2018- year of diversity and inclusion.

Some significant accomplishments  for me (Laura Boykin) for 2018.  

1. I received an Honorary Doctorate from The Open University in Manchester, United Kingdom.  I was nominated  "In recognition of your academic and scholarly distinction. You were nominated for this award as a result of the exceptional contribution that you have made to world food security and promoting science and education for all." My mom was there and so proud.  See my speech here (at minute 40).
2. We sequenced whole cassava virus genomes under farmers' trees in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. We called it TreeLab and most told us we could never do it, and we did.  See here for all updates.
3. We saw Asha, a farmer in Tanzania, go from zero cassava to 40 tonnes/hectare.  It was the best day ever.
4. 15 papers published in 2018. The best part of this is the diversity of co-authors. I published with people from Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Brazil, Zambia, Malaysia, China, United Kingdom, United States of America, Germany, and Mozambique.
5. 3rd International Whitefly Symposium in Perth. The most diverse and inclusive whitefly event in history.
6. African Systematics Symposium at the Evolution Meetings.  The most diverse and inclusive symposium at the entire meeting.
7. Pore Safari 1.0.  (also check twitter #poresafari for all updates). Oxford Nanopore sequencing across east Africa. Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia. We met over 150 scientists from over 35 institutions. The game is changing.  Decentralizing sequencing is the only way forward.  
8. 2 PhD students are done!  Bruno and James- Congrats!
9. TED 2017- being a TED Senior Fellow is amazing.
10. Thank you to the Crawford Fund for financially supporting our work.  
11. Hosting Tony Bakelana from Democratic Republic of Congo for a month in Perth- where we uncovered what is killing the cassava in DRC. It will ROCK the cassava world in 2019 when we get it all polished and out - stay tuned.
12. Thank you to all who have stood by me. Special thanks to Dr. Monica Kehoe, Tonny Kinene and Anders Savill who are all based in Perth and have helped me fight the fight of my academic life.
13. Visiting Langata Womens Prison in Kenya and talking about cassava viruses and whiteflies. Most in prison are there because they are poor- they need skills to grow more cassava for more money when they get out.