Char Farfadet is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University. Their research focuses on the paleoethnobotany of the ancestral peoples of the Chihuahuan desert and the surrounding ecotonal regions, specifically plant-related consumptive habits (food and medicine). Char aims to bridge the gaps in time between paleoethnobotany and contemporary ethnobotany, collaborating with present day Indigenous and Tejano communities in the Texas-Mexico borderlands, in order to address health problems, nutritional inequity, and other factors of marginalization and colonial imposition plaguing these communities today. Through this multidisciplinary research, Char is well-versed in chemistry, botany, ecology, mycology, entomology, socio-cultural anthropology, among others, as well as archaeology and history, especially of indigenous peoples and colonial powers past and present in the Chihuahuan desert and adjacent regions, of what are today Texas and New Mexico, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas. Research and activism aside, Char enjoys mentorship and sharing their enthusiasm with others, be it for plants, people, or anything else they're passionate about. Char is a PlantingScience mentor, the terrestrial archaeology representative for the Association of Anthropology Graduate Students at Texas A&M University, and strives to make their home department, and institution overall, a safe and equitable space, especially for queer students, staff, and faculty.

Savannah Anez is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Plant Biology program at Penn State. She is originally from rural Minnesota, and received her BS in Biochemistry from Notre Dame. She is especially fascinated by the complex biochemistry of plants, and how those complexities influence the people who use and interact with them. Currently, Savannah is working with Dr. Joshua Kellogg and Dr. Eric Burkhart as well as a network of citizen volunteers to characterize the specific chemistry, bioactivity, and chemical ecology of ghost pipe (Monotropa uniflora) and to document its traditional folk uses. She hopes to produce scientific results that have been guided by historical and contemporary knowledge and are directly relevant to the community she is drawing from.

Nishanth Gurav is a 3^rd year Ph.D. Candidate at the Tropical Botany and Ethnobiology Lab (TRIBE), Faculty of Tropical Agrisciences (FTA), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. He is from India and completed my M.Sc. in ‘Conservation Futures’ from the University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU), Bangalore. He has extensively worked with local communities in creating People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBR) for over 70 villages in the states of Karnataka and Chhattisgarh as a Research Fellow at TDU. His current research investigates sustainable practices and folk taxonomy of wild edible plants used by the Gond tribals in Bastar, India. He is passionate about exploring wild plants, their local names, cultural practices and how these could be relevant in local curriculums and conservation policies. Besides research, he likes to use different mediums of social media to create a global dialogue on ethnobotany and understand local perspectives around it. He believes in using transdisciplinary approaches and creating an inclusive atmosphere in trying to create a sustainable world.

Charles Nyarang’o Nyamwamu is a third year PhD student (Plant taxonomy) in University of Eldoret, Kenya. His current study, which involves characterization of Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) cultivars in Kenya, focuses on the morphological, genetic and agronomic traits of various cassava varieties across the country. This research targets to identify suitable cultivars for different regions, enhances breeding programs, improves crop productivity and food security while conserving genetic diversity to address ecological challenges. He has a MSc degree in botany (Plant taxonomy) from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya which assessed the impacts of weed management practices on weed abundance and diversity on farms in Kisii Central Sub County, Western Kenya.

He has published twenty-two (22) papers in different peer referred journals and also one Book Chapter. He is also an active member in community-based activities, having engaged in establishment of a local community library in in Nyamira County, Kenya. He aims at getting engaged effectively in addressing training/teaching, research, technical challenges and with an effort to establish and sustain good performance standards and qualities in life science fraternity more especially in the field of Botany at large.