In this free, online workshop, Dr. Kevin Bird will discuss current politics and how scientists can organize in this moment. Join us!
SPEAKER
Dr. Kevin Bird is an NSF Plant Genome Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of California, Davis, and a department steward for UAW Local 5811. He is interested in plant genome evolution and evolutionary genomics, currently exploring plant pangenomic variation and how gene and genome duplications create metabolic novelty. Concurrently with his plant research, he does research and scholarly writing about the co-option of human genetics and evolution research by far-right extremists, translating research for the general public to reduce misunderstandings about race and genetics.
He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Missouri, where he double majored in Biological Sciences and Philosophy, followed by a Fulbright Fellowship for evolutionary systems biology research at the Flemish Institute of Biotechnology in Ghent, Belgium. He received his PhD in Horticulture and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior at Michigan State University, studying whole-genome duplications in plants and the evolutionary history of strawberry. He also served on the Horticulture Department’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee and in consecutive terms as Chief Information Officer and President of the Graduate Employees Union AFT Local 6196. Dr. Bird is the product of three public land-grant universities and is passionate about social, racial, and economic justice and the radical science movement.
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