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Dr. Montgomery will explore the question: “How can plants teach us to be better humans?” She encourages us to consider how insights gathered from plant physiology, phenotypic plasticity, and other plant growth phenomena can help us improve our lives and our society. Genetically identical plants can have very different appearances, metabolisms, and behaviors if the external environments in which they are growing differ in light or nutrient availability, among other environmental differences. Plants are even capable of transformative behaviors that enable them to maximize their chances of survival in dynamic and sometimes unfriendly environments, while also transforming the environment in which they exist in the process. In this talk, Dr. Montgomery will focus on insights for humans derived from lessons from plants. These lessons focus on how plants achieve their own purposes by following common principles of the universe on thriving and resilience as individuals and in communities.
Beronda L. Montgomery, PhD, is a writer, science communicator, and plant biologist. For more than 20 years as a professor, her primary laboratory-based research has been focused on the responses of photosynthetic organisms (i.e., plants and cyanobacteria) to external light cues. Additionally, she pursues the theme of how organisms perceive and respond to their environment in the context of effective mentoring and leadership of individuals, and the role of innovative leaders in supporting success.
Dr. Montgomery has been named one of the journal Cell‘s Inspiring Black Scientists in America and was awarded the 2021 Cynthia Westcott Science Writing Award, 2022 Adolph E. Gude, Jr. Award for outstanding service to the science of plant biology, and 2023 Hutchinson Medal of the Chicago Horticultural Society. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Plant Biologists, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the American Academy of Microbiology. In 2025, she was named recipient of a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, the Nation’s highest honors for mentors. Dr. Montgomery is author of Lessons from Plants (Harvard University Press, 2021) and When Trees Testify (forthcoming from Holt in January 2026).
