Brianna Johns | briannaljohns@gmail.com
EDUCATION
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
GPA: 3.74/4.0, magna cum laude, August 2015 – May 2020
B.S. Zoology, Minor in Wildlife Science
B.A. International Studies, Concentration in Global and Cultural Studies
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
Community Development Lead – Digital Naturalism Laboratories (Panama, Indonesia, USA, Australia)
Working with communities across the globe to develop and manufacture low-cost insect monitors (Mothboxes), hosting multilingual technology workshops, and overseeing the distribution of Mothboxes across Australia and New Zealand.
October 2024 – Current
Former Fulbright Student Study/Research Grantee (October 2024 – September 2025)
Socio-Environmental Knowledge Commons Fellow – National Science Foundation (Panama, Indonesia)
Conducted multi-sited ethnographic research in order to study the human and ecological dimensions of open source hardware in wildlife conservation efforts.
February 2025 – October 2025
Community Coordinator – Gathering for Open Science Hardware (Global, Australia)
Responsible for supporting the Global Open Science Hardware (GOSH) Community towards their goal to make open science hardware ubiquitous. Supported governance groups, the wider community, and the board of the GOSH 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, as well as helping to organise activities such as global GOSH meetings, writing sprints, and collaborative development projects.
January 2021 – August 2024
Communications Manager – Open Science Shop (Global, Australia)
Core organiser and facilitator for an international network of open science hardware manufacturers and developers. Managed communications across teams and curated social media content to engage and connect with target audiences.
August 2023 – August 2024
Public Science Cluster, NC State University (USA)
Coordinator, Citizen Science Campus. Overseeing the formation of the Citizen Science Campus by facilitating faculty workshops, managing online content, and communicating with NC State administration.
Program Assistant. Responsible for assisting the Public Science Cluster at NC State with content curation, event planning, and management.
September 2018 – August 2020
Program Associate (Internship) – International Focus (USA)
Responsible for arranging professional meetings for the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) delegates. This includes researching professional resources, planning and hosting events, and meeting with visiting delegates.
May 2018 – August 2018
Undergraduate Assistant – Cooper Lab, NC State University (USA)
Served as a research assistant in the Cooper lab involving citizen science research, data remediation, and volunteer outreach.
May 2018 – August 2018
Ambassador – Global Village, NC State University (USA)
Served as a mentor to international and domestic students living in the Global Village at NC State. Responsible for creating and hosting events within the village.
August 2016 – December 2016
GRANT FUNDING & FELLOWSHIPS
Travel grant, American Museum of Natural History, Mothbox Workshop, 2,200 USD, July 2026,
2025 WILDLABS Award, A Mass Manufacturable Mothbox, 50,000 USD, June 2025 – June 2026
Socio-Environmental Knowledge Commons (SEEKCommons) Fellowship, Panama, 12,000 USD, February 2025 – October 2025.
Fulbright Study/Research Award, Panama, 2024-2025
2024 Open Hardware Summit Fellow, 1,000 USD, December 2023 – May 2024
North Carolina State University Office of Undergraduate Research Grant, “Citizen Science and Inclusivity at NC State: A Study of Undergraduate Student Views”, 880 USD, August 2019 – May 2020.
Public Lab Barnraising 2019 Conference Travel Grant, 270 USD, February 2019
PUBLICATIONS & REPORTS
Szczygieł, H., Quitmeyer, A., Johns, B., Dent, D., Sondhi, Y., Zuleta, D., & Antonelli, A. (2026). Simultaneous Automated Insect Monitoring Across a Remote Tropical Elevation Gradient With Mothbox. Integrative And Comparative Biology. 66. 10.1093/icb/icag072.
Szczygieł, H. A., Johns, B., Fortet, B., Dent, D. H., Quitmeyer, K., & Quitmeyer, A. (2026). Mothbox and Mothbot: Automated light trap and data processing system for scalable insect monitoring. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210x.70327
Hsing, P., Parker, A., Goguichvili, S., Johns, B., He, R., Moudgalya, P., & Gunn, A. (2024). Open Science hardware and space research. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11181848
Hsing, P., Johns, B., & Matthes, A. (2024). Ecology and conservation researchers should adopt open source technologies. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 5, 1364181. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2024.1364181
Weinberg, M., Molloy, J., Bowman, R., Dosemagen, S., Irwin, N., Johns, B. and Stirling, J. (2021). Distributed Manufacturing of Open Hardware: A Report of the Open Hardware Distribution & Documentation Working Group.
Arancio, J., Basch, M., Dosemagen, S., Molloy, J., & Johns, B. (2021). GOSH Community Events Framework. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6278222
Johns, B., Thomas, D., Lundgren, L., Larson, L., & Cooper, C. (2021). Undergraduate Student Experiences with Citizen Science Highlight Potential to Broaden Scientific Engagement. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 6(1), 33.
Johns, B., Caslin, M., Lewis, M., Chief, K., Katti, M. (2020) Native Americans Misrepresented in Health Data Pay a Heavy COVID-19 Price. Science for the People, 23(3), 11-15.
