Vipul Sharma, Ph.D., is the assistant director, Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Chicago and co-chair of the NPA Diversity Task Force. He received his doctoral degree in cardiovascular developmental genetics from the Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University, UK and did his postdoctoral research at Washington University in St. Louis, USA. During his postdoctoral training, in addition to his research on understanding heart development and congenital heart defects, he served as the outreach director and was a member of the executive council of the campus’ postdoctoral association. He also collaborated with the university’s Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on projects championing postdocs. He is passionate about graduate and postdoctoral affairs like mentorship, advocacy, policymaking, and increasing representation and diversity in higher education and leadership roles. He has also written op-eds for Inside Higher Ed, Times Higher Education, and the NPA's POSTDOCket on these themes. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his cats.

Maria Lund Dahlberg, M.S., is a senior program officer and study director with the Board on Higher Education and Workforce, the Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and the Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Her current work focuses on the Impact of COVID-19 on the Research Careers of Women in Academic Science, Engineering, and Medicine; the Response and Adaptation of Higher Education to the COVID-19 Pandemic; the Science on Effective Mentoring in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine); and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Postsecondary Education. Her work with the National Academies spans topics ranging from equity and identity in science, through science communications, to postdoctoral research experiences, health care, and innovation ecosystems. She came to the National Academies by way of a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, which she received after completing all requirements short of finalizing the dissertation for her doctorate in physics at the Pennsylvania State University. Lund Dahlberg holds a Bachelor of Arts with high honors in physics from Vassar College and a Master of Science in physics from the Pennsylvania State University. You can connect with her via Twitter (@RiaDahlberg).

Arpa Ghosh, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral research associate at the Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State University. Her research focuses on developing sustainable processes for making biorenewable fuels and chemicals. She received her doctoral degree in chemical engineering in 2018 from Iowa State and worked at Intel Corporation before joining Bioeconomy Institute in 2019. Prior to being a Cyclone, she completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in Chemical Engineering from India. Currently, she is the Vice President of ISU Postdoc Association. In the past, she has served as a member of the Diversity and International Task Forces of the NPA. She is passionate about gender equity and particularly interested in increasing participation of women and other minority groups in STEM fields. Recently, she has published an article on “Barriers to Success of Women Postdoc During COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond” in the NPA's POSTDOCket. She has been actively engaged with various organizations in her field to help with professional development of women. She is presently a member of the awards committee in Women in Chemical Engineering of American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She has previously served as an officer in the Graduate Society of Women Engineers and the Chemical Engineering Graduate Society at Iowa State University during her doctorate program.

Ayesha Tulloch, Ph.D., is an Australian Research Council Discovery early career research fellow at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on developing and using good ecological knowledge to inform biodiversity conservation decisions. She worked in a variety of roles in applied conservation and wildlife ecology, from zookeeping and environmental education to managing large-scale ecological restoration projects, before returning to academia to do research aiming to improve how we monitor and manage species and ecosystems to recover them from human impacts. Tullock is the vice president of policy and outreach for the Ecological Society of Australia, and works with government agencies and NGOs in Australasia, North America and Africa including Bush Heritage Australia, the Wildlife Conservation Society and BirdLife, to help deliver effective policy and on-ground actions, including leading the national Threatened Species Index for Australia. She is a strong advocate for equity and diversity, and is an active member of the University of Sydney Pride Network as well as holding a leadership role on the Pride Network Steering Committee. She is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community and chairs the Queensland Chapter of Queers in Science, a national initiative to support LGBTQIA+ people in STEMM. Her research investigating inclusion and equity gaps for LGBTQIA+ people at academic events received international media interest including a Nature editorial. In her free time, she can generally be found somewhere in the bush chasing birds or cuddled up on the couch with a fantasy novel and her dog.