When Trees Testify: Learning with and from trees

In a cultural and personal reclamation of Black American history and Black botanical mastery/expertise, Dr. Beronda Montgomery offers lessons from the natural world shared through the science and stories of long-lived trees. She will highlight trees explored in When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History and America’s Black Botanical Legacy, including oak, willow, and apple, while examining her own family’s personal history with enslavement and a close relationship with nature and trees.

about the speaker

Beronda L. Montgomery, PhD, is a writer, science communicator, and researcher. During 2025–2026, she is serving as the Sally Starling Seaver Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. Beronda has spent 20 years in academia, most recently as Vice President for Academic Affairs/Dean (2022–2024) and Professor of Biology at Grinnell College (2022–present). Prior to that, Dr. Montgomery was an endowed Professor of Biochemistry and a senior administrator—including Assistant Provost of Faculty Development and Associate Vice President of Research and Innovation—at Michigan State University (2004–2022).

As a researcher, Dr. Montgomery studies how individuals perceive, respond to, and are impacted by the environments in which they exist. Her laboratory-based research efforts are focused on the responses of photosynthetic organisms to external light and nutrient cues. Additionally, Dr. Montgomery pursues this theme in the context of effective mentoring and academic leadership.

Dr. Montgomery is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (2018), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2020), the American Society of Plant Biologists (2021), and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2022), as well as the American Society for Cell Biology Mentoring Keynote honoree (2021). She was named one of Cell’s Inspiring Black Scientists in America. Dr. Montgomery has received the Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award from the American Society of Plant Biologists (2024), the award for Excellence in Supporting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging from the North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee (2024), and the 2023 Hutchinson Medal of the Chicago Horticultural Society. In 2025, she was named a recipient of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), the nation’s highest honors for mentors who work to fully develop the country’s human resources in STEM. Dr. Montgomery is the author of two books: Lessons from Plants (Harvard University Press, 2021) and When Trees Testify (Henry Holt, 2026).