Kaylee Arnold

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Plant Disease Team

“Having compassion for one another’s backgrounds is important. I think science is awesome and I want even more people to do it. And I want to make sure that there is a place for a diversity of scientists and that our team can be that place.”  

Kaylee Arnold is a thoughtful researcher who values inclusivity and accessibility in her research both for those on her team and the community. 

“I want community members to drive our research. When they say they notice or are concerned by something, or that they want more information about it, we should respond by incorporating their observations into our research. Rachel and I are not from St. Louis. We have to make sure we are talking to the people of St. Louis and having them drive and inform our questions. You can not truly have ecological research without community knowledge. That is really important.” 

Kaylee’s commitment to maintaining an inclusive research environment is supported by her three mentors Drs. Rachel Penczykowski, Danielle Lee, and Solny Adalsteinsson, who hold similar values in their labs. 

“Something that I cherish so much is that all three of my mentors are young women who were postdocs not that long ago. It has been really nice to know that they understand how it was. All three of them are committed to finding genuine ways to create diversity and inclusion. I have found that equitability and accessibility are really rooted in all aspects of their research and through the people they invite to join their labs. It has been really cool to see that this does not have to just be something tacked on. It is something you can have in every aspect of your professional career. You can bring in all the people you want, but if there's not an inclusive environment on the team, that only goes so far.”