Hi everyone! My name is Brenen Wynd, I identify as He/Him/His and I am a graduate student, pursuing a PhD in Geosciences at Virginia Tech studying Vertebrate Paleontology. I am very interested in global events called mass extinctions, where most of the animals on the planet went extinct over short periods of time. I want to better understand who survives these events and what kinds of patterns of trait evolution we can identify across these events. I am also very active in science communication and striving to make my work accessible to non-scientists. Being active in scientific communication and accessibility, I am also very interested in diversity and inclusion and what I can do as a scientist to promote diversity and inclusion in my field. I am taking Diversity for a Global Society (grad5214) here at Virginia Tech to learn more about diversity and inclusion and what I can do to be an advocate/ally. Greatly looking forward to a semester of learning and conversation!