Bucknell Hosts 13th Annual Sustainability Symposium on Tree Networks March 26

Dr. Beronda Montgomery, a biochemist and plant scientist, brings her new book *When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America's Black Botanical Legacy* to Lewisburg this week as the keynote speaker for Bucknell University's 13th Annual Sustainability Symposium, a free public event running Thursday, March 26, from noon to 5:30 p.m. at McDonnell Commons.

The symposium, one of the center's signature events, carries the theme "Tree Networks: Trees as Social, Ecological and Technical Beings." It invites attendees to consider the dynamic relationships between trees, forest ecosystems, and our social entanglements, and is part of the Weis Center's Trees Series.

In *When Trees Testify*, Montgomery, an award-winning plant biologist, explores the ways seven trees, as well as the cotton shrub, are intertwined with Black history and culture. A professor of biology at Grinnell College with more than 20 years in higher education, Montgomery studies how plants and photosynthetic bacteria perceive, respond to, and are impacted by the environments in which they exist.

The symposium will highlight work at the intersection of trees, data science, and sustainability, with Montgomery weaving together Black history and botanical knowledge in her address. The program also includes a panel on efforts to integrate trees into communities and study their ecology, followed by campus-themed tour options and a Sustainability Expo.

The symposium also marks a milestone moment for the organizing body. The Bucknell Center for Sustainability & the Environment is transitioning this month to a new name, The Ecology Center, to better reflect the center's interdisciplinary approach to addressing complex environmental and societal challenges. The announcement comes as the center celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Professor James Mark Shields, comparative humanities and Asian thought faculty director of the center, framed the renaming in broad terms. Center leaders say the name change better reflects the broad ways the center engages environmental issues through science, technology, the humanities, and community partnerships. The center was originally created as the Bucknell Environmental Center in 2005, and in 2015 adopted the name Center for Sustainability & the Environment and launched the Coal Region Field Station, which has since become a model for community-engaged learning.

The event is free and open to the public, but organizers ask for advance registration to plan for food, reduce waste, and keep this and future events free for all. Registration is available through bucknell.edu. The symposium also spotlights the Dominguez Center for Data Science among more than a dozen campus sponsors, including the Department of Critical Black Studies, the Department of Environmental Studies, the David Burpee Endowment, and the Humanities Center.