Dr. Jenna Jambeck is the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor in Environmental Engineering at the University of Georgia, a 2022 MacArthur Fellow, Founder of the Circularity Informatics Lab in the New Materials Institute and a 2018-2021 National Geographic Explorer. She has been conducting research on solid waste issues and marine debris/plastic pollution for two decades. Her work has been recognized by the global community and translated into policy discussions by the High-Level Panel for the Ocean, testimony to Congress, in G7 and G20 Declarations, and the United Nations Environment program. She has conducted public environmental diplomacy as an International Informational Speaker for the US Department of State since 2017. This has included multiple global programs of speaking events, meetings, presentations to governmental bodies, and media outreach around the world including Chile, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa, Vietnam, Jordan, Israel, South Korea, India, Taiwan and China. She has won awards for her teaching and research in the College of Engineering and the UGA Creative Research Medal, as well as a Public Service and Outreach Fellowship and in 2024 she won SEC Professor of the year. In 2014 she sailed across the Atlantic Ocean with 13 other women in eXXpedition to sample land and open ocean plastic and encourage women to enter STEM disciplines. In 2019 she co-led the first ever women-led expedition team for National Geographic conducting comprehensive research on plastic pollution in the Ganga River Basin. She and her research team lead the science component of the Mississippi River Plastic Pollution Initiative along with the Mayors along the Mississippi and UNEP North America. She is co-developer of the mobile app Marine Debris Tracker, a tool that continues to facilitate a growing global citizen science initiative. The app and citizen science program has documented the location of over nine million litter and marine debris items throughout the world. She is the host of a podcast called Aquathread on WUGA NPR station and co-author on a book from MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series Called Plastics.