An Inclusive Future for Scientific Fieldwork

Elena Schroeter

Assistant Research Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University
https://erschroeter.wordpress.ncsu.edu/

Elena R. Schroeter is an alumna of the Chicago Public School system, and a first-generation college student. She first performed fieldwork in high school, as part of STEM outreach programing provided by the Chicago based non-profit, Project Exploration (PE). After earning her B.S. in Geophysics from the University of Chicago in 2006, she worked at PE for two years, delivering inclusive class and field programs in paleontology to underserved and underrepresented students. In 2013, she earned her Ph.D. in Biology from Drexel University, having continued to serve as the “STEMFellow” for PE summer field expeditions during her graduate program. Currently, Schroeter is an assistant research professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University, where her research focuses on the molecular characterization of fossil tissues from a range of ages and taxa. Recently, Schroeter co-authored an article with two women of color in paleontology that discusses their personal experiences as students, field scientists, and faculty in geosciences, and their insights on how these academic environments can be improved to better support individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Scott Taylor

Associate Professor and Director of Mountain Research Station, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder
https://www.colorado.edu/ebio/scott-taylor

I am, at heart, a naturalist. The field is where I recharge and where my questions come from, it is what inspires me to be a biologist. Field experiences, field research, and field stations provide that inspiration for countless students and researchers and field-based education and outreach have been my passion for as long as I can remember. As a child growing up along the shoreline of Lake Huron I was fascinated by natural history and I have been engaged in inspiring others to see the intricacies of the natural world since 1998, either through public outreach, formal field courses, or most recently as the Director of the CU Boulder Mountain Research Station. I have experienced first-hand the incredible and unique capacity of field experiences to inspire diverse audiences to appreciate and protect the natural world. Despite the importance of access to, and safety in, the field, fieldwork and field experiences are not accessible or safe for everyone. My efforts in the area of more inclusive field work span activities at annual meetings (e.g., co-organizing the Tri-Society DEI Symposium on Field Safety and Ethics in 2022) to newly implemented strategies at the CU Boulder Mountain Research Station focused on community building and support.

Murry Burgess

Assistant Professor, Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture, Mississippi State University
https://www.mlburgess.org/

Murry Burgess grew up with an interest in the wildlife around her. She followed this interest into a degree in Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture at Mississippi State University, earning her B.S. in 2019. She also earned her Associate Wildlife Biologist® certification from The Wildlife Society. Murry went on to graduate school at North Carolina State University and earned her Ph.D. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology in 2023. She is now an Assistant Professor at MS State studying urban ecology and ornithology, with a focus on the effects of anthropogenic stressors on songbird health and development. Growing up in the Deep South, Murry has witnessed and experienced racial and gender injustice. She uses her experiences to inform her pursuit of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in academia and the natural sciences. In 2022, Murry co-founded Field Inclusive, a nonprofit dedicated to amplifying and supporting marginalized field researchers in the natural sciences through providing financial aid, trainings, and field safety resources.

Laura Heath-Stout

Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford Archaeology Center, Stanford University
https://www.lauraheathstout.com/

Laura Heath-Stout (she/her) is an intersectional feminist scholar who studies equity and inclusion issues among archaeologists. She has studied the demographics of academic publishing in archaeology, harassment and violence among archaeologists, the dynamics of disclosure and accommodations for disabled archaeologists, and how individual identities and experiences shape the research questions archaeologists choose. Her widely-cited work with Elizabeth Hannigan on the cost of archaeology field-schools showed that the combination of tuition costs, travel costs, and lost wages makes field school accessible to only the most privileged aspiring archaeologists, restricting the diversity of the next generation of researchers. Her work has been published in American Antiquity, Advances in Archaeological Practice, the American Journal of Archaeology, and the Journal of Field Archaeology, among others, and her book, Identity, Oppression, and Diversity in Archaeology: Career Arcs is forthcoming from Routledge. She served as founding co-chair of the Society for American Archaeology’s Committee on Meeting Safety, which works to prevent and address harassment among archaeologists (2019–2022), and is a cofounder and leader of the Disabled Archaeologists Network. Laura is a settler on Ramaytush Ohlone land and a postdoc at the Stanford University Archaeology Center. She enjoys reading feminist science fiction, playing board games, cooking, and spending time with her partner and two-year-old son.

Nala Williams

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Yale University
https://anthropology.yale.edu/people/nala-williams

Nala Williams is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology and African American Studies at Yale University. Her research examines how Black women archaeologists negotiate their relationships to each other and the field of archaeology amidst race-based sexism and gender-based racism, as encapsulated through the intellectual and sociopolitical world of anthropology. She argues that through ties to other Black women in the field and a sense of obligation to both ancestors and future Black archaeologists, they work to craft a more liberatory archaeology. Nala has presented her work to broad audiences including the American Anthropological Association, Society for American Archaeology, and Society for Historical Archaeology.

Jennifer Kasbohm

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University
https://www.jenniferkasbohm.com/

Dr. Jennifer Kasbohm is postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences (EPS) at Yale University and will be joining the Carnegie Institution for Science as a Staff Scientist in the Earth & Planets Laboratory in April 2024. As a geochronologist, she generates timelines for geologic events that help us better understand the connections between the solid Earth, surface environments, oceans, and atmosphere in deep time. In pursuit of her B.S. in Geology & Geophysics and Humanities from Yale University and her PhD in Geosciences from Princeton University, Dr. Kasbohm spent 44 weeks performing geological field work, with extended projects in Western Australia, the northwest USA, Namibia, and Italy. Upon her return to Yale EPS for an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, she has served as a department leader in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, with a special focus on developing a framework of accountability for promoting inclusivity in the field, drafting and promoting anti-racist policy deliverables, and improving the experiences of women and gender minorities in the geosciences. Dr. Kasbohm’s advocacy led to the adoption of fieldwork codes of conduct in Princeton Geosciences and Yale EPS, and her work on these and other efforts was recognized with inaugural department DEI prizes from both institutions.