Kimberley Muchenje, from Zimbabwe, is completing a PhD in sustainable plant synthetic biology engineering at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Kimberley is an academically gifted researcher committed to community transformation through scientific solutions to agricultural challenges. An integral part of Kimberley’s studies is informed by her family’s subsistence farm’s progressively lower yields and experiences of erratic floods and droughts.

In many developing countries, women produce 60% to 80% of the food yet face limiting barriers in accessing land and productivity-enhancing resources and enabling food security. Kimberley equips communities with tools to advocate for policy change and advances skills and education on adopting technologies. Kimberley mentors high-school and college students and has organized and led community transforming initiatives. Kimberley’s work with the Lab Equipment Access Program (LEAP) provided high schools and community colleges in underserved areas with scientific lab equipment, enhancing hands-on STEM education. She has coordinated equipment donations and fostered partnerships between Caltech labs and schools like SOAR High School and Van Nuys Magnet School, supporting teachers and empowering students with vital STEM learning resources.

Kimberley describes herself as resilient, hardworking, and energetic and says “I am a testament to the transformative power of education, even in the face of immense challenges. Today, as an empowered researcher and mentor, I am committed to catalyzing change by empowering women and children in developing countries to envision and achieve a brighter future.”