Articles and Blog Posts
Sustaining community cohesion and enthusiasm with a cadence of “sparks” and social activities. Brianna Johns and Pen-Yuan Hsing, Journal of Open Hardware, October 17th, 2022.
Open Hardware Distribution and Documentation working group: Governing a central organization. Brianna Johns, Journal of Open Hardware, May 31st, 2021.
Open Hardware Distribution and Documentation working group: Creating a network. Brianna Johns, Journal of Open Hardware, May 30th, 2021.
Podcasts
Co-host of Queer Science!
“#67 Queer Science” Storytellers of STEMM episode 67, October 29th, 2020.
Citizen Science at North Carolina State University Citizen Science: Stories of Science We Can All Do Together episode 10, January 24th, 2020.
Mentioned in:
How a New Podcast is Making STEM Accessible: Queer Science! is Breaking Boundaries Sarah Kate Connor, North Carolina State University Department of Biotechnology Program, November 6th, 2020.
Interview with Brianna Johns North Carolina State University Department of Biological Sciences, Featured Undergraduates, February 17th, 2020
Starting a Citizen Science Club at a University Discover Magazine’s Citizen Science Salon, January 25th, 2019
CONFERENCES ATTENDED
Organiser, GOSH @ Tetem, Enschede, Netherlands, July 2024
Facilitator, 2024 Open Hardware Summit, Montreal, Canada, May 2024
Year of Open Science Culminating Conference, Online, March 2024
Big Team Science Conference, Online, October 2023
FOSSASIA Summit 2023, Singapore, April 2023
Organiser, 2022 Gathering for Open Science Hardware, Panama City, October 2022
Curator, Open Science Hardware Track, Just One Giant Summit, Online, July 2022
2020 Diversity in STEM Symposium, Raleigh NC, February 2020
Citizen Science Association Biannual Conference 2019, Raleigh NC, March 2019
Public Lab Barnraising 2019 Conference, Galveston TX, February 2019
PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS
Johns, B., “Open hardware and the commons in wildlife conservation.” Talk, 2026 SEEKCommons Gathering.
Green J., Halper, N., Johns, B., Saderi, D. The Critical Roles of Grassroots Initiatives and Communities in Increasing Adoption of Open Science, Panel, Year of Open Science Culminating Conference. March 2024.
Johns, B., & Hsing, P.Y., “Open Science Hardware for realising more equitable research collaborations.” Talk, Big Team Science Conference. October 2023.
Johns, B., Thomas, D., Lundgren, L., Larson, L., & Cooper, C. “Undergraduate Student Experiences with Citizen Science Highlight Potential to Broaden Scientific Engagement: A Mixed Methods Case Study.” Poster, C*Sci2022. May 2022.
Johns, B. & Lewald, C.A., “Undergraduate Student Experiences with Citizen Science.” Poster, Diversity in STEM Symposium. February 2020.
Johns, B., “Citizen Science Club: How University Undergraduates Unite as Outreach Ambassadors.” Talk, Citizen Science in Higher Education: Classrooms, Campus, and Communities Symposium, Citizen Science Association Conference. March 2019.
Public Speaking
Teen Science Café: Citizen Science NC Museum of Natural Sciences, March 6th, 2020
AWARDS AND HONORS
Nominee, 2021 Discover Pods LGBTQ+ Culture Award, September 2021
Bob Patterson, Interdisciplinary Studies Fellow, May 2020
Dr. Marjorie Debnam Community Service Award, awarded at the NC State College of Sciences Celebrating Diversity in STEM Dinner, May 2020.
Senior Award for Outstanding Community Engagement for the Department of Biological Sciences, awarded at the NC State College of Sciences Senior Recognition Event, April 2020.
Outstanding Member of the Year for the Society for Multicultural Scientists, awarded at the NC State College of Sciences Celebrating Diversity in STEM Dinner, May 2019.
Finalist, NC State Think and Do in 2: Global Storytelling Competition, November 2017.
SERVICE
Volunteer, Port Philip Ecocentre, May 2025 – current
Volunteer Wildlife Rehabilitator, Panamerican Conservation Association, October 2024 – September 2025
Volunteer Gardener, CERES Community Environment Park, May 2023 – April 2024
Founder, Co-Chair, Citizen Science Club at NC State, NCSU, October 2017 – May 2020
Member, Society for Multicultural Scientists, NCSU, January 2018 – May 2020
Ambassador, Culture to Culture Ambassador Program, NCSU, August 2017
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Completed Facilitate for Freedom Fundamentals Training as part of the Headwaters Facilitation Training Program, Anti-Oppressive Resource and Training Alliance (AORTA)
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Manager, WILDLABS. Open Source Solutions Group. 2024 – current
The International Society of Nonbinary Scientists (ISNBS). 2020 – current
Co-chair, Open source SIG for the Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement (CSCCE). 2022- 2024
SKILLS
Spanish language (professional working proficiency), public speaking, web content writing, event management, grant writing, meeting facilitation, familiarity with all Microsoft Programs, proficiency in Stata, and completion of introductory R courses. Emergency Care & Safety Institute (ECSI) Wilderness First Aid Certified.