Abbi Turner (she/her) is a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests involve host-brood parasite interactions. Her dissertation research focuses on different aspects of egg rejection behavior in the American robin.

Jin Bai (he/him) is a Ph.D. candidate in the Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology program at NCSU, where he researches how historical and current anthropogenic and socioeconomic factors affect urban bird diversity. He is the project coordinator of a citizen science project, Triangle Bird Count, and a board member and community science committee chair of the New Hope Audubon Society. He also co-founded a non-profit organization, City Bird, with the mission of documenting bird-window collisions and advocating for bird deterrent films in the triangle area.

Murry Burgess (she/her) is an Associate Wildlife Biologist®, Urban Ecologist, and Ornithologist who studies the effects of sensory pollutants on songbird health and development. She currently conducts a field experiment testing the impacts of light pollution on Barn Swallow chicks. In addition to her research, Murry is an environmental educator and children’s author. As a CEO and co-founder, Murry started Field Inclusive based on her own experiences working in a rural, predominately white area and her subsequent field safety activism.

Kelsey Byers (all pronouns welcome) is originally from the USA, where she grew up in a family of scientists and was encouraged to wander in the woods from an early age. She completed her undergraduate education at MIT in 2007 in molecular biology and genetics before doing a PhD in plant evolutionary genetics and chemical ecology at the University of Washington from 2008-2014. Kelsey then was a PLANT FELLOWS postdoctoral fellow at the University of Zürich, Switzerland. After a second postdoctoral position at the University of Cambridge, she began her own group at the John Innes Centre in Norwich in 2020. As a multiply-disabled and multiply-queer individual, Kelsey is a tireless – though often very tired! – advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM, particularly the inclusion of disabled people in biology, and has served on multiple committees and panels and given multiple seminars in this area. In her spare time she enjoys reading, cooking, baking, birdwatching, and collecting insects, especially hoverflies.

Nicole Jackson (she/her)is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Education & Interpretation. As CEO and co-founder of NHerNature, Nicole currently works as a nature coach and environmental education consultant assisting non-profits to create programs that educate youth and families on how to build a healthy relationship with nature. She is also a board member of the Columbus Audubon, co-organizer of Black Birder’s Week (2020), and founder of Black in National Parks Week (2020).

Lauren D. Pharr (she/her) is an avian ecologist who studies the impacts of climate change on avian behavioral responses. She is currently a Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University pursing her degree in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology & researching reproductive success in the federally endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW). She is an award-winning science communicator, a member of the Leadership in Public Science Cluster, and holds editorial roles at both North Carolina Sea Grant, The Wildlife Society, and The Nature Conservancy.

Thanks to our Sponsor of Field Inclusive Week 2023, The Nature Conservancy – NC Chapter.