Join us for an evening of true, personal stories about science from the Atlanta area! From the comfort of your home, enjoy three true, personal stories about science.

This event is free, or you may pay up to $50 on a sliding scale if you wish to donate to The Story Collider.

Meisa Salaita, Kellie Vinal, and Emma Yarbrough

Dr. Na’Taki Osborne Jelks is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental and Health Sciences Program at Spelman College. She investigates urban environmental health disparities; the role that place, race, and social factors play in influencing health; the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations, and the connection between urban watersheds, pollution, the built environment, and health. Jelks is particularly interested in approaches that engage environmentally overburdened communities in monitoring local environmental conditions, generating actionable data for community change, and developing effective community-based interventions that revitalize toxic, degraded spaces into healthy places. She is also co-founder of the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, a community-based, environmental justice organization.

Roxana Rodriguez was born and raised in Puerto Rico. For as long as she can remember, she has had a passion for infectious diseases, which led her to pursue a doctorate degree in microbiology. This took her to Atlanta, where she obtained her Ph.D. and is currently participating in a post-doctoral fellowship. She did not expect for her obsession over disease outbreaks would lead her to defend her dissertation and start a new job during a pandemic. She hopes to one day return to Puerto Rico, where she can share her experiences and use her skills to help her island.

Jarrett Stieber is the chef and owner of Little Bear in Summerhill, ATL. Born in Pittsburgh, but an Atlanta resident since the age of three, Stieber began working in restaurants professionally as a fifteen-year-old and never looked back. After spending his career working in upscale restaurant around Atlanta for a decade, Jarrett fell into running a pop up restaurant, Eat Me Speak Me. The pop up managed to survive for seven years and helped garner local and national accolades including a James Beard Rising Star Chef nomination. Running EMSM eventually led to Stieber’s first brick and mortar restaurant, Little Bear, which opened on February 26, 2021. Named for Jarrett and his wife, Hallie Stieber’s, Great Pyrenees dog, Fernando, Little Bear has quickly become a beloved neighborhood restaurant in Summerhill despite the ongoing pandemic.

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