Janice Munemitsu, author of The Kindness of Color

Sandra Mendez Duran whose family were pioneers for equality in education and part of the Kindness of Color story.

Blythe Wilson, California State Parks Relevancy and History Manager

Learn the story of the Munemitsu and Mendez families and how their story will inform our work to interpret the Japanese American farming community’s legacy at Crystal Cove State Park, as well as the broader work in Orange County, across the nation, and throughout the world.

Michael O’Connell oversees all aspects of stewardship, public programs and business operations for the Irvine Ranch Conservancy. He has 25 years experience in land protection and conservation science including senior positions with The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund. He has served on the Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology, and the Advisory Board of the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara. He is currently on the Dean’s Leadership Council for the School of Biological Sciences at UC Irvine. Michael has co-authored two books on conservation and a number of scientific and popular articles. He has a bachelor’s degree in Geology from Carleton College and a Master’s in Conservation Biology from Yale School of the Environment.

Guest Speaker: Magnus B. Egerstedt is a Swedish-American roboticist who is the Dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the International Federation of Automatic Control as well as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Egerstedt’s research pursuits center on control theory and robotics. His work has resulted in innovations in remote environmental monitoring and precision agriculture, and he has worked extensively on the control and coordination of complex networks, such as multirobot systems, mobile sensor networks and cyber-physical systems. He led the creation of the Robotarium, a remotely accessible swarm robotics lab used by thousands of researchers around the world. He also helped develop SlothBot, a hyper-energy-efficient environmental monitoring robot. 

Guest Speaker:  Armando Quintero was named director for the California Department of Parks and Recreation on Aug. 18, 2020. An experienced parks professional with expertise in park operations, outdoor education, equity and access, and diversity and inclusion in hiring and retention, Quintero is an environmental scientist by training. 

Add someone from Yurok Condor Restoration Program