Fernanda was born and raised in Mexico, where she earned a B.A. in Textile Design from the Ibero-American University. It was here that she was first introduced to community-based conservation. After graduating, she moved to California, where she earned a second degree in General Science and Art History. In 2022, she participated in the UCLA/Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation workshop, which expanded her knowledge in the conservation field and led to a fully funded internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Pilar Brooks received her BA in art history with a minor in studio art from Rollins College in 2019, where she performed independent research on the ethical and technical challenges in the conservation of African objects. At UCLA, she hopes to explore treatment options for preserving organic coatings in West African art, community-based participatory research, and environmental sustainability in museums.

Melina Edic grew up in Hiram, Ohio. She received dual BA degrees in Anthropology and Ancient History & Classics in 2021 from the Ohio State University. As an undergrad, she volunteered in archaeology labs and participated in excavations in the Midwest. She was introduced to conservation as a student assistant in the OSU Libraries Conservation Department.

Hattie Hāpai (Kanaka ʻŌiwi) was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, but her family also extends to the islands of Molokai, Maui, and Hawaiʻi. She received a BA in Anthropology with a minor in Japanese from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2021.

Paige Hilman is from Tucson, Arizona. She received her BA in Art History with a minor in Arts Administration from the University of Arizona in 2021. After graduating, she worked as a Conservation Assistant at the Western Archaeological and Conservation Center. There, she completed conservation treatments, surveys, and rehousing for National Park Service collection materials.

Born and raised in Indonesia, Saiful Bakhri is a graduate student in the UCLA Conservation of Material Culture Ph.D. Program. Through this program, he seeks to address the cultural importance and physical production of traditional materials for conservation treatment to better meet the environmental, social, and cultural needs of non-Western communities and how they can be incorporated into Western practice. His current research focuses on investigating soapnut as a biodegradable surfactant in cleaning Batik, an Indonesian textile that is well-known due to its distinct wax-resist dyeing technique.

Christian de Brer has an MA from the UCLA/Getty Interdepartmental Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials, where he concentrated his efforts on the long-term preservation of organic materials in regional museum collections. Since 2011 he has overseen all conservation-related activities at the Fowler Museum at UCLA.

Chongwen is from Liaoning, China. He received his BSc in Chemistry with a second degree in Conservation of Cultural Relics at Peking University in 2021. His next destination was University College London where he obtained an MSc in Archaeological Science with distinction. At UCLA, his current research is dedicated to developing bio-inspired antifouling strategies for underwater cultural heritage.

Rachel Moore is a member of the Hopi Tribe in Arizona but calls Albuquerque, New Mexico, her home. She received a BA in anthropology with an emphasis in archaeology and minor in visual arts from Brigham Young University in Provo in 2014.

Naomi Rosenkranz graduated from Barnard College with a BA in Physics in 2015. She worked with Columbia University’s Ancient Ink Lab and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to identify and characterize inks, pigments, and paints. Since 2015, she has worked with the Making and Knowing Project at Columbia to study Renaissance craft workshops through historical reconstruction to gain insights into the material, technical, and intellectual world of the past.