and other books about birds and nature. He's been an avid birdwatcher for most of my life, with drawing and painting as a way of exploring nature. He’s also the author of _The Birds of Cape May, The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America, Hawks in Flight,_ and _Sibley's Birding Basics_. All together he has sold more than 1.75 million copies of his books. Sibley creates all his work from his home in Concord, Massachusetts.
  • Joan Najita, Ph.D., Astronomer and Head of Scientific Staff for User Support at NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab). She is an elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and a 2021–2022 Daniels Fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Dr. Najita was formerly the Chief Scientist at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). She has led development of infrared molecular spectroscopy of disks, thermal-chemical models of disk atmospheres, and the synthesis of diverse data sets. In addition to her research, Dr Najita has been a strong advocate for science communication.