2026 Science for All Summit

Dr. Locklear spent many years working with the North Carolina Teacher Academy, where she provided professional development opportunities to teachers across the state.  She has provided professional development at the local, regional, state, national, and international levels, where she had the honor to present at the World’s Indigenous Peoples Conference in 2014. Dr. Locklear has an undergraduate and a graduate degree in mathematics education, as well as an Educational Specialist and Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction.  

Dr. Locklear has served in many different capacities.  She currently serves as the Chairperson of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Student Service Enrichment Program, an appointed member by the North Carolina General Assembly for the Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission (PEPSC), 1st Vice-President for the National Indian Education Board of Directors, and an advisory board member for the Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity and Opportunity.  She has also served as a member of the NC Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education Center Board, a member of the Intertribal Talking Circle Substance Abuse Prevention Native Youth Community Partnership Grant, and former Chairperson of the State Advisory Council on Indian Education. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, and an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of NC. 

Dr. Hernandez’s impact spans continents, with a focus on advancing Indigenous land rights and tenure in Latin America as well as in Eastern and Western Africa. As the founder of  Earth Daughters, an Indigenous-led nonprofit, she leads transformative efforts to empower transnational Indigenous women and youth through mutual aid, climate justice, and grassroots organizing. 
 
Dr. Hernandez is the best-selling author of the award-winning Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science. Her highly anticipated second book, Growing Papaya Trees: Nurturing Indigenous Solutions for Climate Displacement, will be published in November 2025. 
 
In recognition of her visionary leadership at the nexus of science, advocacy, and Indigenous knowledge, Forbes named Dr. Hernandez one of the 100 most powerful and influential women in Central America. 

Dr. Saturn is dedicated to advocating for marginalized communities—including BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, and women—with particular focus on STEM and health fields in higher education. A Chamoru (Indigenous culture of the Mariana Islands) and Indian queer feminist, Dr. Saturn is an award-winning scholar-activist whose work centers on anti-colonial and anti-oppression praxes and the neuroscience of emotions, prosociality, stress, trauma, healing, and resilience.