current lab members

Ledeebari D. Banuna is a PhD student in Geography at Penn State. She is the recipient of a 2023 Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. She has experience in leadership roles working with students and key partners via student organizations as well as experience organizing with youth internationally on food systems, climate change, extraction, and Indigenous rights topics. Some of her experiences include being a youth delegate at the 2023 World Food Forum (WFF) Youth Action Assembly and volunteering at the 23rd Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. She participated in the 2023 UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum (UNGIYF) and helped draft the 2023 Rome Declaration of Indigenous Youth as part of the African regional group. She was invited to speak at a side event at the UN World Food Forum 2023 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Land and Water division on the importance of water to her family’s farm in Ogoniland, Nigeria, where she highlighted the effects that oil pollution and environmental degradation are having on Ogoni Indigenous food systems and ways of life.

In Fall 2023, she joined the Penn State Global Youth Storytelling and Research Lab (GYSRL) as a lab member.

Abigail Franks is a 7th generation Appalachian and lover of people and planet. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) with a B.A in Political Science and Peace, Justice, and Ecology; she was a 2019 Rhodes Scholarship Finalist for the University of Oxford in the UK. She is currently pursuing her Master of Public Administration and teaching Environmental Politics at her alma mater. She is especially passionate about transforming the South into a sustainable and resilient region through advocating for and crafting climate adaptive and environmental policies. Her interests include southern US history, environmental policy, environmental justice, community-based leadership, disaster resilience, clean energy, and grassroots climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. She is the co-host of the Southeast Climate and Energy Network’s Climate Justice Y’all Podcast. 

Timothy Benally completed his master’s studies at Penn State, where he studied Recreation Parks and Tourism Management and completed a dual degree in TREES (Transdisciplinary Research in the Environment and Society). Also a Penn State alumnus and McNair Scholar, he graduated with a B.S. in Psychology in 2021 while at his home on the Navajo Nation during the Covid-19 pandemic. His research took place in close collaboration with the Navajo Nation courtesy of a research fellowship bestowed upon him by the LandscapeU National Research Traineeship (National Science Foundation). 

Driven by an unyielding commitment to Indigenous rights and education, Timothy was fundamental in the creation of IPSA (Indigenous Peoples Student Association), a group that not only initiated Penn State’s inaugural Acknowledgement of Land but also actively advocates for substantial resources including in-state tuition for all Indigenous Students and a student center on campus. He dreams of and works toward a future where Navajo students, armed with education and a nurturing environment, explore the world fearlessly and contribute proactively to their communities.