The 2024 Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Pauline Newman ’47 Distinguished Lecture by Beronda Montgomery

Beronda L. Montgomery, PhD is Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Grinnell College. She studies how individuals perceive, respond to, and are impacted by environments in which they exist. Her research efforts are focused on the responses of photosynthetic organisms to external light and nutrient cues. Additionally, Dr. Montgomery pursues this theme in the context of effective mentoring and academic leadership.

Humans engage with plants with an expectation that these organisms have the capacity to grow and thrive. Plants are extremely sensitive to external environmental conditions and adapt their growth and behavior to dynamic cues, which results in optimized survival and productivity. The specific ways in which humans engage with the plants growing in their environment offer many lessons about mentoring, professional development interventions and impactful leadership, as well as a need for promoting ecosystems-based awareness, tending, and cultivation to promote the success of individuals therein. Dr. Montgomery will discuss specific plant biology-inspired practices for supporting the comprehensive development of a diverse range of students, academic staff, and faculty members as researchers, scholarly thinkers, and independent practitioners.

Sponsored by Science, Technology, and Society.