Dr. Stewart Ibarra is an internationally recognized scientist and executive leader specializing in infectious disease ecology, climate–health linkages, & equitable global health partnerships. She now serves the Humility, Kindness, and Love Global Movement. Previously, she served as executive director of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) an intergovernmental organization serving 19 countries of the Americas. She also served as the co-chair of the Belmont Forum and as an expert advisor to diverse international organizations. She has extensive experience developing and directing multinational research programs, embedding equity into science–policy interfaces, and advancing global change resilience strategies across Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Global South. She received her PhD in ecology from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry and her Masters in Public Administration from Syracuse University.

Dr. Erica Smithwick, Distinguished Professor of Geography, is a landscape and ecosystem ecologist. She is the Director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, and Associate Director of the Institute of Energy and the Environment. Smithwick leads the Penn State Climate Consortium that brings together interdisciplinary researchers in partnership with society to innovate climate solutions. Additionally, she serves as program co-chair for Transdisciplinary Research on Environment and Society. She also leads the Eastern Fire Network (EFNet), a multi-institution research and training network focused on advancing wildfire science in the eastern US. Smithwick’s research aims to support sustainable land management decision-making under climate change, with particular focus on forest resilience to wildfire, natural carbon sequestration strategies, and Indigenous knowledge systems. She has worked extensively across the US and Africa (Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, and Zambia).